Camera: A History of Photography, Coffee Table Book A Must Have

I’ve always been a fan of big coffee table books, but I can’t recall ever reading one from cover to cover…until now.  “Camera” from Todd Gustavson made the effort easy to accomplish.  Gustavson is the Curator of Technology at the Eastman House in Rochester, N.T., and he has put together a history of machines that have captured moments in time.  With over 350 color images and illustrations the book starts with a camera obscura from 1820 and completes with the digital Leica M8. 

I knew I was in for a treat when the first full page photo was of a Kodak No. 1 Brownie box camera owned by Ansel Adams.  The camera collector in me was thrilled.   I’ve got a No. 2 Brownie that still works.  It blows my mind that I can still take decent shots on 120 roll film with this little box camera that is over 100 years old.  Amazing.  While I love my Canon EOS 7D, I doubt it will be capturing 18MP images after a century. 

Some of the first images in the book are from Niepce, Daguerre and Talbot; names synonymous with the birth of modern photography.  The quality and clarity of the Daguerreotype images displayed in the book are a testament to this capture process.   Some of the most interesting sections cover the oddities in camera development such as the Photo-Revolver de Poche.  In 1882 the interesting idea was conceived to create a camera that looked like a handgun.  It operated like a pistol too with ten 20x20mm dry plates loaded into the cartridge and a 70mm f10 lens in the nickel-plated brass barrel.  There was no viewfinder, but as expected it did have a front sight on top of the barrel to assist with drawing a bead on your target.

This book is a must have for any camera collector or enthusiast with hundreds of cameras spanning almost two hundred years, plus historic photos, drawings, ads and plenty of informative captions and text.  Best of all it won’t damage the wallet.  

Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital

Photography Unplugged: New Photobook From Harald Mante

Harald Mante is regarded as one of the most prominent contemporary photographers in Germany today. He started out as a travel photographer whose work was published in numerous magazines and books, and later taught photography in the tradition of the Bauhaus school of design, applying image and color composition concepts to photography.

Photography Unplugged (Rocky Nook, $49.95 USD) is meant to present the wealth of Mante’s photographic work and at the same time to advocate a pure, straight approach to photography, untouched by digital image editing tools–uncropped and unmodified captures of scenes as seen through the viewfinder. Photography Unplugged is intended to sound a voice that is singing to a slightly different tune than the digital photography choir.

Harald Mante’s photographs, all captured on Kodachrome’s legendary slide films, will inspire beginners and expert photographers alike, and will reveal the beauty and magic of masterfully composed photography.

Just before this book went to print, Kodak announced that the production of Kodachrome slide film will be discontinued. Kodachrome was the first slide film Harald Mante ever used and remained his staple film for decades. Therefore, this book is also a way for the artist and the publisher to say “goodbye” and “thank you” to this legendary film.

Harald Mante was born in Berlin in 1936 and studied graphic design and painting at Werkkunstschule Wiesbaden. He taught Photographic Design at Dortmund Polytechnic and at the European Art Academy in Trier, as well as many seminars and workshops.

Professor Mante has authored numerous art books and textbooks. His photographic work has been exhibited in museums and private collections worldwide, and his books and calendars have become collector’s items.
article courtesy of Imaging Insider