[LargeFormat] Re: Books

[rstein]

Dear Eve,

    Sshhh. I'll let you into a secret, but you mustn't tell the others. My
reputation would be ruined if this came out.

     I read. I read every night. I read in the morning during clotting
break*. I read at lunchtime when the staff watch " Days Of Our Lives " on
the surgery telly.  read while developing negatives - particularly now that
I have a Jobo lazy machine. And I read before I go to bed - and not just the
Kama Sutra either.

    I maintain a large library of picture books done by other photographers
and use these as visual seeds to press my own vision on. I particularly
pursue the works put out by Konemann, Taschen, and Dover - these provide the
best value for money here in our local Australian booksellers. I do like
Aperture titles sometimes but they came at a price that makes it a grave
decision in the bookstore - one Aperture or many others.

    I confess to being continually amazed at the subjects that some
photographers choose for their books, and pile incredulity upon said
amazement that anyone would ever purchase them. I think one that I saw in
Sydney of twin-format portraits taken in a seedy London hotel of nude
derelicts was the nadir of it all. Such  appalling visual meat in what was a
very elegantly bound sandwich. Who made it? Who buys it? Goodness, as Mae
West said, had nothing to do with it.

    Uncle Dick

* Well, I like to do the athletic extractions early in the morning and let
them sit there with guaze and stitches and ice packs and thrombin powder and
a dogged expression while I go and consult with " Dr. Moccona ".