Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/05/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Here are my three choices for "essential books": #1 The Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier Bresson. Worth every penny you have to pay for it. I turned down a trade with a Mint M3 for that book. I can always find M3's, but this book is not that easy to find and gives even more enjoyment than a M3. # 2 Shadows and Substance by Jim Hughes. Read this and you a/ understand the greatness and weirdness of Eugene Smith and b/ you get this urge to take up smoking, drinking and trying to borrow money from your friends! Great read! # 3 Leica stuff. This is a toss-up between Jim Lagers 3 books on Lenses, Bodies and accessories and my 40 years of back-issues of Leica Photografie. #4 My own addition: Large, heavy books that cover vast subject matters: The latest Magnum Book (50th Anniversary, published only 3 years after the actual date). It does prove that the Magnum shooters are among the best in the world. Most of the images are shot after the Berlin Wall came down so they cover about 10 years of activity. I will also add a book to browse for: Raymond Depardon "Voyages", published by Hazan, ISBN 2-85025- 642-0. He is a relatively unknown among Magnum's members, but his travel shots from Africa are interesting and his diary from a month in N.Y. carries on in the same tradition as Robert Frank's "The Americans". Happy reading! Tom A