PixelatedImage Blog

“To quote out of context is the essence of the photographer’s craft. His central problem is a simple one: what shall he include, what shall he reject? The line of decision between in and out is the picture’s edge. While the draughtsman starts with the middle of the sheet, the photographer starts with the frame.

The photograph’s edge defines context. It isolates unexpected juxtapositions. By surrounding two facts it creates a relationship. The edge of the photograph dissects familiar forms, and shows their unfamiliar fragment. It creates the shapes that surround objects.

The photographer edits the meanings and patterns of the world through an imaginary frame. This frame is the beginning of his picture’s geometry.”

from The Photographer’s Eye, John Szarkowski

This is a beautiful book that distills things down to the elementals. It’s not so much a teaching book, as it is a meditation on 5 choices a photographer makes in the process of creating a photograph: The Thing Itself, The Detail, The Frame, Time, and The Vantage Point. MOMA has a 2007 re-print of the 1966 original. Amazon.com has it HERE.

In fact in searching for this title I stumbled on some others that look like a refreshing break from the one-step, two-step books we so often tend to spend our time and money on. Here’s the ones that caught my eye:

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Scrapbook

The Nature of Photographs, Stephen Shore

The Photographer’s Eye, Michael Freeman (different book, same title as the above – but I have R.C. Concepcion’s recommendation on this one. I believe he called it “awesome.” So there you go.)

Perception and Imaging, Richard D. Zakia

I haven’t read any of the last 4 books, but they’re highly rated and they have pretty covers – so how bad can they be? Just kidding. Give them some consideration if learning to see in new ways is a priority for you right now. I’ve just ordered a few books, so I’m cut off for now. But these ones are now on my list.