John Hedgecoes Complete Guide to Photography is pretty good but i to have as of yet to come across a worthwhile photo book. Dont think i would want to write one though as it would probably be as thick as a phamplet

art books in general usually lack a concept, i think that's mainly because the art on these are selected from "the very best works" from separate time frames in an artist's history. this totally destroy any sense of continuity among them and well there's a lot of text to fill the blanks. I became aware of this very recently too, when i ordered a book about a great mexican artist called Leopoldo Méndez where instead of finding all of his drawings actually depicted, i would have to read descriptions of his least known work, and watch pictures of all his famous drawings... That sucked... big time! I mean knowing the story of the artist is cool, but that's what a biography is for in an art book you expect to see the actual art.

See what you just did? You got me all ranty aswell, hahaha

i'm not a photographer, but i think i know what i would like to see on a photo-book, here goes my wish list!

1 concept: like those books made by designers where they take a concept and build an aesthetic around it. I kind of remember a catalog by an artist called Tania Candiani called "Gordas" (fatties in eglish) where she used photography, sculpture , drawing, painting, installation, hell she even chained up a refrigerator! all of this exhibition around the concept of social impositions and stereotypes of how women must look in order to be socially accepted. even with this broad range of techniques there was unity because it followed a concept... i'd love to see a photobook with an established aesthetic, and a strong idea behind it.

2 Cinematography, maybe it's just that i'm a great fan of movies, but i really get hooked at a cinematic series of photos, like those silent films, no words just actions, places, people and a secuential feel to them maybe visual narrative.

3 Sense of design for the catalog or book as a whole: I like your idea of making a photobook yourself because that gives you, the artist, the chance to plan the whole finished product, from the type of paper, the color of the pages, to the layout and order of your pictures, i'd like to see something like that done without the spontaneous spirit of photography taken away.

Hahaha suddenly a feel very demanding here. But well i'm not a photograhper and i gotta admit, i admire you people that pick up the camera , a lot! i'm talking like a fan of photography here, like someone who couldn't use a (photo) camera to save his life but loves to see the work of others.

good luck with your future projects Vale, and hope this could be of any help at all!

(as allways, pardon my terrible english)

I totally quote everything cheng!!!! I think that the concept issue is the most important..when I was in Finland, I went to the photography museum and everything was interesting, but the one thing that really struck me was the exhibition about plants! Continuity can do a lot for your pictures..