2021 Book Review Schedule

With last year having been as it was, I did not want to post a review of 2020. And since we are still in the mids of a pandemic, looking forward to 2021 is a bit tricky. So I decided to not have a looking-back-looking-forward article at the start of this year.

However, this does not mean that I did not set some goals for my photography and this year's blog posts and one of the goals I have set for 2021 regarding the blog is to conduct 12 photography book reviews.

There is an abundance of photography books available, covering a lot of genres and topics. Therefore, to keep this effort manageable and cost-effective, the books I have selected (see list below) had to meet specific criteria:

• First of all, I want to start with books I already have, which means I don't have to spend any money on new books. And more importantly, it forces me to re-read and re-enjoy the books I am going to review.

• The books I will review have to be (social) documentary or candid street photography focused.

• Their content must provide specific learning points; e.g., improving my ability to see the world as a candid/documentary photographer.

• They must trigger new ideas for my projects: street or documentary topics and how to approach these.
  

Consequently, I will not include books with or about: fine art photography, technical aspects of photography only, or gear and tools.

Each of the books I will review covers one or more of the following:

• (auto) biography of a (social) documentary photographer;

• info about the events and circumstances the photogs had to work in;

• examples of documentary photography with background info;

• examples of documentary photography essays.

Also, the header of this article mentions Photography books and not Photobooks. Although some of the titles included can be considered photo books, my reviews cover a broader area like biographies and history books.

As an example of what to expect, check out my articles about David Hume Kennerly's book "Shooter", Simon Gabriel’s “On Ground”, and my comparison of “Abandoned America” and “Autopsy of America”.

The books I will cover this year are:

Hold Still [autobiography by Sally Mann]

Abu Dhabi - Life And Times [overview of the body of work of Noor Ali Rashid]

Lost London [documenting London from vintage pictures]

Armed With Cameras [history of the American military photographers of World War II]

Blood And Champaign [biography of Robert Capa]

Kids [an overview of Elliott Erwitt's candid images of children]

A Thousand Crossings [an overview of Sally Mann's body of work]

Imagining The Twentieth Century [documentary single images and essays]

The Genius Of Photography [documentary single images and essays]

The Modern Century [an overview of Henry Cartier Bresson's body of work]

Trip [a photographic essay by Susan Lipper]

Vivian Maier - Street Photographer [an overview of Maier’s body of work]

I hope you are as excited about these upcoming articles as I am. To ensure you won't miss any, subscribe with the form below!