I’ve been on a tear this year through photography books, looking for the magic formula that will help me produce consistently great images. Although I’m still looking for the magic formula, I’ve found some great books this year, like Within the Frame.
Take Your Photography to the Next Level by George Barr has a promising title. What amateur photographer doesn’t want to make it to the next level? Heck, I’d just love it for somebody to explain the levels to me, so I know what the next one is to aspire to! I skimmed the table of contents at my local Barnes & Noble. Not a whole lot of information on gear or f-stops. Instead, the chapters include Finding Images, Composing, and Assessing Images. It looked promising enough to buy and bring home.
George Barr has a clear, matter-of-fact writing style. My analytical brain appreciates how he approaches some topics. The first chapter on “reading photographs,” for example, methodically walks the reader through different aspects of evaluating an image. This is a skill I’m still consciously trying to develop so I can do more than say, “Pretty picture!” about the images I like. I also got an interesting idea from his chapter on composition: Trying to sketch the main lines of the photo I’m trying to create before pressing the shutter. This sounds like a good exercise to force me to slow down and actively evaluate the composition. I haven’t tried this technique yet, but it seems promising.
Unfortunately, this is all that I directly learned from the book. I had a hard time relating to most of the content and most of the photographs. Early in the book, I was captivated by Barr’s detailed images of industrial & natural subjects. I think his black & white photograph Ship’s Bow on page 10 is a masterpiece, for example. But as I worked my way through the book, I found myself increasingly bored with the images. When I got to the photo of Barr’s underwear lying on the floor (no joke – page 45), I felt I’d passed the point of no return. The photos of dried mud, wet shale, steel tubes, and parking garages all blurred in my mind. My only thought as I skimmed the rest of the book: I’m not sure I want to get to the next level of photography!
I learned more from the experience of reading this book than from the book itself. First, I learned I don’t aspire to be a fine art photographer. If fine art photography’s your thing, you’ll likely find lots of great advice in this book. Most of it went over my head. I value photography that helps me connect to other people, places, and events in this world. I daydream about shooting an assignment for National Geographic instead of getting a portfolio published in Black & White Magazine. There’s not a lot in the book for my demographic.
Second, I learned an important point about picking photography books. A photography book is inevitably the personal account of an experienced photographer to us amateurs. Since there are so many different styles of photography, spend time looking at the pictures in the book and ask yourself, Is this a photographer I want to learn from? If the answer’s “no,” skip the book. In hindsight, I should have studied Barr’s photos as much as the book’s table of contents before I bought it. This isn’t a book I’ll keep on my shelf.
P.S. The Internet can often be a mean-spirited place. George Barr is obviously a more skilled & successful photographer than I am. I don’t want to imply anything negative about his photography, other than saying it’s not my style.
