I’ve been a big reader for most of my life and anytime I can combine that passion with my love of photography, well….win/win! Here are three books that I’ve really loved and I feel like have helped me as a photographer in different ways.
Steal Like An Artist
This is a great little book to grab a read one or two pages at a time and then sit on whatever message they had for a bit. It’s packed with great little nuggets of info and visuals that put inspiration into a new perspective.
Main takeaway: Don’t get hung up on making something original or unique. Your ideas were inspired by someone else’s ideas, which were, in turn, inspired by another person’s ideas. Often times, it’s not a unique concept or idea that is required but executing that idea in a way that is unique and authentic to you.
Feck Perfuction
First off, obviously a great title. This overlaps some with the book above but James Victore, an amazing artist and author in his own right, really lays out the case for how to exercise your creativity. Embrace what makes you unique and weird. We all are. And just start doing it. Don’t wait, just make shit and it’ll come together.
Main takeaway: Begin before you’re ready. Don’t worry about perfection or having a plan. You’ll figure it out on the way. So much amazing art has not been made because the artist got hung up on the details from the start. So much amazing art does exist today despite the artist not seeing the final vision when they began.
It’s What I Do
Wow, what an epic life! I’d never before really saw the appeal, and horror, of being a war photographer until this book. Absolutely fascinating.
Main takeaway: Honestly, just a really wonderful reminder of the power of photos and how much range there is to do amazing, and wholly different, things within the same medium.
