During this enforced period of domicile incarceration, we have the opportunity to do things that in normal times we may not have the time or inclination to do.
I do read a lot anyway, but I have been probably reading a bit more now during the lockdown. If I read novels, they are usually purchased and downloaded on to my Kindle, but any photography books I normally buy as print so that I enjoy the photographs that they obviously contain.
One book that I have been reading for some time now is “1001 Photographs You Must see before you Die”. It charts exceptional photographs from the 1820s to the 2010s. It is a small but thick (960 pages) and weighty tome. The quality of the reproduced photographs is very reasonable, although they are small because of the book size.
With each image, there is some information about the photographer and how and why they took the photograph.
The way I use this book, and I only suggest it as a method to you, is to read and look at three to four photographs per day. What I do then is to look up the photographer on the internet and then also try and find a larger representation of the photograph in the book to look at it more closely. I have found this beneficial in several ways.
- Finding out more about the particular photographer
- Finding out more information on the photograph itself
- Researching more into the events surrounding the photographer and image.
- It has made me appreciate the process that went into the taking of the photograph.
Amazon at present has the book on sale for £20. A bargain I think.
