Ten Best Travel Photography Books Ever
Travel Photography is a subcategory of photography involving the documentation of an area’s landscape, people, cultures, customs and history. The Photographic Society of America defines a travel photo as an image that expresses the feeling of a time and place, portrays a land, its people, or a culture in its natural state, and has no geographical limitations.
Here are the ten best travel photo books and photo essays ever:
1) Portraits by Steve McCurry
Magnum photographer Steve McCurry never set out to take portraits. Critically acclaimed and recognized internationally for his classic reportage, over the last 20 years he has worked for the “National Geographic” and other publications on numerous assignments: along the Afghan border, in Baghdad, Beirut and the Sahel. McCurry’s coverage of the monsoon won first prize in the World Press Awards, and was part of his portfolio when he was named Magazine Photographer of the Year in 1984. In 1985, McCurry photographed an Afghan girl for the “National Geographic”. The intensity of the subject’s eyes and her compelling gaze made this one of Contemporary Photography‘s most celebrated and best-known portraits. McCurry is now equally famous for his other portrayals of memorable faces that he has encountered while travelling throughout the world. Compelling, unforgettable and moving, McCurry’s images are unique street portraits: unstylized and unposed snapshots of people that reveal the universality of human emotion.
2) Through the Lens: National Geographic’s Greatest Photographs
This monumental collection of 250 photos, mostly in color and drawn from the National Geographic Society’s archive of 10.5 million, will be published simultaneously in 20 languages, with an eye toward the 113-year-old magazine’s international readership of 40 million. As in the magazine, the society’s signature blend of dramatic, rigorously composed natural shots and “family of nations”-style culture peeps are backed by broad captions and text (“Perfecting la dolce vita, the people of Europe are renowned for their wholehearted embrace of life’s rewards, from festivals to fine dining to stolen moments with friends or loved ones”) often far exceeded by the pictures themselves. Meticulously (and sympathetically) deconstructed in Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins’s early ’90s book Reading National Geographic, the society’s broader-crossing humanism is in full effect here-and it retains its arresting power. The six sections (“Europe”; “Asia”; “Africa & the Middle East”; “The Americas”; “Oceans and Isles”; “The Universe”) include the first color underwater photographs, as well as collaborative work with NASA, and prominently credit the 84 photographers whose work is featured, giving the book a less homogenous feel.
3) Work: The World in Photographs by Ferdinand Protzman
The enormous variety of things that people do for survival and sustenance is impressively represented in this book. Neither doctor nor lawyer is included, and only a small number of white-collar jobs make the cut. Instead, readers see clover collectors in Yemen, bootblacks in Portugal, ice fishermen in Russia, coal miners in West Virginia, and salt miners in Ukraine. The volume is arranged in geographic sections: Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, Americas, and Islands. Interspersed among them are three thematic portfolios: agriculture, extraction (mining), and manufacturing. Protzman contributes engaging and helpful introductions to each geographic section, as well as brief notes introducing the thematic portfolios. With few exceptions the photos are captivating and of high technical quality. Most were taken within the past 20 years, although some are historical, including a few early-20th-century images by Lewis Hine. Many of the images display poverty, hardship, and oppression (especially of children). A few are whimsical, including a workhorse keeping cool in Spain with the aid of a tiny umbrella. The message that work can be tedious and dangerous, as well as rewarding and enjoyable, is thoroughly established.
4) Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa by Hans Walter Silvester
In this stunning collection of photographs, Silvester (Ethiopia: Peoples of the Omo Valley) celebrates the unique art of the Surma and Mursi tribes of the Omo Valley, on the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan. These nomadic people have no architecture or crafts with which to express their innate artistic sense. Instead, they use their bodies as canvases, painting their skin with pigments made from powdered volcanic rock and adorning themselves with materials obtained from the world around them—such as flowers, leaves, grasses, shells and animal horns. The adolescents of the tribes are especially adept at this art, and Silvester’s superb photographs show many youths who, imbued with an exquisite sense of color and form, have painted their beautiful bodies with colorful dots, stripes and circles, and encased themselves in elaborate arrangements of vegetation and found objects. This art is endlessly inventive, magical and, above all, fun. In his brief text, Sylvester worries that as civilization encroaches on this largely unexplored region, these people will lose their delightful tradition.
5) CHINA: Portrait of a People by Tom Carter
There are more than 1.3 billion people in China. Besides the majority Han Chinese, the population includes 56 ethnic groups numbering over one hundred million. Over the course of 2 years and 35,000 miles, photojournalist Tom Carter captured it ALL on film. For their historical value alone, the 800+ photos in Portrait are priceless. Carter’s anthropological-like study of China stands apart in its genre, as it focuses expressly on the PEOPLE of China. In addition to documenting the everyday life of “ordinary” people, Carter also backpacked to the most remote areas of China to observe reclusive ethnic minorities such as the red-turbaned Pai Yao minority of northern Guangdong and the resplendent Dong and Miao tribes of eastern Guizhou. From Inner Mongolian nomads to newlyweds in Hong Kong, from the teenage girl living in Chengdu dressed like an American punk rocker to the soot covered coal miner in Southern Shanxi, Carter’s camera documented the complexity and diversity of China like no other book ever has (or likely ever will).
http://www.amazon.com/CHINA-Portrait-People-Tom-Carter/dp/9889979942/
6) The Travel Book by Celeste Brash
Even the most avid readers of travel guides and travel literature will not have encountered a book quite like this one. It is huge and heavy but reasonably priced, and it is vastly informative, which is its calling card. All the writers who contribute to the Lonely Planet travel guide series have put heads, knowledge, and experience together and come up with an A-Z series of capsule profiles of every country in the world, 230 in number. Each country gets a two-page spread, on which are placed, like luscious dishes set before one at a feast, illustrations that are typical of Lonely Planet’s unique, non-picture-postcard brand of shots. The accompanying text presents a cogent rundown of the best experiences for gaining the essence of the place; books to read beforehand; music to listen to before you go; food and drink to consume once you are there; and a few brief but pungent closing comments on the trademark things to do and buy and see and what, ultimately, is the best surprise awaiting the tourist. For borrowers in the travel section to sit down, look at, and make notes from, without taking off the premises.
7) Fruits by Shoichi Aoki
If you ever wondered where the catwalk got its claws, then the portraits gathered in photographer Shoichi Aoki’s book Fruits, from the streets of Harajuku in Tokyo, point the way to an extraordinarily imaginative and invariably stunning glut of mongrel fashion heists. A best-of collection from the fanzine of the same name, and published for the first time outside Japan, Fruits keeps its style clean: front-on, razor-sharp images, ranging from the deadpan to the manic, of the sharpest collages of sartorial influence that, usually, little money can buy. From off the peg to off the wall, kitsch to b***h, each person bears a combination and philosophy as distinctive as DNA. All shades of aesthetic are raided, with exquisite, scrupulous attention to detail. Punk is a favorite, as is, appropriately, Vivienne Westwood, alongside Milk and Jean-Paul Gaultier, and the occasional Comme des Garçons. Many of the outfits, though, are second-hand or self-assembly, such as a skirt drooping petals of men’s silk ties, Wa-mono, when tradition Japanese clothes are topped with, say, an authentic bowler hat, EGL (elegant gothic Lolita), and a swathe of tartans, pinks, and turquoises. The most malleable feature, unsurprisingly, is hair, with dreadlocks, mohicans, back-combing, and crops dyed an irradiated spectrum. While the eye is drawn, obediently, to the mannequins, the background is often worth a look, either for the vending machines against which a number are shot, or the ubiquitous Gap store and bags, a constant reminder of the global mass market.
One Planet – Lonely Planet Publications
The old adage that says a picture is worth a thousand words seems to hold true especially well for travel. Browsing through Lonely Planet’s One Planet: Inspirational Travel Photographs, a collection of some of the best photos from the Lonely Planet Images Library, will give you plenty of inspiration for your future travels; alternatively, you could simply use it as an excellent armchair travel experience. The introduction to this (smallish) coffee table book says that the pictures were chosen for beauty, of course, but also “for their sense of capturing a moment in time, a moment that is shared across the globe”. And it’s a good point, because this collection is relatively free of those vast landscape photographs or impossible-to-replicate air shots that some travel books love. In fact, in the vast majority of photographs there are people, keeping the collection far removed from typical postcard shots. The photographs are, as you can imagine, from across the world: a teenager in Chile, divers in Indonesia, street parades in London and people struggling against typhoon winds in Hong Kong. It’s a book to dip into again and again, whether you’re looking for ideas to help you plan a trip or just wanting to escape for a moment from everyday life.
9) Revelations: Latin American Wisdom for Every Day by Danielle Föllmi
A cradle of Nobel Prize winners and a font of ancient wisdom, Latin America provides a wealth of sublime source material for the husband-and-wife creative team of Danielle and Olivier Föllmi. In the latest installment in their Offerings for Humanity series, the authors draw nuggets of written wisdom from the Andean plains to the Mexican desert. Set against the stunning visual backdrop of 365 photographs, taken all across the continent by Olivier, these quotations come from both world-renowned Latin American writers (including Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, and Carlos Fuentes) and traditional Indian spiritual teachings, demonstrating the subtle interweaving of ancestral belief and contemporary thought in one of the world’s most intellectually fertile regions. Like their previous explorations of Buddhist, Indian, and African wisdom, this new volume will surprise, enlighten, and nourish the soul. Danielle and Olivier Föllmi are the authors of 14 books, including Offerings, Wisdom, and Origins in the bestselling 365 series. They are the founders of HOPE, an association dedicated to education in the Himalayas and divide their time between the Alps and travels around the world.
10) Ruin: Photographs of a Vanishing America by Brian Vanden Brink
Brian Vanden Brink’s photographs of a decaying America provoke both melancholy and wonder. This is a thoughtful book that is worth keeping at hand for those times when one feels a need for introspection. Each of us likes to think that we are unique with eternal visions of our lives, but in fact our place in this world is only temporary – doomed to a certain deadly end. But men and women tend to leave monuments behind, and Vanden Brink has captured those relics with his camera — before the relics, too, turn to dust. Vanden Brink is a professional architectural photographer whose career has focused on contemporary architectural design. As he traveled around the country on assignment for such magazines as Architectural Digest, the New York Times Magazine and Down East Magazine in Maine, however, Vanden Brink’s artistic eye fell on old wrecks of homes, churches, stores, factories and bridges that were all but falling down. Fortunately, he took the time to photograph his discoveries. Vanden Brink is following a grand tradition in modern photography. The pioneer in this genre, of course, was Eugene Atget who focused on ancien France with his 19th century photographs of ghostly structures. Andre Kertesz was also a well know chronicler of fading architecture, as was Maine native Berenice Abbott. More recently, William Christenberry captured the essence of the old south with his penetrating photographs of crumbling buildings overgrown by vines and trees.
THE END
About the Author
First Photo of X-men First Class Movie Cast Poster! Class Is In Session!
|
|
Bungalow FoFlor Area Rug $129.00 Don’t be stuck with a floor you’re not happy with. Get the floor you WANT with the Fo Floor! SAVE BIG! Add style and high-traffic protection, without the expense and hassle of traditional flooring! The Fo Floor is a crack-resistant foam rubber mat, treated with your choice of fade-resistant, photo-quality surface patterns. Great for adding some grip to slippery concrete or hard wood surfaces. Or a… |
|
|
Camera Lens Mug with Lid $14.99 Looking for novelty gifts for men? Our Camera Lens Mug should tick all the boxes! Looking just like a top quality SLR camera lens, watch your friends face turn to horror as you take off the lens cap and fill it with tea!Beautifully detailed, the Camera Lens Mug is a great Birthday gift or stocking filler and the lid not only keep dust off of the lens…I mean your hot beverage…but also doubles u… |
|
|
Steve Steigman Blown Away … |
|
|
Immagine in Cornice – Live In Italy $19.11 The most popular American rock group of the ’90s, Pearl Jam defined and ultimately transcended the grunge era, becoming one of rock and roll’s all-time most iconic and enduring superstar bands.This extraordinary live concert DVD was filmed in Italy on Pearl Jam’s 2006 international tour. Immagine in Cornice features 13 songs including “Porch,” “Better Man,” “Alive,” and “World Wide Suicide,” with … |
|
|
Everclear – So Much for the Afterglow $4.99 1. So Much for the Afterglow 2. Everything to Everyone 3. Ataraxia (Media Intro) 4. Normal Like You 5. I Will Buy You a New Life 6. Father of Mine 7. One Hit Wonder 8. El Distorto de Melodica [Instrumental] 9. Amphetamine 10. White Men in Black Suits 11. Sunflowers 12. Why I Don’t Believe in God 13. Like a California King… |
|
|
Dionne Farris – Wild Seed — Wild Flower $39.95 Track Listings 1. I Know |
|
|
Photographing Fairies [VHS] $14.95 The true story of two English children who claimed they photographed fairies in 1917 produced two different movies in the late 1990s. Not as well-known as the earnest family drama FairyTale: A True Story, the English-made Photographing Fairies takes a much more adult angle on the incident. The film follows not the children, but Charles Castle (Toby Stephens), a young photographer who loses his … |
|
|
Iron Magazine’s Sexy Swimsuit Spectacular #2: The Hottest, Fittest Bodies on Earth $49.99 You asked for it! Nine of the world’s fittest, most beautiful women cast off all inhibitions in the second installment of our Sexy Swimsuit Spectacular series, a wild behind-the-scenes look at our steamiest photo shoot yet! Fasten your seatbelts as these hard-bodied beauties reveal themselves in intimate, up-close encounters! Stretched invitingly in the sand, or splashing in the jewel-clear Cali… |
|
|
Professional Portrature Series Volume 5 -Posing the Male: The 22 Most Efective Poses for Men … |
|
|
Brinkmann Maxfire Dual Xenon Spotlight $24.99 Powerful dual 6V Xenon bulb for extreme bright light output. Switches instantly from single to dual lamp mode. On/off trigger switch for momentary burst of light. Lock button for extended ON times. Fold down metal bracket for hanging or storage. Includes UL approved 120V AC charging adaptor and 12V DC car charger with coiled cord. LED indicator turns off automatically when fully charged. Rechargea… |
|
|
Henri Cartier-Bresson (Paperback) $31.38 A richly illustrated retrospective of the critically acclaimed work of the master photographer honors the ninety-fifth birthday of Cartier-Bresson with a collection of some of his finest works, representing all periods of his life, along with a selecti… |
|
|
Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Boxed Set, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 (Paperback) $37.51 This attractive boxed set includes:The Digital Photography Book (ISBN 0-321-47404-X)The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 (ISBN 0-321-52476-4)The Digital Photography Book, Volume 3 (ISBN 0-321-61765-7)Scott Kelby, the man who chang… |
|
|
Stewart Parr ‘Iceland, Isafjordur – Old Man of the Sea’ Unframed Photo Print $37.99 Artist: Stewart ParrTitle: Iceland, Isafjordur – Old Man of the Sea Subject: Landscapes |
|
|
Wet Men (Hardcover) $31.38 Francois Rousseau, photographer of Locker Room Nudes and the famed Dieux du Stade calendar, presents a unique and candid collection of nude and seminude photos of more than fifty men in, on, and around water. Wet Men is a celebrati… |
|
|
Esquire, 12 issues for 1 year(s) $8 With powerful writing and striking photography, Esquire challenges, touches and stirs readers through such features as: America: an insightful analysis of the powerful events that shape and define our nation, Style: the latest men’s fashion, sho… |
|
|
Family of Man $12.83 503 photographs of people from all over the world, illustrating those moments and feelings in life that all men share |
|
|
Stewart Parr ‘Iceland, Isafjordur – Old Man of the Sea’ Unframed Photo Print $27.99 Artist: Stewart ParrTitle: Iceland, Isafjordur – Old Man of the Sea Subject: Landscapes |
|
|
Gay in America (Hardcover) $26.48 In this first-ever photographic survey of gay men in America, stereotypes are laid to rest and an intimate, honest picture of contemporary gay life is revealed through stunning personal portraits and narratives.   Photographer Scott Pasfi… |
|
|
The Personal Photos of Frida Kahlo (Hardcover) $29.6 Combines high-quality reproductions of thousands of Kahlo`s photographs collected throughout her life and recently rediscovered in her family home storerooms, in a volume that includes images by such leading photographers as Man Ray and Edward Weston a… |
|
|
Man Ray in Paris (Hardcover) $18.03 Paris after World War I was teeming with Americans. Bon vivants seeking escape from prohibition mingled with artists and intellectuals, all pursuing their dreams in the City of Light. The American Modernist Man Ray (1890–1976) spent the … |
No comments yet.
Leave a comment