We May As Well Dance by Valda Bailey and Published by Kozu Books - On My Bookshelf S05E11
In this episode of On My Bookshelf I look at We May as Well Dance by Valda Bailey. Is book of abstract and expressionist images, by one of the leading photographers in this genre, a book for your bookshelf?
The Art of Photography
Photography is a wonderful medium, and whether you believe it to be art or not, the sheer variety of genres and styles is enough to give any lover of photographs a lifetime of images to enjoy.
While my own bookshelf is dominated by books on landscape photography, there are also books on people, locations, wildlife and even a TV show. I enjoy them all, but they all have one thing in common. Everyone will identify the images in those books as photographs.
The images in We May As Well Dance are very different. They are still photographs (captured using a camera), but the use of ICM and multiple exposures that Valda has expertly adopted produce images that take on an abstract, expressionist style. At first glance, they could be mistaken for paintings or some other form of art.
With We May As Well Dance being such a big departure from the types of photograph I enjoy, would I still be able to enjoy it? Let’s find out in the latest episode of On My Bookshelf.
You can purchase a copy of We May As Well Dance by Valda Bailey directly from Kozu Books - https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/we-may-as-well-dance-by-valda-bailey
Sea Signatures by Marianthi Lainas and Published by Kozu Books - On My Bookshelf S05E10
In this episode of On My Bookshelf, I discover not all photographs are created using cameras. Sea Signatures is a collection of cyanotype photographs created by Marianthi Lainas as she explored the littoral zone of her local coastline. Reading this book has opened my eyes to a whole new type of photography and art, but is it a book for your bookshelf?
Cameraless Photography
Photography comes in many forms, styles, and genres. Even though my own photography journey is leading me towards the development of a particular style of landscape photography, I like to expose myself to a wide range of photographers and styles. I’ve always found that by digesting the images contained in books by photographers that have a vastly different style to me, I can normally learn something about my own photography.
However, Sea Signatures by Marianthi Lainas is something quite different. The images contained in this book aren’t even taken with a camera. Marianthi has used the cyanotype process coupled with her use of mixed media to create a body of work that is unique. They are images created by the sea, but they aren’t seascape images as I would imagine them.
Have I bitten off more than I can chew with this book? Are the images in this book to artistic and abstract? Join me in the latest episode of On My Bookshelf to find out.
You can purchase a copy of Sea Signatures by Marianthi Lainas directly from Kozu Books - https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/seasignatures
Mesozoic by Sam Gregory - On My Bookshelf S03E05
Welcome to another episode of On My Bookshelf, and in this episode, I look at Mesozoic by Sam Gregory.
Landscape Photography Inspiration
As many of my regular readers will know I love a good photography book. Lots of those books are from photographers that I admire and feature photographs of a style that I like to take. However, I am a firm believer that by looking at photographs that are from a different style or even a different genre of photography I can l still learn from them and improve my own photography.
This is why I decided to purchase Mesozoic by Sam Gregory. Sam describes the book as a visual abstraction of the Mesozoic period. The photographs contain within the book are not the type of photographs I would normally take but I believe that by studying the photographs in this book that my own photography will be inspired and maybe even influenced.
Hopefully, that video has given you a better understanding of why I purchased the book and you’ll consider picking up a copy yourself (which you can do directly from Sam’s website here). Don’t forget that Sam is a co-host in one of my favourite photography podcasts, The Togcast. Check it out here and those long drives to your next landscape photography destination will fly by!
Finally, if you’ve got a little more time, then why not check out some of the other episodes of On My Bookshelf in this handy playlist.