The Photo Book by Phaidon Press

The Photo Book Reviews

• 
  Zanna

  Surprisingly, this is a great source of cultural literacy. These Books of Stuff can be lazily cobbled together from whatever is lying around, but this one is well worth reading. The contextualising commentary accompanying each photograph is very helpful and almost every image in this book is captivating and challenging in some way. Dig in & stimulate your critical consciousness.
• 
  Hákon Gunnarsson

  I like this kind of books for one reason, one can look through them and find something that might be interesting to explore better. And this one is a good one. It's more than 500 pages long, and on each page there is a single photograph (in a very rare cases, more than one like on the page that feature Duane Michals' series "I build a Pyramid" for example), by a single photographer (with few exceptions like Lévy & Sons). Above each photograph there is a little bit about the photo, and the photographer. The oldest photo is since 1850s, and the newest from 1990s.
  
  I have been looking through this for the past month or so, and it fascinates me. I've been interested in photography for a long time, so there is a lot of stuff in this book which I have seen before, some of my favorite photographers can be found in this book. Photographers like Minor White, Jerry N. Uelsmann, Elliot Erwitt, to name just a few. But of course there are other that I don't like very much, like Richard Prince for example. His re-photography concept just doesn't interest me in the least. That is to be expected for a collection of this kind.
  
  Because it has such a large scope, photographers from around the world, and through a period that spans more than a century, one can see how the medium has evolved, but there is one thing that makes that a bit tricker than it might have been. The photographs are ordered is alphabetical, the last name of the photographer determines where the photo ends up in this book. This make it an interesting to look through, but one can't get the sense of style changing as one might have if the photos had been odprdered by the year they had been taken. Still I found it very interesting.
• 
  Anton Klink

  This book sets out to present one photo from 500 different photographers. Although this sounds good in theory, the end result is only a middling experience.
  
  Since all the artists are listed alphabetically, the result is an eclectic and chaotic mixture of photos. This would have been a much better book, had the same contents been arranged chronologically or at least thematically. As it stands though, the photos jump all over the place in time and subject and this greatly hampers one's enjoyment of the book. It also seemed unfair to have some amazing, iconic photographers reduced to just one photo, which is hardly representative of their contribution to the field, whereas others could easily have been left out of the book altogether.
  
  The print quality ranges from OK to below average. The quality may have been the norm 15 years ago when this book was printed (my copy is the older large format coffee table version, not the more recent pocket size edition), but recent advances in print quality leave this book pretty much in the dust. Even though photos shot on large glass plates still display an impressive level of detail, I've seen many of the photos in better quality in other photo books. Disappointingly, a few of the photos even appear to have been scanned from magazine or newspaper resources, displaying a tell-tale sign of moire patterns. Luckily, there are not many such examples but they still leave a bit of a bad aftertaste.
  
  Although the book features a lot of famous photographers, not all photos are necessarily taken by photographers. For example the man on the moon photo by Neil Armstrong is iconic, but Neil himself is not really known for his photography or the photo by Lewis Carroll of his "Alice" is of certainly of interest, though Carroll himself is better remembered for his books. Some photos are by photographers, who were otherwise inconsequential, but are known by their one single iconic photo (for example the hoisting of the red flag on top of the Reichstag in 1945). Yet some other photographers, with an otherwise impressive body of work, are not represented by their most famous photo at all (like Steve McCurry not being represented by his haunting green-eyed "Afghan Girl" but by a much less know picture).
  
  As for the captions, this is another one of those photo books, where the editor is trying to guess the story behind the photo by making all sorts of assumptions, either because the facts are either not available at all (as with older photos) or they are just not available to the editor. I must say I am highly sceptical of all sorts of artistic interpretations and unless you have the facts, I'd rather draw my own conclusions. Luckily not all captions are just conjectures of the editors and some photos have true backstories related by the photographers themselves, but those that don't, soon become a tiresome read.
  
  On a more positive note, the selection of photos, though chaotic, is varied and there are some excellent photos throughout the book. Not only are all the big names are here, but you will most likely also be introduced to many photographers, whose work you may want to get to know better. For example I found some fashion, portrait, nude and photojournalism photographers, whose books I will certainly research online. Apart from genre specific favourites, of the biggest interest to me personally were also the historical photos done around the 1850s-1890s. Unlike the photos of Leibowitz, Newton or Capa, which feature in almost every "best of" photo book, these historical photos I had not seen before. I always feel mesmerized by being able to see the fine details of buildings, people and life from more than 150 years ago because common sense usually tells us that there should be almost no photographic records from that era.
  
  With such a vast range of genres covered, you may find that your favourite genres are either under-represented or there are too many examples from genres you don't care about. For example I found myself skipping all the abstract and artsy and many of the staged photos. I do realize though that it would be impossible to please everyone in a "best of" book and so both the editors and the readers will have to make compromises.
  
  In conclusion, with either a chronological or thematical arrangement, this would have made an almost excellent photo book. Unfortunately the photos are arranged alphabetically by photographers, which provides for a very chaotic reading experience. If you take it as a coffee book only to browse here and there, this book is pretty good. If however you want to read it cover to cover, I'd say the book is simply ok. For a much better selection of portrait and photojournalism photos, I recommend any of the LIFE anniversary books, but especially "The Great Life Photographers".
  
• 
  Ape

  Photography is one of those things that I feel I should know more about, so I picked this up for general education. It's a reference book, going through major and minor photographers in alphabetical order, showing one of their famous works, info about that picture, a little about them, and birth and death (if relevant) dates, as well as nationality. Handy to have if you come across a reference to a photographer and you think - who?? I need to know now! Although I suppose really these days you'd just go to the internet. It's not a book you'd sit and read cover to cover in one go, but over the past couple of months I've been going through this, learning new things and forgetting most of them since. It's interesting, because there are a lot of photos in here that I know, but knew nothing about. And this goes from the 1800s through to today, from portraits to geography and anthropology to photo journalism, art, abstraction.. of course there's always some you like, some you don't. I was also pleasantly surprised to find a local (to me) in here, Sutcliffe, who was a Victorian photographer who took a lot of pictures around the Whitby area.
• 
  Amanda

  What it is: 500 different photographs and the informational bare essentials on each of them.
  I perused a little at a time, which felt like a small, end-of-the-day dose of culture.
  Mine is the mini-edition, which is great for the nightstand. (or wherever)
  
  "500 inspiring, moving and beautiful images of famous events and people, sensational landscapes, historic moments, ground-breaking photojournalism, insightful portraits, sport, wildlife, fashion and the everyday."
  Following the formula of The Art Book, photos are alphabetized by photographer's name. So, in a photography sense, they're compiled without any rhyme or reason (e.g., era, photographic style or category listed above - portraits, landscapes, etc.) It's like paging though a photo potpourri.
  
  Since it's my tendency to want to know more about an individual thing, maybe it's good for my brain to go at a different pace and accept smaller doses of information. And/or maybe it left me wanting at times. In that case, it's like a reference guide, a starting point, where a person might find something of interest and further explore it from there.
  Seems it would be a handy guide for art students.
  
  Like all art- there are some beautiful photos in the world, and some strange and disturbing ones. Some that serve a purpose of preserving history, some that make you go "hmm."
• 
  Jeremy

  I enjoyed this book. Since my version is the pocket version not the coffee table edition I did find it hard to read the text which I found very small. I took to reading a few pages a night which alleviated another problem some may have with the book the fact that the bios of photographers are arranged in alphabetical order. Reading all the way through can be jarring since you would be confronted by different decades and styles. The makers of the book did include a list on each page with other artists that shared inspiration,style or what have you. In that way you can flip to the photographers that share the same style. The book is a great overview of photography can. It is fine way to introduce the novice to the history of photography, photography's cultural impact and to names and styles of the greats.
• 
  Kirstie

  Is it strange to put this as a book I'm reading? Well, no...I guess not. You see, for each quintessential photograph picked by photographers ranging from quite famous (Henri Cartier Bresson to more obscure ones), there is a description of why the photo is important, the circumstances of it, and a bit about the photographer her or himself. I probably wouldn't have picked up the monstrosity had I not found it used at Myopic Books for twenty bucks. It's arranged alphabetically and I'm proud to say that even though I'm reading other things, packing, and often found at funerals these days, I am up to letter D!
  
  Some of my favorites (besides the obvious):
  
  Jane Evelyn Atwood
  Diane Arbus
  Almari Vittorio
  Shelby Lee Adams
  Bruno Barbey
  Bevila
  Carlo Catari
  Bill Brandt
• 
  Siobhan Kelly

  This book has been extremely helpful. I recently started to study Photography and wanted to collect inspiration from other Photographers. Although I have not read the entire book, it is a very good book to flick through and find information about different types of Photographers already out there. The book focuses on a wide range of Photographers and a diverse range of Photographs to be inspired by. I recommend this to everyone interested in Photography or Art, there is something in there for everybody to enjoy.
• 
  Cortney

  I looked through this book quickly one day at a photography store and was totally captivated by the images. I would love to add this book to my own collection.
• 
  Elisabeth

  excellent budget photo book to see and experience a variety of photography
• 
  Angie

  Was required for a class but I wouldnt give it up now
• 
  Karthi

  Visual Inspiration for my photography.
• 
  Daniel

  Brilliant coffee table book.
  Excellent to flick through, or to read from cover to cover.
  Many inspiring photographs from an A-Z of photographers.
• 
  Chanti

  Awesome.
• 
  Danielle

  Great reference for finding other artists to look into.
• 
  shaz rasul

  Wonderful collection of the classics of modern photography that encompass the photos everyone has seen and those that are off-beat enough to startle and/or confound.
• 
  Ashley

  Yes I love photography, but my photography will be better if i have this book because I know this is a big help for me... =)))
• 
  Love2read

  A must read.
• 
  Kelly

  Is it cheeky to say that I've read this book when I've not read every word of every image's caption? Perhaps, but I'm claiming it anyway because I've contemplated each photograph at length and have read a large portion of the captions too.
  
  Some confronting images, some beautiful images, this book is a great overview of photography. I'm deducting a star from my rating for the under-representation of female photographers in this gigantic tome - surely some effort could have been made to include more. Perhaps the scope of the book could also have been narrowed, as it seemed to be attempting to include historic as well as artistic photographs (e.g. Neil Armstrong's first photograph on the moon - I doubt he would see it as art and as far as I'm aware he never declared it so). I also would have liked more discussion of the techniques used in the photographs, as this seemed to be lacking in some captions.
  
  Over all, though, this was a worthwhile tenner spent at a charity bookshop and I'm glad I now have it as a reference.
• 
  Mender

  I'm not enough of a photo purist to actually enjoy this book, I think. As far as I can understand, each photo is of an influential photographer, showing a classic example of their work.
  
  So half of them were fascinating, but the details at the top were too brief for me to get really interested, and half of them were quite dull, being about advances in style and technique.
  
  Overall I'm not sorry I read it, but I can't remember any of the names of the artists, so I've not gained anything from the experience lol.
• 
  Kevin Bjorke

  Another reference... but frankly this is too small to be anything but a novelty book. It has references to photographers I might not know -- in fact it has many -- but so little to say about them, that it's hard to gauge if they're worth further pursuit. IMO, a book intended as a nice holiday gift/coffee-table curio.
• 
  Valeria

  A great collection of the master practitioners of the art since its inception. Phiadon has done a great job of using both the famous/'iconic' shots of some photographers, and lesser known photos of others. As is usual with Phiadon books the design and detail of this edition is superb.
• 
  Roy McDine

  Incredible A to Z of most of the world's prolific photographers iconic images.
  Only criticism is the tiny text which makes the narrative incredibly difficult to read.
• 
  Catherine

  Helpful to me for my diploma, more of a slow flip through than a read but for the price I got it, I'm happy
• 
  Julie Grace Immink

  some more women in here please
• 
  GONE HU I-Mael

  it's a very good book, really good book, i love it, I highly recommend it
• 
  NoBeatenPath

  A great collection of the master practitioners of the art since its inception. Phiadon has done a great job of using both the famous/'iconic' shots of some photographers, and lesser known photos of others. As is usual with Phiadon books the design and detail of this edition is superb.
• 
  Nezzo

  За тези, които обичат или се интересуват от фотография, книжката е добре дошла. А при мен това е едно от многото ми амплоа (пак крада думи на шефа – a.k.a. Христо Блажев).
  
  Снимките вътре са от миналият век, предимно черно-бели и по-скоро в онзи откачен стил фотография, в който трябва да си блъскаш главата или просто да се оставиш. Препоръчва се второто, но не прекалено много, някои фотографи имат навика да те довеждат до гадене. Разбира се, вътре има и доста известни попадения, но пък обитава и доста смърт. Някои снимки я показват доста явно, катастрофи, войни, Ирак, удавени трупове, неприятни гледки общо взето. Към всяка има кратко инфо в горната страница, текста е мъчително дребен и както сигурно сте се досетили е на английски.
  
  Вътре дори има снимки на звезди като Кейт Мос и Мадона, и за къде без най-великата блондинка, Монро.
  
  Нямам какво повече да ви кажа, за това пък ще ви покажа, нали за това е фотографията...