Can a book also be a tiny gem? Most certainly!

I don’t write about my books all that often, and never write about a book by the same photographer within a short span … but this is special! In the video interview of Jeff Dunas that inspired me to feature American Pictures, he mentioned a book he had done with Nazraeli Press. It intrigued me so much I had to get a copy ASAP!

Highway 61 to Honeyboy is a small limited edition book published by Nazraeli Press and it’s like nothing I own. Part of it’s One Picture Book Series, it’s made of the best materials, is limited to 500 numbered copies, and includes a removable, signed, original 5×7 print by Dunas that is slightly smaller than the book itself. When I first held the book in my hands it I felt like I was looking at a handmade object of art and a beautiful portfolio at the same time. At $60 it’s both a wonder and a gift!

According to the publisher, “US Highway 61 runs for 1,400 miles between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota, generally following the course of the Mississippi River. This highway has been referenced in the lyrics of music by myriad artists with roots in the region. The junction of US 61 and US 49 in Clarksdale is the mythical crossroads where, according to legend, Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for mastery of the blues guitar style.

The Blues Highway portion of Highway 61 follows its path North from New Orleans to Chicago, passing through Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, past the western tip of Tennessee and through Missouri. It was here where Jeff Dunas headed in the mid-1990s to photograph many of the true blues legends for his portfolio and monograph State of the Blues.

For his contribution to our One Picture Book series, Jeff Dunas has retraced his steps from that journey, presenting here a selection of landscapes and portraits with accompanying texts describing what he saw, and why it is as important as ever.”

Yes, there are only eleven pictures in the book and yes it’s small, but short of a few even more limited edition softbound books I own, it’s like nothing I have and a new prized possession.

In a time of meaningless mass produced schlock and AI generated sensory insanity, this is a little breath of fresh air and something to be savored while sitting in a comfortable chair.

I love this book!

Stay well,

Michael

I love a good road trip and when I was younger, e.g., before marriage, children and career, I took some memorable ones. But never cross country or the like. That trip remains in my bucket list, as much for the journey as for the photographic opportunity.

This brings me to Jeff Dunas. I saw a great recent interview of him on YouTube this past week which made me think about his wonderful book American Pictures. Published in 2001 with photographs made at the end of the century, it makes me think of other equally wonderful books I am lucky to own … Walker Evans’ American Photographs, and Robert Frank’s The Americans, whose timeless pictures were made in the 1930s and 1950s respectively. It’s a fascinating experience to look at the three of these important books to get a better understanding of where we’ve been … and perhaps where we’re headed.

After moving to Paris and living there for twenty years, Dunas returned to the U.S. with the idea of documenting America in terms of “scenes representative of the small-town America that he remembered from his youth in the 1960s”. Whether the resulting work successfully accomplished that mission is up to the viewer to decide. I grew up during the same as Dunas, and for me it does. But that hardly matters. The book is wonderful collection of exceptionally seen and printed black and white pictures of ordinary Americans living their daily lives, the environment they live in and the artifacts that surround them.

A big and sprawling book, it contains over 120 images, each telling a story for those willing to look hard and imagine. Easily obtained new or used, for me it’s a must have!

Stay well,

Michael

I usually don’t write about a brand-new book, but this one is special. Special for two reasons. One is the book itself. Two, just as important, and perhaps even more so is how it came into my possession … and this is what makes it especially special.  The book was given to me as a gift by Peter Schrager … fellow black and white photographer, follower of this website, Monalog Collective member, and most importantly my friend.

As I’ve said before, for me photography is about the journey. It’s much, much more than the pictures you make. It’s about that and everything else related to it. At least it is to me. Perhaps most important beyond being out there and getting some keepers is the people I meet and the friendships I make. Peter is one of the friends I’ve made and my life is better for that.

Ok, so what about the book? Adams is a seminal photographer who’s documented the tension between man’s development of the American West and the natural beauty of what was. Particularly the sprawl of suburbia and all that comes with it. As someone who’s lived in suburbia for much of my life, I am particularly sensitive to this. I lived in suburban northern Virginia and experienced suburban sprawl gone mad. I escaped that and moved to Doylestown. Couldn’t find a house in the borough that had a proper basement for a darkroom, so I ended up at the edge of town in a house built 30 years ago. While I can walk into town and I spend quite a lot of time there, the feel is a little different.  Bucks County is famous for its bucolic beauty and wonderful small towns like Doylestown but it too has experienced the ravages of development. Adams throughout his long career has captured the consequences of development, both to the land and to those that live in it. This is well documented in his seminal book.

The pictures are not what I would call pretty, but they’re important to look at. While I am familiar with Adam’s work and seen his pictures in several anthologies I own, I have never viewed his work in person or thought of owning one of his books. Now that I have this fine edition, I realize the mistake I made.

Thank you Peter for this wonderful gift. Robert Adams, What We Bought: The New World: Scenes from the Denver Metropolitan Area, 1970-1974 will now become an important piece of my photographic library and serve as a stark reminder of one of the realities of American life.

Stay safe,

Michael

Every night last week on the national news I watched vivid stories of Mother Nature’s wrath taken out against Yellowstone National Park.  The worst is over, but what we saw is a grim reminder of how fragile our ecosystem and treasured national parks are.  The devastation caused by monsoons and uncontrolled flooding made me think about a wonderful book I’ve owned for many years, American Photographers and The National Parks, published by the National Parks Foundation and Viking Press.  The version I own is a so-called “Studio Book” and it is quite striking in its nice slipcase cover with inlaid photograph.

The book includes a very fine essay by Robert Cahn, “Curatorial Viewpoints” by the photographer Robert Glenn Ketchum, the over 100 gorgeous plates that comprise the core of the book and small images of the complete catalogue from the 1979 photographic exhibition sponsored by the National Parks Foundation.

Photographers who’s stunning images are contained in this beautiful coffee table size book include: William Henry Jackson, Eadward J. Muybridge, Carleton E. Watkins, Timothy O’Sullivan, William Bell, John K. Hillers, George Fiske, Anne Brigman, Imogen Cunningham, Laura Gilpin Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, Minor White, Brett Weston, Jerry N. Uelsmann, Michael A. Smith, Charles V. Janda, Don Worth, William Garnett, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Dave Bohn, Paul Caponigro, Harry Callahan, Joel Meyerowitz, Lee Friedlander, William Clift, Linda Connor, Boone Morrison, David Mussina, Roger Minick, Ted Orland, Roger Misrach, John Pfahl, and Gail Skoff.

This is a wonderful book that can be picked up for a song on eBay or in a used bookstore. How about ten bucks to own something so beautiful and inspiring!  So if inflation and the high cost of gas is keeping you from visiting our beautiful national parks, for less than it costs for two gallons of regular you can own something you will cherish for the rest of your life.

Stay well,

Michael

Earlier this year I wrote about a book-buying spree I had. One of the books I snagged was Elliott Erwitt’s huge volume Personal Best that contains over 440 photographs on 448 pages he personally selected as his best and favorite images from a lifetime of creative work.  Did I say huge? It’s roughly 15 by 11 inches in size and just for grins I decided to weigh it … just over 11 pounds! This thing is truly massive as it should be with all that it contains, but with so much visual content can it hold one’s interest, or at one point simply become too much?  I’ll come back to that in a few moments.

Is this a perfect book? Probably not. As others have pointed out, it might have been nice if a landscape format had been employed. I’m not a fan of full bleed spreads onto two pages. But then the book might have hit gargantuan proportions and the price would likely have been more than the $50 it is.

Once you open it up for serious contemplation you realize these are minor quibbles and they are soon forgotten. Not only does Personal Best contain all of Erwitt’s greatest hits, but also there are many photographs that have never been published before. Looking at each picture you realize what a stupendous photographer Erwitt is, because each one of these images is a winner. One can only imagine how many other great pictures he’s made over a lifetime that aren’t his favorites?

Personal Best is a joyful, learning experience that has to be savored in order to really get all that is to be gained from it. It’s also a humbling experience. One can only wonder about how good his also rans are, but for me it’s a motivator of what can be accomplished with dedication, continued hard work and clarity of vision.

Erwitt is a true master. He has spent sixty years living a complete photographic life, something few of us will ever be able to do.  Personal Best gives me something to dream of and aspire to, even if I cannot have such a life. It forces me to strive to do what makes me happy and do it in the best way I can, so I can create my personal best.

So can Personal Besthold one’s interest for an extended viewing session? Yes, yes and yes! In fact, you will want to go back to it again and again.

Buying this book is a no brainer. Do yourself an enormous favor and get it!

Stay safe,

Michael

I have now finished reading Fred Picker’s Zone VI Newsletters for the umpteenth time.  Just ask my wife how may times I have read these things, or talk to my kids about how funny they thought it was that I had brought those two fat grey loose leaf binders with me to the beach on vacations. Yes it’s true. I’ve read all 82 newsletters many times and always seem to gain some new insight with each reading.

I couldn’t wait for that familiar envelope from Vermont to arrive in my mailbox every few months. I have fond memories of getting the calls from my wife in the middle of sixteen hour workdays at the State Department telling me I got my latest newsletter … same thing when Shutterbug arrived!  It’s surprising how much those calls meant to me. I still get great enjoyment from them and pick up new things.  But there is something else about reading them … something about one person’s photographic journey in life.

Yes I know, Picker has been a polarizing subject and still draws criticism on the Internet. But if you can get beyond some commercial promotion of his products, a few instances of self-promotion and a couple of somewhat questionable things he mentions related to getting his picture, then there is just so much there for the black and white analog photographer … and yes … more.

All the innovations, the demystification of the Zone System, the sharing of correspondence with Strand, Adams and other greats, being together with him photographing  … designing and producing exciting products unlike any before, searching for beaver dams, the excitement of capturing the light reflecting off a wall of slate, standing in awe before ancient monoliths or trying to photograph while being stranded during a non-stop rainstorm somewhere in the Outer Hebrides. Being with him as he lived a complete photographic life.  Accompanying him on a photographic and life journey for over twenty years.

Fred did it his way and he told you what he believed to be the truth. He didn’t care what others thought. He told you not to trust anyone including him, but rather to TRY IT for yourself and see if it worked … you could make your own informed decision.  Maybe too many were jealous of his entertaining life, his independence, all of the rule breaking, and the financial success he achieved from the business he created, etc. Many who were proud to post awe inspiring pictures of their family cats and the like on the Internet to demonstrate their photographic prowess claim his photography was dreck.

Fine.

You know what? I don’t give a flying fig about other’s insecurities.  I believe Fred Picker’s Zone VI Newsletters are great stuff and highly recommended! Complete sets come up from time to time on eBay and are worth getting!!!

Go ahead, TRY IT!

Stay safe,

Michael

Years ago while wandering through a used book store I happened upon a copy of Light Years. It must have been in the late Nineties because it has a price of $30 written in pencil inside on the first page. Today the book costs much more, but I would want it anyway because there is so much to learn from it!

Light Years was published in 1996 and served as a retrospective of Gibson’s work from 1960 – 1991. Gibson’s career has centered on the use of Leica cameras, Tri-X film and Rodinal developer. Then in 2013 he went digital but stayed with Leica.  That’s all right; I have not tracked Gibson’s later work to be honest, but he will always be a master to me.

Here’s the thing about Gibson … the images are high contrast and bold, they have grain, they’re abstract and focus on fragments of life. At first look they’re so simple and straightforward that you might be tempted to whip through the book. That would be a mistake!  Like Gibson, I use Leicas, one or two lenses and Tri-X, but that’s where the similarities end for me (oh … and he’s just a little better known then me). So what? I can learn a lot from his intense and compelling pictures … and so can you. He gets in close to his subject matter and isolates it to get to the essence of what it is, or what it is that he wants to say.  It’s up to you to interpret what it all means.

So these black and white fragments/abstracts are not really simple at all, that is not if you take the time to really study them in detail. Do that and you learn some valuable truths, such as how important it is to get in close and to carefully frame your subject.  In other words, concentrate on and think hard about every picture you make. That’s what I get again and again when I study this collection of many of Gibson’s finest pictures.  There are 92 of them so there is a lot to see and study. Take your time and you will be rewarded!

Highly recommended!

Stay safe,

Michael