One of my first book I bought. Hence maybe one of the influence on my work, specially nowadays.
His book is made after a road trip of about 90.000 km in two years. So in a way it has a bit a road trip atmosphere and pictures related. The photos are quiet diverse, from some kind of street photography to more abstract or fine art photography. But most of the time he's playing with light especially for the ones made at night (obviously).
Yes he's playing with light either natural light, or with the flash where is using it in a very innovative way. At least, I have not seen any other works like his. Maybe I am wrong so please tell me, I would really like to discover some people like him playing with light!
Road trip, yes; this comes from few pictures coming here and there ; where you can feel the spirit, like this picture of a man hanging over the top of a moving car, or, the other one shot is in the city center of a small town it seems; very street photography much feeling, where various people are looking in different directions and moving in various directions.
I think that's the essence of Trent Parke's Minutes to Midnight is a simple question of freedom, no restriction in term of style or technique. You can feel he really has a passion for innovative photography and at the same time he is very emotional as an approach. As one is really moved by these black and white masterpiece shots.
Maybe he's trying to bring the reader to a kind of magic place, where normal things do not have their right to be normal. There is always a detail or even the full picture itself, which is there to bring you out of the reality. Again with very diverse genre and style of photography (e:g: there are also sub-water shots...)
His way of capturing things with a flash is a great inspirations of mine, sometimes I like to experiment like him. I am trying step by step, trial by trial to further fine tune my technique. By especially knowing the extreme to better understand the "normal" way of flash shooting; or at least my own way of shooting.
I looking at this book regularly, especially when I am down, with no inspiration or fed up with photography. It will cheer me up. That's the great power from this fantastic photo book that I really recommend to everyone (and it is affordable too...). If there was only to take with you that could be the ideal one.
BRUCE GILDEN: ANOTHER JAPAN, UNTOLD & AGITATED Bruce Gilden went to Japan at the end of the nineties bringing with him his recognizable style: black and white (at that time), sometimes really up close, and flash; as well as his interest for the alternative, the different. Gilden is a close-up artist. He is in the […]
Shinya Arimoto One of my favorite book. The book is huge and it is protected with a cover that make it even more impressive. But the good thing, apart being a beautiful object, is that the photos are huge also; so it deserves the medium format of the cameras that Arimoto have used (Rolleiflex 2.8F […]
Ten photo books that I love Here is my list of my favorites 10 photo books. I will try to explain them but from the perspective on how they are different from each other, what make them so special compared with others. Later I will make a more detail and special review of each one […]
Todd Hido My favorite book from my favorite photographer. Everything in there is very cinematic. I just don't know how to describe his work apart from this word, cinematic, the images are so much talking to me, from an emotional perspective, not a specific one, but just the one that moves your guts, blow your […]
Shin Yanagisawa As I mentionned, Yanagisawa did not published many books in his life. This one is a retrospective of his work. The concept is interesting, basically we follow him as he goes through Japan starting from the North then going step by step to the South. Untitled We have mostly landscapes here, sometimes urban […]