As an artist, photographer, author, and workshop leader, my goal is to help others become more skilled with photographic techniques and more creative with their photographic and artistic practice. I like to tell workshop participants that to take better photographs, one should stand in front of more interesting things. But to become a really better photographer one needs to become a more interesting person. The books in the list have helped me grow as a person and photographer, and I hope they also enhance your technique and your passion as a photographer.
I wrote
Creative Black and White: Digital Photography Tips and Techniques
Black-and-white photography poses unique challenges; without color to guide the eye, contrast, lighting, and composition take on even more importance.…
This book is key to learning how to make the most of the camera-and-lens combination that is the photographer’s toolset and “paintbrush.”
Bryan Petersen explains the key concepts of photographic exposure in a way that is simple and unforgettable. This book also opens the portals to an experimental and open-ended approach to taking the most advantage of the creative potential that can be achieved when one works with exposure.
I started flipping through this book in a bookstore, admittedly with a certain amount of skepticism about another trendy tome on how to be more creative, this one by a well-known music producer. To my surprise, I could not put this book down. There is a great deal of wisdom in these pages.
This is a book that teaches one how to be, not specifically how to create art. But being comes before creation, and I found many ideas that have stayed with me as I pursue my passion for creating beautiful imagery.
From the legendary music producer, a master at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book many years in the making that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us.
"A gorgeous and inspiring work of art on creation, creativity, the work of the artist. It will gladden the hearts of writers and artists everywhere, and get them working again with a new sense of meaning and direction. A stunning accomplishment.” —Anne Lamott
“I set out to write a book about what to do to make a…
Many people from all walks of life, even after many accomplishments and experiences, are often plagued by dissatisfaction, pervasive longing, and deep questioning. These feelings may make them wonder if they are living the life they were meant to lead.
Living on Purpose is the guidebook these people have been…
This book has been extremely influential and helpful to my journey as a creative photographer. This is a short book and covers material that is often not easy because it gets at some of the deep-seated reasons that many of us find it hard to consistently create art.
The underlying issue is “resistance”: a force that is the antithesis of creativity and serves to stymie us all to a greater or lesser degree. I have found the succinct discussion of resistance in the book, along with tools and techniques for overcoming resistance, one of the most valuable discussions I have encountered in my journey as a photographer and artist.
A succinct, engaging, and practical guide forsucceeding in any creative sphere, The War ofArt is nothing less than Sun-Tzu for the soul.
What keeps so many of us from doing what we long to do?
Why is there a naysayer within? How can we avoid theroadblocks of any creative endeavor—be it starting up a dreambusiness venture, writing a novel, or painting a masterpiece?
Bestselling novelist Steven Pressfield identifies the enemy thatevery one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer thisinternal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.
I started writing my photography blog almost twenty years ago. Looking back at the vast number of stories I have written in my blog, I see that many of them are my contemporaneous thoughts about images I am in the process of creating.
This book serves a similar role in the pre-Internet, pre-blogging world: the reader gets a birds-eye view of Weston’s life and creative challenges as he makes some of his most famous images. Why not go to the source? If you want to learn more about creativity and image-making, I completely recommend this glorious day-by-day diary.
For more than 15 years, Edward Weston kept a diary in which he recorded his struggle to understand himself, his society and his art. His journal has become a classic of photographic literature. Weston was a towering figure in twentieth-century photography, whose restless quest for beauty and the mystical presence behind it resulted in a body of work unrivaled in the medium. John Szarkowski observes that “It was as though the things of everyday experience had been transformed... into organic sculptures, the forms of which were both the expression and the justification of the life within... He had freed his…
Every month on the 13th, Maria Paula Acuña arrives at a barren spot in the Mojave Desert where she sees and speaks with the Virgin Mary. Hundreds of people follow her to the makeshift shrine, which Maria Paula named Our Lady of the Rock, to watch her and search the…
Photographers know that as a matter of physics you cannot actually photograph an object; you can only photograph the light reflected or emitted by the object. This being the case, to photograph landscapes and nature it is vitally important to understand the principles that I apply.
I love that this book explains carefully how rainbows and shadows work, and most importantly how one can take advantage of the principles of applied physics to improve one’s ability to capture spectacular images that rely on natural phenomena.
We live in a world of optical marvels - from the commonplace but beautiful rainbow, to the rare and eerie superior mirage. But how many of us really understand how a rainbow is formed, why the setting sun is red and flattened, or even why the sky at night is not absolutely black? This beautiful and informative guide provides clear explanations to all naturally occurring optical phenomena seen with the naked eye, including shadows, halos, water optics, mirages and a host of other spectacles. Separating myth from reality, it outlines the basic principles involved, and supports them with many figures…
Black-and-white photography poses unique challenges; without color to guide the eye, contrast, lighting, and composition take on even more importance. In my book, I explain these elements and demonstrate the basic rules of black-and-white photography, as well as when and how to break them.
I break through the complexity of this photographic medium, explore opportunities for black-and-white imagery, and show how to capitalize on each and every one of them. This new, revised, and expanded edition brings the tools up to date with extended sections on monochrome in Lightroom, Photoshop, and related plugins.
Every month on the 13th, Maria Paula Acuña arrives at a barren spot in the Mojave Desert where she sees and speaks with the Virgin Mary. Hundreds of people follow her to the makeshift shrine, which Maria Paula named Our Lady of the Rock, to watch her and search the…
Gifts from a Challenging Childhood
by
Jan Bergstrom,
Learn to understand and work with your childhood wounds. Do you feel like old wounds or trauma from your childhood keep showing up today? Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed with what to do about it and where to start? If so, this book will help you travel down a path…
