Next to photography, reading is my second favourite pastime. Listed below are five books that impacted my photography and writing this year.
** Books mentioned have Amazon or Bookshop affiliate links, meaning I make a few cents if you purchase through my link. I only recommend books that I’ve read.
1. Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton
My #1 coffee table book at the moment, it can be picked up anytime and opened to any page for a quick pick me up. A great conversation starter when friends are over too. Read Lessons from Brandon Stanton and Humans of New York.
2. The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life by John Daido Loori
A book that I didn’t write about this year, yet so deep that I think I will revisit it and try to put into words the impact it had on me in a future post. Loori was a western Zen master and award-winning photographer. This book, as the title says, is more generally about the creative process, yet from a photographer’s point of view. One of his primary influences was photographer Minor White.
The state of mind of the photographer while creating is a blank … (but) it is a very active state of mind really, a very receptive state of mind, ready at an instant to grasp an image, yet with no image pre-formed in it at any time. ~ Minor White
3. On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz
One of my very favourite books of this year. While not a photography book, it is all about seeing and widening our perspectives, with great ideas for photo walks on a theme. Read my post on this book here.
4. A Year with Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy
Rainer Maria Rilke is a very well known and often quoted contemplative poet. This year I set for myself the daunting task of reading the book, A Year with Rilke, and posting excerpts daily on a Facebook page. Rilke was hard to understand at times, yet more often than not, he amazed me with his brilliance and ability to paint a picture with words. His thoughts inspired my photography and I’ve posted many images with his words on this blog.
5. Effortless Beauty: Photography as an Expression of Eye, Mind, and Heart by Julie DuBose
You’ve probably seen my recent postings on this book. It is a wonderful primer on Miksang photography and perceptions in general.
Which book impacted your photography most this year?
So nice to read about and see the books which have inspired you this year, Kim. They all look extremely interesting and eye-opening in the best possible way. I wanted to order the book by Julie DuBose, but the postage costs more than the actual book to send to Switzerland, so that creates a problem for me.
I loved reading about “The Humans of New York” when you put a video on your blog.
I recently purchased “Learning to See Creatively” by Bryan Peterson which I am just reading and which I appreciate.
I love the peaceful image that you put above with the Rilke quotation. My favourite line is:
“All that is not him falls away”.
Hi Sandra, thanks for the tip on Bryan Peterson’s book. As for Effortless Beauty, it is available on Amazon (perhaps shipping is less through them). Or, have you considered the e-pub version?
Kim, I have appreciated the year with Rilke, though I have mostly been a lurker.I purchased a copy and have joined you in spirit. I don’t have much time to myself and especially appreciate your book recommendations-I just wish more were available in the library. The ercent course in abstractions had so many great links! thank you for all you share.