A List, of Sorts

Best of lists seem so final and authoritative. So self-righteous. So superior. So wrong. As far as photographers and photo books go, my list ebbs and flows with each day's tide. So rather than a best of anything, here's my list of favorites from 2007. And by that, I mean, ones I purchased and added to the ever-expanding library this year. Some are great examples of community journalism, others a great look into the far reaches of the world. Some are by the masters, that we should all be studying... others by newcomers who are already standing on the shoulders of giants. What they all have in common is a deep personal connection to their work. A commitment to making pictures that resonate deep within. And the ability to inspire. In no particular order:

The Ninth Floor by Jessica Dimmock -- One word: hardcore. Dimmock is the darling of the ICP, with an incredible body of work that helped her win Magnum's Inge Morath Prize last year, and get a MediaStorm multimedia piece produced this year. Not to mention publishing her first book. Not bad for a 29-year-old who's just getting started. I expect big things from her. BIG.


Driftless by Danny Wilcox Frazier -- When I saw this work win the Community Awareness Award, I instantly fell in love. It's dark, it's edgy, it's real... and it's all done in his backyard. It's the kind of work I dream of doing. I'm glad to see this transcend a contest edit, and become a bigger body of work that translates beautifully onto the pages of a book.


1964 by Garry Winogrand -- If you haven't seen this book, you should. It's a classic. It's subtle. It's witty. And it's a style I've tried to adapt into my own work over the years. It's also something I've wanted to have on my shelf for a long, long time. (I really should have bought it 5 years ago when I randomly saw it at a Barnes and Noble for $50!!) So when I wandered into the rare and out-of-print room at the Strand in NY earlier this year, and jokingly asked if they had a copy -- which no one ever does -- and the guy behind the desk said, "actually we just got one in today, we haven't even put it out yet. Let me get it for you." I knew it was meant to be. It's the only book I've ever shelled out $300 for and I haven't regretted it.


The Glass Between Us: Reflections Of Urban Creatures by Rebecca Norris Webb -- It's a complex and interesting relationship between humans and animals. All the more fascinating when you contemplate who's watching whom. Or when social behavior seems so familiar, so primal. It's Norris Webb's first book and I hope it's the first of many. Her eye is refreshing. I like that her pictures have a childlike sense of wonder and awe to them, and several are downright brilliant.


Slide Show: The Color Photographs of Helen Levitt -- If you want to know what New York City looked like in the 30s and 40s, Levitt's street photography is it. She received a Guggenheim fellowship in '59 and was a pioneer of color photography. The tones of her prints evoke emotion and warmth. Sadly, I'd never heard of her before this NPR interview. Now I can't get enough.


In Search of the Corn Queen by Greta Pratt -- After traveling through 15 midwestern states over the course of three years photographing rural county fairs and festivals Pratt had amassed a collection of images oozing Americana. It's a simple book with some beautiful no frills images. For some reason I want a funnel cake, and the chance to photograph a cute baby contest now.


In The American West by Richard Avedon -- Best portrait photographer ever. I get so sick of over photoshopped, airbrushed super models, and a flawless, plastic presentation of some ideal. Avedon is such a great reminder that simple is good. That sometimes all the context you need is name and location. Proof that there's a certain purity in people, when their character is captured and their spirit unobscured. Proof that there's a beauty in truth. And there's one photo that I can't stop looking at: Boyd Fortin, rattlesnake skinner, Sweetwater, Texas.


East Side Stories (Gang Life in East LA) by Joseph Rodriguez -- Live it, learn it, then shoot what you know. Deal with your issues through photography. Find some way to give back and redeem yourself. Rodriguez was one of my favorite chapters in Witness in Our Time: Working Lives of Documentary Photographers and after hearing his story, I felt compelled to see his work.


Istanbul by Alex Webb -- It's a different kind of Webb: Darker. Colder. More melancholy. Yet still very familiar, with it's layers and use of color and conversations about politics and religion and people. Neat to see him branch out from the familiarity of Mexico and the Caribbean into a region of the world that sits on the cusp of different cultures and continents.


My Life in Politics by Tim Davis -- "Sincerity is the new irony. I'm sorry. Hope is the thing with hot sauce, and some day the ghettoest wing stand will be Smithsonianed. Hope is the thing with opinion. I'll have the Fallujah Burger, please, with a side of riots." It's a brighter, snarkier, more Yale-art-school-influenced version of Christopher Morris' My America that's a lot of fun to look at.


Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue by Eugene Richards -- Most of the Richards' pictures will rip your heart out and stomp on it. There's a sheer power to the rawness of his images. To how close he gets to his subjects and their stories. Why did it take me 10 years to by the single most influential book I've ever looked at. Richards work defines why I want to be a photojournalist. This book epitomizes it.