Photo Books that Instantly Inspire Me

If you have any good recommendations drop them in the comments! Thanks for watching 🙏

Actually the Eggleston book isn't "2 fourths" as you mentioned. It's "Two and a Quarter" referring to the camera film format. Notice the square prints.
Eggleston is known for pioneering color photography in art.
and often focuses on everyday life and mundane subjects, capturing the beauty in the ordinary. He's known for his use of vivid color and a snapshot aesthetic, creating visually striking images from seemingly ordinary scenes. Eggleston's work has been influential in pushing color photography into the realm of fine art. I've been a follower of his work for years.

Your wife is right about Alex Webb being a fraud. One example b/c it's simple. The box on the street in Mexico with someone peeking out. Ask yourself the story behind how that came about. The shadows don't even match so he didnt 'arrange it'. He added the eyes in post. There are others, many others.

I'd like to read and study photo books more than I currently do. Because, I don't ever read any such books. That's in spite of photography is one of the most intense interest I have. An have had since the 1970's.
Photo books are just too, much much too, expensive. Sure, they are often printed on premium paper and in low numbers. But the more premium the paper and the higher the prices, the more expensive and therefore the lower the sales will be. Inspiration could be had from a photo book, that's for sure. But it's not an exclusive source for inspiration.
The price for photo books is like they were the art that is going on sale, not the thoughts or inspiration. Photo magazines, also used to be printed on quite fine paper. But I'm sorry to say, they are no longer around like they used to be. I'm sorry they are not as many as 20 years ago.
I hope they'll come back, since they would be a source of affordable inspiration.

My favorite of your books is, Alex Webb: The Suffering of Light. I'll have to check it out. Thanks.

Really interesting video, thanks. Please excuse this little plug, but I’d like to recommend an autobiographical photography-related book called Life Lit Up, by a friend of mine called Mike Hartley. I found it very entertaining and incisive regarding how different kinds of photographers approach the craft.

I'm still going thru 100 photographs that changed history.

Eggleston's popularity is a mystery to me. A lot of his photos are excellent, but he himself is a specific genre of photography and I'm not sure if he can work as an inspiration for both beginners and advanced photographers. But I see the editorial work on his books as the biggest problem. Aside from Guide and Los Alamos, it's more or less a disaster and seems more like an attempt to turn his work into a money machine than showcase his work in its best light.

Thanks for sharing your tastes and comments. Insightful. You might find interesting the photos in Magnetic Feathers (poems, pix, & plays)--it's on Amazon. Ciao.

I buy books of aviation photography and put the best few pictures on my wall. The jets in this video are beautiful.

For those interested in such things my 3 favorite art books are:

- Icon by Frank Frazetta

- Airshow by Philip Castle

- Great Fighter Jets of the World 1 by Tim Gibson

The one photo book I was inspired by is Liam Wongs' TO:KY:OO. It's simply beautiful. It got me to take my camera out if the shelf for the first time in a while and go out to take some night photos of my town

Tatsuo Suzuki, "Friction / Tokyo Street" available on Steidl. A tour de force of in your face, high contrast, monochromatic street photography.

Wheres a good place to print photo books?maybe just to have them o sell whatever, I used to use adoramapix but haven't used them Ina long while

Really inspired to print my photography in a book , thank you for this video Evan!

Cool video, im subbed

Totally agree about creating a "body of work." Theres a lot more that you can say, and sequencing photos is an art in itself!

William Eggelston, Two Fourths... really?! Dude, it’s Two and a Quarter, as in 6x6, 120-film; notice how all the images are square... kids...

I’m just yanking your chain; there were a couple of photographers I had not heard of, so I liked the video. If you’re in the mood for something truly different, check out Rocky Schenck’s “The Recurring Dream”. 😎

The word is uncanny

discovering Alex Webb was one of the best and worst things I've done. I just wanted to give up. He is one of the greatest ever photographers and on a very short list I would make for that.

As someone who had lived their entire life in west Texas, I can wholeheartedly say that there is inspiration everywhere you turn. The history and culture in this area is ridiculous as El Paso is intersected by 3 cities and 2 countries. Take a trip out here if you get the chance one day.

Man every book was like $100+ :// anyone got any good cheaper alternatives , just getting a gift for a friend

Thank you so much for this video!

Out of all "Modern Texas" looked interesting, the rest.. I didn't get at all. But I guess I'm just a different type of photographer 8)

Hi, what would be best way of following what photo books or zines are being released assuming I'm not following (or even know) particular artists? Cheers.

Thank you for devoting this episode to photobooks! I'm not an expert, but I've found over the years that I gravitate toward work done by photographers who have enlightened, inspired or comforted me during a specific period of my life. Many of my favorites gave me a sense of direction in my own work, and were eventually replaced on the "desert island dozen" list by others. Studio by Paolo Roversi and The Fashion Pictures by Deborah Turbeville are still on my shelf, but as my photography (and my life circumstances) have changed, so have the books I've found myself turning to most often. Architect's Brother by Shana & Robert ParkHarrison and Medic by Jennifer B Thoreson came at just the right time, and Jennifer's words literally changed my view of photography. There are books of work by three photographers I would never want to be without, though: Instant Light by Andrey Tarkovksky (I'm a Polaroid addict), anything by Yamamoto Masao (Masao Yamamoto), but especially Small Things In Silence, and anything by Jungjin Lee, Unnamed Road being my favorite. I've really enjoyed reading the replies of others. So many photobooks, so little time!

Nicely share dude! Love it

Nice to see what inspires you Evan. A couple I haven't seen : ) ...I've also got over 100 flick-through of the classic photo books on my channel. Best.

Thanks man, some pretty inspiring work in there. Love to see this kind of stuff, it's like hearing a director you like talking about the movies they dig. There's the smug satisfaction (of the good kind) of having your own taste validated plus and the getting introduced to work you've never heard of or kind of skipped over wrongly thinking it won't be your cup of tea. Appreciate your sharing that.

Going to grab the magnum definitely. Thanks for sharing.

720p video with a very low bit rate

Araki nobuyosji

evan. did you ever go throught the book "american prospects, joel sternfeld"?

Shameless self promotion ;-) "Hà Nội - Wednesday, 10:43 p.m." by myself (Wouter Vanhees)

While not a book I recommend watching any film ( or book related to ) by the director Wes Anderson.

Evan PLEASE help me... Why can I not get my colors to look nice?? They come off as cartoonish.

Check out Ernst Haas too - his ‘New York in Colour’ is sublime.

Nothing wrong dude.

Great selection.
My recommendations:
Hélène Binet: Composing Space
Tony Ray-Jones: American Colour
Gregory Halpern: ZZYZX
Alec Soth: I Know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating
Best,
@daisuke.hirabayashi

check out Arnaud Montagard s book "The Road not taken" !!

Have you picked up the Vivian Maier book, it’s an awesome one.

I definetly need to invest more on photobooks!

Egglestones book title is ‘two and a quarter’......🇬🇧🌈📸

The phrase you may be looking for is "JE NE SAIS QUOI" translated fro French as "I Don't know what"

You might wanna check out Wim Winders Written in the West

Great video! I’m always curious when creating a photo book is it ok to have different editing styles/colours or would it be better to keep it all cohesive and the same.

I do love Josh Jackson’s work, thanks for showing this as I didn’t realise he had done a book and I’m just about to look for it then order, I’ve made a list of the others ready to purchase as and when

Shane Taylor is another exceptionally good UK based street photographer that has recently released - Fine Airs & Fine Graces.