George's photography resources

family pictures -- landscape pictures -- other pictures -- about George

If you don't know me, you probably don't have any idea whether or not I'm qualified to judge the value of the resources I review below. But you don't have to make a leap of faith. I have a bunch of my own photographs up on the site. Check them out here or at my professional site, and you can decide for yourself whether or not my opinion is worth anything to you.

The resources below are ones with which I have personal experience. I've read the books, visited the sites, or purchased goods or services from them. As I encounter more good resources, I'll add them here.

Photography books

In my opinion, the best photography books are the ones that combine intelligent technical and aesthetic discussions with attractive photographic examples. My textbooks all have example photography, but the photographs are boring and mostly uninspiring. Note also that my tastes are heavily biased toward nature photography--landscapes, waterfalls, and closeups of natural things. All the books listed below use pictures I enjoy looking at for their own sakes as well as for their explanatory value, and I can recommend them as much for the artistry of the photography as for the educational value of the text.

Ansel Adams, The Ansel Adams Photography Series: The Camera (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com), The Negative (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com), The Print (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com)
Ansel Adams was a rare individual, both a technician and an artist. Even better, he was an interesting and communicative writer. He wrote that "the negative is comparable to the composer's score and the print to its performance." With that in mind, he broke the process of making a photographic image down into distinct technical stages, each of which an individual could learn independently, but which must all be brought together, under the guidance of the photographer's artistic visualization, in order to produce a great photograph. These three books are a set; each is incomplete without the others.

The Camera begins with the visualization of the end result, and discusses the ways in which a camera (any camera - Adams took great photos with 35mm rangefinders as well as with his large-format view cameras) and lenses contribute to the final realization of the desired photograph. The Negative concerns, of course, film, from light, exposure, and the Zone System, through darkroom processing and manipulation of that processing to achieve the desired results. The Print discusses the transfer of a negative image onto a photographic print, with enlargers, printing materials, exposure controls, final image management, as well as archival preservation and mounting, framing, and display of the final product. All three books are, of course, replete with examples of Adams' own photographs, used to illuminate the topic under discussion, and there are myriad cross-references throughout.

Mark Gardner and Art Wolfe, Photography Outdoors (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com)
This is the book that really got me started thinking about my photography, instead of just taking snapshots. It has well-explained discussions of exposure and camera gear, and the basics of good composition. Art Wolfe's fabulous nature photography is used throughout to illuminate the text discussions. Best of all, the book is small enough to take with you wherever you take your camera, so you can refer to the book while you're taking your actual pictures.

David Middleton and Rod Barbee, The Photographer's Guide to the Oregon Coast (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com)
This book is (so far, at least) unique among those I've reviewed here for a couple of reasons. First, it's not particularly intended either as a showcase for the authors' own photography (the vast majority of the images in the book are under five inches on the long edge) or as an instruction in photographic technique. Second, the authors are people I know, as they are both instructors with Olympic Mountain School of Photography. (Rod loaned me a tripod when mine turned out to be inadequate to the task of shooting wildlife at a workshop this summer - look for my best images from that trip to be on the Wildlife pages sometime in August.)

As the title implies, the book is a travel guide to the photographic opportunities along the Oregon Coast. The authors select nearly 150 distinct locations along the coast (including a few locations along the Columbia River) and describe each in detail, telling what's special and photogenic about each location, giving tips for how and when to shoot each spot, and providing driving instructions to get you there. There's a photograph on nearly every two-page spread, providing a sample of what you might see at a given location. This book is easily portable, so you can take it along with you for quick reference on your next Oregon trip.

Galen Rowell, Mountain Light (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com)
I can't read enough of Galen Rowell's books, and I can't look at enough of his photographs. I probably can, however, gush way too much about them, so I'll limit myself to a quick description of the work. Mountain Light takes 80 photographs, and Rowell writes short essays for all but nine of them, explaining the circumstances surrounding the image and the mental and physical process of capturing them. The photographs are organized into eight "exhibits", each group explicating a particular aspect of lighting. In between the photographic exhibits are seven all-text chapters of around ten pages each, describing a particular aspect of Rowell's approach and technique.

Galen Rowell, Galen Rowell's Inner Game of Outdoor Photography (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com)
Galen Rowell, Galen Rowell's Vision: The Art of Adventure Photography, (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com)
Galen Rowell was first a world-class mountain climber, and became a world-class photographer. Vision collects 60 of his monthly columns from Outdoor Photographer magazine along with 145 illustrative photographs. Inner Game has 66 columns from later issues of OP and over 140 photographs. Rowell's articles are less about the technical details of using the camera and far more about how to think about your photography -- previsualizing your images, recognizing potential images as events occur, and incorporating your personal vision and message into your photography. The photographs included are amazingly beautiful, even on multiple readings, and the essay topics range in topic from the physical and neurological interactions of light and our brains' visual processing system, to the personal emotional reaction to an image, to the effective censorship of certain kinds of images by the market forces that drive publishing houses, to the effects of increasing globalization and international tourism on indigenous cultures in remote locations. These books provide an exercise for both the intellectual and the artistic sides of the reader.

Galen Rowell, Poles Apart: Parallel Visions of the Arctic and Antarctic, (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com)
Not specifically intended as an educational book for the photographer, this coffee table book nevertheless provides a fascinating window into the creative process of great nature photography. The book is divided into three sections. The first section sets full-size plates opposite each other, one from the Arctic, the other from the Antarctic, with a short essay describing the similarities or differences between the two images. One pair that sticks in my mind particularly is a California Gray Whale breaching in the waters of the Arctic, paired with a penguin rocketing out of the water onto the ice in the Antarctic. The second section contains sets of smaller photographs collected into photo essays, to give a deeper explication of a particular polar topic. The final section is what gets this book onto my list -- every single photograph from the first two sections is thumbnailed, with an in-depth essay describing Rowell's purpose in making the particular image, his thoughts at the time, and the nuts and bolts of how the image was captured, including details on exposure, equipment, film, filters, and conditions.

John Shaw, John Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com)
This is a highly updated-and-revised version of _The Nature Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques_ (published in 1984). The new edition includes techniques for working with autofocus, autoexposure, and through-the-lens flash, all technologies that were not readily available in 1984. The book has in-depth chapters on exposure, equipment, lenses, composition, closeups, and working in the field. Again, the discussions are illuminated with outstanding photography. If I could only have one book on photography, this would be the one.

Bert P. Krages, Legal Handbook for Photographers: The Rights and Liabilities of Making Images (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com)
This is a solid, understandable discussion of the photographer's rights and obligations when taking photographs, and how to most effectively assert and defend those rights.  It also discusses model releases, conflict avoidance and abatement, and state and Federal limitations on specific subjects. The conflict avoidance section will be particularly useful in these post-9/11 days of Homeland Security and official paranoia - I have heard of people being harassed by security guards and even police officers for taking perfectly legal pictures of Washington State Ferries from a public waterfront park in Bremerton. If you're serious about your photography, this is a must-read.

Bert P. Krages, Heavenly Bodies: The Photographer's Guide to Astrophotography (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com)
This book discusses photography of the night sky; the special equipment needed (surprisingly, very little to get started, unless you consider a tripod "special equipment"), some basic help on finding particular objects in the sky, exposure considerations (forget about your light meters -- they won't be much help), and safety concerns. A good book, but much more specialized than the others on the list.

H.A. Rey, The Stars (buy it from Powell's) (buy it from Amazon.com)
Yes, that's the same H.A. Rey who wrote and illustrated the Curious George books. It's on the list as a recommended companion to Heavenly Bodies, above, but this is probably the best basic astronomy book I've ever read. Originally published in 1952 and updated regularly since that time with current star charts, Rey's text is clear, informative, and understandable without being condescending or childish. The constellations are illustrated in a "new" way that connects the dots of visible stars into a picture that at least suggests the subject of the constellation. No math is required to read this book or to find a star or constellation, though you will need to know the time and date. All the classical constellations and most of the modern ones are included, as well as interesting stars, clusters, and other deep-space-objects. If you've ever been interested in finding out more about the night sky, but have been put off by unrecognizable pictures of the constellations or obscure technical details, this is the book for you. An excellent book for parents and kids to share, as well.

Photography sites

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Last updated 8 February 2006.
All text and photographs © George Mitchell and Margaret Johnston, unless otherwise noted
Comments, questions, suggestions to margaret@lonelymountain.net.