Dialogue with Photography

This book here is a must read for anyone serious about their photography. It was required reading (almost) when I was at uni 20+ years ago.

It's also co-authored by two heroes of mine, one of whom (Paul Hill) used to come over from Nottingham uni to give us the benefit of his amazing photographic brain. He was also amazing at putting faces and names together, even decades after meeting someone. A talent which I'm pretty certain helped open the doors to all these amazing photographers.

The book itself is a rare glimpse into the thought processes of the people who laid the foundations upon which every other photographer builds their practice. That list on the front cover is quite the list, it really is.

Trouble is, it's very hard to find these days. My first search, in a fog of nostalgia, only turned up copies in the £40 - £80 range. Thankfully eBay came good. Somebody didn't know what they had. A fiver and a few days down the line, it was in my eager, grubby mitts.

If you can find it for a reasonable price, or don't mind the extortion, it's an amazing read. I can't wait to revisit it, starting now :)

Fun fact: Cecil Beaton was a founding lecturer on my old degree. I obviously never met him, but I did use his old tripod regularly. It was a huge, heavy, rock solid beast of a thing. Perfect for studio work, not advisable for location work. I've even seen it in documentary shots of his studio. He must have had arms like tree trunks... Or a very strong assistant.