Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/12/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I'd urge you to go for Magnum Stories or Fat Baby, regardless of their size, over any of the bios. Reading the bio of HCB - or any other photographer for that matter- is not going to improve your shooting. Absorbing Magnum Stories or Fat Baby may. (That's not to say that reading biographies isn't interesting, and perhaps instructive - I've just started my big Christmas book - The Beatles, the 900 page + bio of the Fab Four. But I'm not reading it to improve my musical ability - good luck! - or to learn how to become a pop phenomenon; I'm reading it for enjoyment, and to better understand these four guys who had such a huge impact on the music and society in which I live.) On 12/27/05 3:42 PM, "Matt Powell" <wooderson@gmail.com> wrote: > On 12/27/05, e. nitka <enitka1@comcast.net> wrote: >> Steve - I agree that unless you have some burning desire to know all >> the minutae of the Leica System one is best recommended to buy >> photography books regardless of the camera used to take those >> pictures. > > I too have wound up with a few gift certificates that need spending > and thought I'd look to the LUG for advice. I've got criticism and > monographs that I haven't explored to their fullest, so I'm curious > what are the stand-outs in the vein of Magnum Stories - essays and > writings by photographers on their process and work - or great > bios/memoirs? > > Magnum Stories looks like the clear winner, though it's on backorder > with Amazon and unwieldly to read (kinda like Eugene Richards' Fat > Baby - not something I can take in by bag to read before class). > > The only two I have picked out are the Kershaw biography of Robert > Capa and the slim 'history of Magnum' volume. Is the Aussoline bio of > HCB good? > > -- > MP > wooderson@gmail.com > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information