from the ‘War Sands’ book

By Donald Weber

from the ‘Indefinitely’ book

By Katrin Koenning

Alexa Becker on the making of Photobooks

“A submission should include a short, informative statement about the work that ideally outlines why the photographer is interested in this particular publisher. That part should be brief.

It’s nice to receive a personal email, and not a stereotypical mass email that goes out to every publisher on the planet. That is easy to spot and it’s a clear turn off.

Personally, I like digital material for a first impression. It’s best if submissions are in a PDF, and ideally in a sequencing that enhances the photographs. Just sending a pile of images leaves me with a lesser impression. Also, simply sending the link to one’s website is very vague; it implies that the editor has plenty of time to browse their website, think, and—at best—tell the photographer what to do. This is probably not the case and it shows little forethought and preparation.”

Full interview here.

Martin Parr on the power of photobooks

What, for you, are the milestones in the Magnum photobook catalogue?
Let’s start with Decisive Moment and Death in the Making by two of our founders [Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa, respectively] who also set the agenda, if you like, for Magnum with their opposite art and journalistic backgrounds.

What does a photobook give you that a regular book doesn’t?
It gives you an opportunity to live with the work and enjoy it, to take it in and soak it up. You wouldn’t get that with an exhibition or an online show, so it creates a relationship. It’s a tactile thing as well, so it’s a very appealing way of delivering a body of work.

Instagram versus the photobook: who wins and why?
I like Instagram, but ultimately I’d have to choose the book. It’s the perfect package because of the reason I just said. It smells; it has a shape or form; it’s physical. You know, Instagram is [full of] one-off pictures whereas the photobook is a sequence of pictures – and that’s very important.

Full interview here.

from ‘The Other Day’ book

By Quentin de Briey

Focus on Food Photography for Bloggers

Info you are into food and blogging, that’s the right book for you.

“Focus On Food Photography for Bloggers (Focus On Series): Focus on the Fundamentals” by Matt Armendariz. 

 

Basically, it will help you snapping mouth-watering images of your awesome dishes. You can download it both as an audio book and ebook for free here! 🙂

“Philosophers” by Steve Pyke

Steve Pyke went audacious. Up to January 2007, he photographed philosophers. He published two books. He called them simply “Philosophers”. He tried to match the portrait with the ideas of the man or the woman in the portrait. Honestly, I couldn’t guess. I couldn’t distinguish the metaphysicians from the existentialists, the historians from the deconstructivists. But their expressions, their grimness, their half-smiles, their lost-in-thoughts looks that Pyke geniously captured, represent the first visual definition of what being an intellectual means.

Buy it here. It’s almost all the time out of stock.