Books for Photographers
We stock a wide range of first edition photography books, several signed by the photographer and some limited editions.
Photography books as gifts : What better photography gifts than inspiration through some of the photographer greats of the last few decades. Gifts for photography enthusiasts include signed and limited edition books. Photographer gifts - the UK and international - are made simple through our selection.
More Book Gifts for Photographers & Photography Enthusiasts
We hope you like our selection of book gifts for photographers. We keep adding new books that are great gifts for photography enthusiasts regularly, so please make sure to come back soon for updates and new choices.
If you’re looking for the best gifts for photographers then take a look at our first edition and limited edition books. The best books for photographers provide inspiration from some of the masters of the medium. We currently hold books showing the portfolios of, for example:
- Annie Leibovitz
- Gemma Levine
- Urs Stahel
Books for beginning photographers currently include examples below which would make a great gift for a photographer.
- Robert Doisneau’s Photofile. Robert Doisneau was born in 1912, living through the turbulent twentieth century until 1994. He was to become a world renowned photographer, famous for his photojournalism and focus on photographs of people.
- Eudora Welty: Photographs. Welty was born in 1909 and just saw the 22nd century, dying in 2001. She began the creative part of her career as a writer, working as a publicity agent for the Works Progress Administration (an employment and infrastructure programme initiated by President Roosevelt in 1935). Away from the office she began to photography people across the social spectrum. Her photographs are famous for the images of Mississipi’s economically deprived populace – and especially for the consequences of the Great Depression. She published two books: One Time, One Place (1971) and Photographs (1989).
- Elliot Erwitt “Personal Best”. Elliott Erwitt was born in 1928 in France, although he lived most of his life in America. He was actually christened Elio Romano Erwitt. He’s known for his advertising and documentary photographs - known for his uncontrived black and white photos showing everyday scenes that could be considered almost satirical. Personal Best shows a portfolio of many of his most iconic images from throughout his career.
- Robert Rauschenberg was born in 1925 in Texas, going on to serve as a sailor in the US Navy. He went on to study art at the Kansas City Art Institute, followed by the Academie Julian in Paris, and then on to Black Mountain College in North Carolina. In New York, where he lived throughout the 1950’s he was considered as a challenger of the norms of photography through his Combines. Always ready to think outside the photography box, examples of his work that we currently stock include:
- Krcma, Ed - Rauschenberg / Dante : Drawing a Modern Inferno. Dante's Inferno: Robert Rauschenberg was inspired by the painting to create artwork that combined objects and photographic imagery from newspapers and other popular sources.
- Dickerman, Leah - Robert Rauschenberg: Canyon - Robert Rauschenberg declared in the mid-1950s "there is no reason not to consider the world as a gigantic painting," and was inspired to create "Combines,” - work that fused cast-off items like quilts or rubber tires with traditional supports. "Canyon" was published in 1959 and was the most famous of the Combines, consisting of a large canvas affixed with paper, fabric, metal, personal photographs, wood, mirrors and a large stuffed bald eagle, wings outstretched, carrying a drooping pillow, and balanced upon a wooden plank jutting out from the canvas. " An essay by MOMA curator Leah Dickerman looks at Robert Rauschenbert’s influence as a result of Combines and in particular, Canyon.
Good books for photographers could also include:
- Guy Bourdin, the groundbreaking photographer and an incredibly influential twentieth-century fashion photographer. “Untouched” focuses on Bourdin’s black and white camera work from the 1950s.
- Richard Avedon “Performance” – Avedon is considered to have developed an idiosyncratic style that was unique to him. Portraits were minimalist, with great lighting and usual a white backdrop.Famous for their minimalism, Avedon portraits are often well lit and in front of white backdrops. He introduced the idea of using a dark outline around the protraits, showing the dark grey or black outline of the film. Performance includes portraits of some of the most famous artists from the worlds of theatre and dance. He’s well known for capturing, not just their finest performances but conveying their inner life. They include Hepburn, Chaplin, Monroe, Garland, Brando and Sinatra amongst others.
