bookreview

If the number of obituaries written about someone is any measure of their impact on society, Janet Malcolm was a heavy hitter. Google lists more than 40,000.

A Google search for “Creativity” will return over 2,600,000,000 results. Many of these results are books about creativity, which offer specific advice and actions to take in order to be creative now.

David Wadelton understands that photography is a form of time travel. Small Business, his new book of photographs, transports us to Melbourne’s vanishing architecture of interior workplaces created by largely working-class, post-war immigrants from Europe.

Behind every once-in-a-lifetime photograph is a story. Sometimes these are stories of luck—of being in the right place, at the right time, with the right lens attached to your camera—but more often than not triumph is preceded by years of trial and error. An outlandish "bucket shot" achieved by the sheer force of the photographer’s will and persistence. The Black Leopard by wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas falls into the second category.

A bible for photographers. That is how Robert Capa described The Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier-Bresson. After almost 70 years it was first published, this book has still a lot to say to photographers and especially to street and documentary photographers.

For a photographer with so many memorable quips to his name, Garry Winogrand didn't leave much of a paper trail. The four books he made during his lifetime (five if you count the 1976 Grossmont College booklet) consist almost exclusively of pictures. Although they also include some great essays, none are by Winogrand. Nor did he write for any outside books or sources.

Avedon: Something Person is a​ downright staggering account of legendary photographer Richard Avedon's career. Weighing in at 720 (yes, 720!) pages, no detail is left out. ​While it's jam-packed with interesting stories from his assistants and collaborators, this book has some issues with the facts.

A few weeks ago, I walked outside of my house and nearly stumbled over a package. It was flat, rectangular, and large. Excitedly I read my name on the postage. “This is it,” I told myself. Quickly, I ran inside and removed the scissors from a drawer in my kitchen (the one that for some reason refuses to stay on the rails, no matter how many times I fix it) and sliced the package open.

Wow... Where do I even begin? I would say that “The Decisive Moment” by Henri Cartier-Bresson is one of the most beautiful photo books I have ever handled, and it is a book that brings me extreme joy and happiness (you can see all the photos from the book for free over at Magnum Photos).