My favourite books of the year-2014

blogEntryTopperPhoto above shows my top books for 2014. My book of the year goes to DONT JUST TELL THEM, SHOW THEM by Jesse Marlow.
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Jesse is an Australian photographer based in Melbourne. A documentary/street photographer, his early work was in black and white. Jesse decided around 2004 to switch to colour for his street work. This major shift has resulted in the publication of this latest book of his and is the result of a 10 year exploration in the medium. Published by M.33 it is a limited edition book of 1000 and can be purchased directly from Jesse’s website HERE

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The book has high production values, heavy paper stock is used and colour reproduction is rich and vibrant. Every picture is placed on the right-hand side. This is good as the images are meant to stand alone and not have a relationship with each other. I found this to be is an inspiring and rewarding book. I will let the images speak for themselves and to thank Jesse for letting me reproduce some here.
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Another marvellous book I got in 2014 was Jeff Jacobson’s THE LAST ROLL. This book project began in a low point in his life when he was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2004. The chemotherapy used in treating it took it’s toll, confining him to the house for some time. But slowly as his health returned so did his mobility and he began to travel across America again with his camera. It was at this time that Kodak announced the discontinuation of Kodachrome, his beloved film of choice. Stockpiling his refrigerator with as much as he could buy, these would become his last film shots and, for all he knew, his last images. The book deals with the transience and fragility of life with the poetic eye of a former Magnum photographer. The photographs are printed on a lovely matt paper stock.
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This inexpensive book by David Gibson is just a treasure for anyone thinking of trying to do street photography. It is all about the spirit of the genre. The reader is introduced to twenty acclaimed contemporary street photographers, among them Bruce Gilden, Nils Jorgensen and Saul Leiter, and intersperses the profiles with twenty invaluable projects that deal with the practicalities of street photography and break down different approaches into clear concepts. Written with obvious love and enthusiasm, it should be on every students list of essential books that can really make a difference to the quality of their photography if studied and lessons acted upon.