Photographic References

This book list comes from Ray’s personal library. These are books he has read and found to be always informative and sometimes transformational! Many are out of print and can be purchased from used booksellers online.

In general, the list does not include references on how to operate a camera or use post-processing software. There are an infinite number of sources for that information, most available online for free.

If you have a favorite photography related book, send Ray a note. He would love to hear from you.

Essays and Commentary

Barrett, Terry. Criticizing Photographs—An Introduction to Understanding Images. McGraw Hill. 2006 (4th ed.)

Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida—Reflections on Photography. Hill and Wang. 1980

Bayles, David and Ted Orland.  Art and Fear—Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking. The Image Continuum. 1993

Berger, John. Understanding a Photograph. Aperture. 2013 (1st Aperture ed.)

Berger, John. About Looking. Vintage International. 1980

Campany, David. On Photographs. MIT Press. 2020

Dyer, Geoff. See-Saw-Looking at Photographs-Essays 2010-2020. Graywolf Press. 2021

Dyer, Geoff. The Ongoing Moment. Vintage Books. 2005

Ewing, William. The Body—Photographs of the Human Form. Chronicle Books. 1994

Ghirri, Luigi. The Complete Essays: 1973-1991. Mack Books. 2021

Lyons, Nathan (ed.). Photographers on Photography. Prentice-Hall. 1966

Rubin, Rick. The Creative Act—A Way of Being. Penguin Press. 2023

Sontag, Susan. On Photography. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1973

Strauss, David Lee. Between the Eyes—Essays and Photography and Politics. Aperture. 2005

Traub, Charles (ed.). The Education of a Photographer. Allworth Press. 2006

Biographical and Portfolio

Assouline, Pierre. Henri Cartier-Bresson—A Biography. Thames and Hudson. 1999

Blumenfeld, Erwin. Eye to I—The Autobiography of a Photographer. Thames and Hudson. 1999 (first published 1976)

Brassai. Paris by Night. Flammarion. 1987 ed.

Doisneau, Robert. Robert Doisneau—Paris. Flammarion. 2005

Eisler, Benita. O’Keefe and Stieglitz—An American Romance. Penguin Books. 1991

Frank, Robert. The Americans, Steidl (12th ed.- 2019), 1959 (1st ed.)

Gruber, Ruth. Witness—One of the Great Correspondents of the 20th Century Tells Her Story. Schocken Books. 2007

Haaften, Julia Van. Berenice Abbott—A Life in Photography. W.W. Norton Publishers. 2018

Horan, James. Timothy O’Sullivan—America’s Forgotten Photographer. Bonanza Books. 1966

Jeffrey, Ian. How to Read a Photograph. Abrams. 2008

Koetzle, Hans-Michael. Photographers A-Z. Taschen. 2018

Maddow, Ben, Let Truth be the Prejudice—W. Eugene Smith: His Life and Photographs, Aperture, 1985

Mann, Sally. Hold Still—A Memoir with Photographs. Back Bay Books. 2015

Rathbone, Belinda, Walker Evans—A Biography, Mariner Books, 1995

Steichen, Edward. A Life in Photographs. Doubleday. 1963

Strand, Paul. Tir A ‘Mhurain—The Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Aperture. 2002 ed.

Winters, Dan. Road to Seeing. New Riders. 2014

Perception, Composition, and the Psychology of Seeing

Arnheim, Rudolf. Art and Visual Perception—The Psychology of the Creative Eye (the new version). University of California Press. 1974 ed.

Arnheim, Rudolf. Visual Thinking. University of California Press. 1969

Bang, Molly. Picture This—How Pictures Work (25th Anniv. Ed.). Chronicle Books. 2016

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. BBC and Penguin Books. 1977

Bloomer, Carolyn. Principles of Visual Perception. Van Nostrand Reinhold. 1976

Dilg, Brian. Why You Like This Photo—The Science of Perception. ILEX Publishing. 2018

Dondis, Donis. A Primer of Visual Literacy. MIT Press. 1973

DuBose, Julie. Effortless Beauty—Photography as an Expression of Eye, Mind and Heart. Miksang Publications. 2013

duChemin, David. The Soul of the Camera—The Photographer’s Place in Picture Making. Rocky Nook. 2017

Finn, David. How to Look at Photographs. Abrams Publishing. 1994

Gregory, Richard. Eye and Brain—The Psychology of Seeing. Princeton University Press. 1997 (5th ed.)

Gross, Philippe L. and S.I. Shapiro. The Tao of Photography-Seeing Beyond Seeing. Ten Speed Press. 2001  

Hoffman, Torsten Andreas. Photography as Meditation—Tap Into the Source of Your Creativity. Rocky Nook. 2014

Kandel, Eric R.. The Age of Insight—The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind and Brain. Random House. 2012

Rissler, Albrecht. Photographic Composition—Principles of Image Design. Rocky Nook. 2014

Wood, Michael and Andy Karr. The Practice of Contemplative Photography—Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes. Shambhala Press. 2011

Zakia, Richard. Perception and Imaging. Focal Press. 2013 (4th ed.)

History and Perspectives

20th Century Photography, 2018, Taschen

A History of Photography, 2016, Taschen

Clarke, Graham. The Photograph. Oxford University Press. 1997

de Font-Réaulx, Dominque. Painting and Photography-1839-1914. Flammarion. 2012

Newhall, Beaumont. The History of Photography. Little Brown. 1982

Scharf, Aaron. Art and Photography. The Penguin Press London. 1968