Three More Photo Books That Transformed My Artistry
More of the greatest photography books I've ever read.
First of all, Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had a peaceful welcome into 2025.
Next, let’s talk books.
Photography books are an amazing way to experience (or create) a unified narrative through sequences of images. I want to get right to it and introduce you to three more that have significantly impacted my artistry.
All images in this edition were made by photographers other than myself. They are attributed alongside their respective work.
Ming Smith: An Aperture Monograph
Ming Smith: An Aperture Monograph is an unabridged look into a master of their craft. Harlem-based, Columbus-raised, and Detriot-born, Smith is a photographer whose visual artistry spans Street Photography, Fashion, Portraiture, and more.
As you read through the Monograph, you’re welcomed into her photographic escapades around various cities. Perhaps even sweeter is that the book features transcripts of interviews and tellings about her creative philosophy.
Upon first readthrough, I was intrigued by her deliberate aesthetic choice of embracing motion blur. In many circles of street photography, sharpness is “supreme”, and anything other than statuesque clarity may as well be a missed photo.
Smith turns this notion on its head, leading to a somewhat spiritual element of the work. The photograph transcends the idea of “document” and acts more as a representation of energy.
In an excerpt from a MoMA interview (the museum by which she is the first Black Woman photographer to have an image permanently acquired), Smith stated, “I like catching the moment, catching the light, and the way it plays out…I go with my intuition…it's about always looking at lines and the quality of the movement. It's about seeking energy, breath, and light.”
If a photograph is simultaneously a creative expression and a historical record, Ming Smith often tilts on the “creative expression” end of the spectrum. She creates worlds.
The artistic gold this monograph encompasses exceeds the space Substack provides me. This stands tall as a book that presents a truly unfiltered look into the artistry of a monumental photographer.
Its value transcends the dollar amount and has stuck with me since I purchased it.
Black is Beautiful, Kwame Brathwaite
Kwame Brathwaite (1938 - 2023) was an American photographer and activist who, unbeknownst to me before reading Black is Beautiful, is responsible for popularizing the phrase, “Black is Beautiful”!
This book chronicles Brathwaite's life and photography, from his candid photography of Harlem to his captures of live music in New York, to his roles in the African Jazz Art Society and Studios in 1956, and Grandassa Models in 1962.
A remarkable activist during his lifetime, Brathwaite was a major force in uplifting and dignifying Black women in the fashion/beauty space. Grandassa featured exclusively Black models with a variety of skin tones, body sizes, and hairstyles.
“It was revolutionary. During that time – the 1950s and 60s – it was unacceptable to wear your hair in any natural hairstyle. The point that was being made was that you can be your natural self and be proud of who you are, and not accept another person’s standard of beauty as your own.” - Kwame Jr., Kwame Brathwaite's son and Director of Archives for the Kwame Brathwaite Archive [3]
As you journey through Brathwaite’s career, what’s palpable is his resolve. The impact an artist can make when they combine their photography with an idea bigger than themselves is inspirational.
From the mastery with which he photographed the Grandassa models, to his insightful documentation of his community, Black is Beautiful contains immense value for artists, providing a dynamic merge of philosophy, craft, and purpose.
On Reading, Andre Kertesz
On Reading features a collection of images made by influential photographer, Andre Kertesz that are narratively united by the act of reading.
Kertesz’s (1894 - 1985) career spanned decades, in which he continuously advanced his craft by adopting new approaches.
Be it his poetic captures of city streets, his creatively charged carte postale era of imagery, or his hauntingly beautiful Polaroids towards the end of his life, his epochs of creativity reveal an artist who constantly strived for the next level.
What largely makes On Reading so brilliant is its simplicity. Each of the 60-ish photos in this book is directly related to the act of reading, yet there’s so much complexity in his captures and the humanity of his subjects that no two images feel the same.
Often, when thinking about books, photo books, or meaningful art in any capacity, the mind directly leaps to “What’s the most impactful thing I can do to change the nature of society tomorrow?”
Yet, since the dawn of time humanity has been moved by all moments, big or small, that artfully encompass shared values, practices, and/or conditions.
Some artists did this by empathetically photographing social and racial paradigms (Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange). Others have done so by focusing on youth wrapped up in gang life (Bruce Davidson, Brooklyn Gang). Surely, you will do it in your special way.
In this instance, Andre Kertesz made his poetry out of everyday life by capturing the deeply personal, yet universally relatable act of reading. Through his lens, the mundane is imaged in a heartwarming, aesthetically potent, and delightfully timeless way.
Thanks so much for this. Going to pick up Ming’s book right now.
Loved this! Thankyou! Inspirational