Asian Photography Blog » Books

Remain in Light: Vol. 1

yaohong — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:38:58 +0000

Remain in Light has just announced the featured photographers in its first volume:

Andreas Weinand
Anne Lass
Coley Brown
Debora Mittelstaedt
Ed Panar
Estelle Hanania
Gustav Almestål
Hiroyo Kaneko
Kamden Vencill
Mark McKnight
Michel Campeau
Nicolai Howalt & Trine Søndergaard
Nicola Kast
Nicholas Haggard
Shawn Records
Raimond Wouda
Richard Barnes
Thobias Fäldt
Whitney Hubbs
Yann Orhan

Congrats to everyone! I think it’s gonna be so cool.

I hope Shane reserves a copy for me. ;)

Flak+3030

yaohong — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:38:56 +0000

Diversionist, 2006
© Cao Fei

Flak Photo has teamed up with 3030 Press to feature a selection of images from 3030: Photography in China for the last two weeks of January. Cool! Check it out here.

SoFoBoMo

yaohong — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:16:44 +0000

Ever wanted to publish your own photo book but never really got down to doing it? Paul, who owns Musings on Photography, has announced a fun little project – “the first ever SoFoBoMo – Solo Photo Book Month, for photographers who want to take a crack at putting together a solo photo book in one month”. Sounds like fun! And you get to do it based on the concept of a “fuzzy month”.[via The Online Photographer]

Eyes of an Island

yaohong — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 16:02:48 +0000

Shomei Tomatsu, Untitled, Tokyo, 1969. From the series Protest. © Shomei Tomatsu

Intrigued by Japanese photographers? Bewildered by how they see things? Then Marc Feustel’s Eyes of an Island may interest you. Christmas may be over but the end of the year means that your birthday would be coming soon. =) Lens culture has got an excerpt of the book here. The book traces the development of photography in Japan since WWII, looking at many influential photographers.

This brief overview of some of Japan’s leading photographers during the last 50 years shows that it is not possible to point to a single style of Japanese photography. Photographic approaches have varied widely, from Hamaya’s post-war humanist studies to Moriyama’s experiments with photography to convey the impact of personal experience.

The premise of the book sure sounds interesting, I would love to flip through it when it arrives at the bookstores here. I hope that the book doesn’t suffer from over-generalization or sweeping views, often associated with books on art/photography history. I guess with the myriad of photographic styles coming from Japan, it would be almost impossible to place a defining stamp on it.

Basic Critical Theory for Photographers

yaohong — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 05:54:35 +0000

Recently, I have been reading Basic Critical Theory for Photographers. I think it’s an excellent resource for anyone who wants to go deeper into photography. The book summarizes several notable books on photography by Susan Sontag, Roland Barthes, John Szarkowski and Bertrand Russell, to name a few. At the end of each chapter, there are exercises to work on, applying theories and ideads that have just been read (but hardly internalized most of the time!).

I have read a couple of books summarized in the text and frankly, I felt like I was struggling most of the time. I may have missed huge chunks of insight because I did not work my brain enough. Furthermore, I have forgotten much of what I have went through. That said, I do have the feeling that my own work gained additional levels of complexity after trying very to apply what I’ve learnt but it’s hard doing it alone!

Having a book like this is important for photographers, especially for younger ones like myself. After one has acquired the technical skills and the aesthetic eye, it’s time to move on to a higher order of thinking for one’s work. I believe that photography majors would probably find this useful in their foundation years, and also, anyone seeking to imbue more attributes to their work.