my top 10 photo books

[JacksonPine-yc]

Great list!
My 10 essential books:
1) Exiles / Josef Koudelka
2) Places of Grace / Gary Irving
3) Five Decades / William Albert Allard
4) Democratic Forest /William Eggleston
5) Desert Cantos / Richard Misrach
6) Ansel Adams / The Making of 40 Photographs
7) Scottish Symphony / Michael Ruetz
8) Between Worlds / Harry Gruyeart
9) Michael Kenna: A Twenty Year Retrospective / Michael Kenna
10) Trees: National Champions / Barbara Bosworth

[ralphbrandi]

Saw the pile in the background at the beginning when it was out of focus and was like “I recognize that top one; I have that”. I got it because it’s one of the only affordable ways to get a copy of Broken Manual. Also recognized Tim Carpenter. I read his book "To Photograph Is to Learn How to Die: An Essay with Digressions” last year and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Not an easy read, but so worth struggling through.

[somephotovideos]

Who cares what YouTube Studio thinks! Keep videos like this coming. I love to feel like we're just chilling as you talk about your books, gear, experiences, whatever. Thanks for another chill video!

[MikePhumanaut]

Irwitts dog book is a wonderful piece of work. Top 3 book for me.

[troybradford]

Hey Matt, your book videos are some of my favorites man! And yes I am absolutely enjoying the Andre Wagner book! Thanks for the shout out…

[stevenmccaughan]

Have the same problem I have a room full of camera gear and photo books in the process of picking photos for a book and had no idea how hard it would be

[jorghahn]

Tim Carpenter is indeed a tough sell and I couldn’t blame anyone who thinks that these are just snapshots of nothing. I personally like this type of photography although I couldn’t explain why (what you mention as well). Now, if I came home with photos like this my family would certainly ask what I was photographing there... 😅 Not sure though about the artistic mission of his work.

[Ben-vglw]

Wonderful video, kudos to you for putting it out there knowing it might not hit the metrics like others and for sharing great work - from some well known and othered less so. A pleasure to watch ❤

[JosephBayot]

Thanks so much for sharing your list! Not sure if I'd ever be able to make a list like this because it really depends on my mood and what the criteria would be, but my list would definitely have a couple of the same books as yours =)

[JacksonPine-yc]

Photobooks are the ultimate way to exhibit photography. Nothing else comes close.

[clintwoosley]

Just started.
I feel my wallet opening.

[daviscarter]

I like your photo book episodes! They introduce me to a lot of artists that I never knew about. Thanks for doing these.

[colinbazzano]

Are you familiar with Passing Through Eden by Tod Papageorge? I am lucky enough to own a copy and would recommend it to you, Matt

[SlavaVeres]

Mmm... PHOTOBOOOOKS! My favourite topic from Matt :) WHAT A WONDRFUL TOP-10 LIST! Currently my personal library contains probably a couple of hundred, 300, maybe 400 titles... 95% of them from the thrift stores here in Canada. I noticed that with time I fall out of love with some books and find it easier to let them go. Recently I packed a whole suitcase of photobooks that I am donating to a contemporary Ukrainian photographer in Kyiv - VALERII VEDUTA. He works in large format, makes wonderful gum-bichromate prints, currently his work is dedicated to what is going on in Ukraine.

[parazittrilobitovic]

Best regards from far far away (Prague, Czech Republic …).

What about the following ones:
Dorothea Lange
Alfred Stieglitz
or “our” very own:
Frantisek Drtikol
Josef Sudek
Jaromir Funke
Antonin Kratochvil
Josef Koudelka.

JUST to add a few to probably have a look at should you have a chance …

DO LIKE YOUR VIDEOS.

Best regards from Europe.
Petr

[tbostrowski]

One of us, one of us, oh yeah, I love Photobooks too, not sure that I could let go of many (if any) but these are some great books Matt. Some of the photographers on your list are unfamiliar to me, so this post was especially exciting with their unknown (to me) work. Brilliant. Sage’s work really got me going, love it, wish I could find that book. But I can find the Alec Soth book Gathered Leaves and it’s in my cart as I write this. Yeah, so I didnt know you made these kind of videos Matt, somehow I thought you were more of a gear guy so I’ll have to keep a closer eye on your channel if this is the kind of content you put out, really really enjoyed this one.

[magnusa.]

interesting yet totally logical how your documentary style in photography mirrors itself in your choices. if you have not checked out Stephan Vanfleteren‘s work (everything from documentary to portraits) you HAVE TO get into him. my favorite atm.

[IndridCold]

I am very happy that you create photobook videoes. And although i have a (bad) habit of never pressing the like button. I did now!

[Foto]

My two favourite that you showed was Summer Camp and Juggling is Easy. What was interesting and by no means a negative comment was how many books you are attracted to based on American culture. Naturally this maybe natural of course being American and living there. Would be great to hear your top choices of non American cultural books. If you enjoy real life situations a great book is Once Upon a Time in Wales by Robert Haines. It would also be interesting to hear your thoughts on photography books that focus on images taken with a Leica such as Eyes Wide Open which covers 100 years of Leica photography. Okay I admit this is more than one photographer of course. One more recommendation which is a really great book is One Day for Life in which photographers were asked to submit images all taken on the same day - 13 August 1987. It would be great to replicate this in other countries or even World wide as it such a cool idea.and seeing all these images in one book is amazing.

[PeterMorley-nw]

I fear this video is going to hurt my bank balance. Photo books are the best way to view photos: indeed I think it’s one of photography strengths over other art forms.