The Best Photography Books Every Serious Photographer Should Read (2026 Reading List)
How This Reading Guide Is Organised Whether you’re studying for a BA, MA, MFA or PhD, or simply want to deepen your understanding of photography, this guide… These books will change the way you think about photography, not simply how you make photographs. One of the questions I’m asked most often by photographers preparing for postgraduate study is surprisingly simple: What should I be reading? Photography is one of those rare disciplines where the most influential books often have very little to say about cameras. Instead, they challenge how we think about images, memory, ethics, representation, politics and ultimately ourselves. Over the past few years, as I’ve developed my own…
From My Bookshelves: 10 Photography Books That Continue to Influence My Practice
Looking back through almost two decades of writing for TheAppWhisperer, reviewing photobooks, interviewing photographers and studying photography myself, I recently realised I had reached a rather practical problem: I had run out of room for my photobook collection. The solution was the installation of yet another set of bookcases, a reminder not only of how many photography books I have accumulated over the years, but also of how frequently I return to them. As I was unpacking and reorganising the shelves, I found myself revisiting old favourites and rediscovering books that had influenced my thinking at different stages of my photographic journey. The titles included here represent only a small…
Sally Mann Wins 9th Prix Pictet, the Global Award in Photography and Sustainability
American artist Sally Mann was announced yesterday evening (Wednesday 15 December 2021) as the winner of the 9th cycle of the Prix Pictet, the global award in photography and sustainability. The winner receives a cash prize of 100,000 Swiss Francs (£82,000, USD109,000). The announcement, at a ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, marks the opening of a major exhibition showcasing the 12 photographic series shortlisted for the prize. Each of the shortlisted bodies of work explores the topical theme of ‘Fire’, the focus of this cycle of the award. Sally Mann (b. 1951) is known for her photographs of intimate and familiar subjects rendered both sublime…
The Best Photography & Art Biographies To Read This Christmas
Last week we published a comprehensive list of The Best Photography and Art books of 2016 and it proved very popular, so much so that some extremely vast social media sites compared it to Time’s – a compliment indeed. Today, we have published The Best Photography & Art Biographies, these we believe you will enjoy too. Sometimes, we like to look at the photographer/artist behind the imagery and this is a great way to switch off and indulge, if you have the opportunity over the Christmas break. I do hope you enjoy this. If there are any others that you have read, that you think should be included, please add…
