albireo
pfm Member
[Long post warning]
I was hoping that the photography aficionados on here could help me understand how the photo book publishing world works.
Just to clarify - I'm not trying to get any own work published. My perspective is that of someone who is starting to develop an interest in purchasing and owning photography books. The reason is that I increasingly enjoy looking at the work of the masters and have been awfully ignorant of the history of photography so far. I'm ashamed of this, but better late than never.
So my question essentially is: how does one go about building a collection of unmissable photography books? So far my process has been pretty unstructured: I'll see something I like (perhaps a local exhibition? Perhaps an article on the Guardian? Wikipedia?) and I'll seek something out on Amazon. Sometimes I'll buy directly new from Amazon, sometimes I'll go via third party sellers. Some third party sellers seem to be specialised art books dealers, and I've found a couple of reliable ones so I have been ordering directly from them at times.
Now the reason why I'm puzzled. The concept of 'out of print' and 'reprint' for photo books. What does this mean? Why do most recommended books by the masters appear to be 'out of print' everywhere, with some third party sellers offering them at eyewatering prices?
Now, I now my question sounds stupid but please bear with me. I'm used to the world of Jazz music. I have a respectable collection of CDs and vinyl. Most of the titles I've had no issues sourcing directly from Amazon. Eg Blue Notes - you'll find all of them, even the most of obscure ones, though you might have to do with different mastering. ECM - all available. Atlantic -same. Vinyl records: gets a bit more difficult here for obvious reasons, but apart from truly exotic stuff, I've always found what I wanted, including reasonably priced Blue Note Japanese King pressings that sound divine.
For photo books it appears to be a different proposition entirely: perhaps the publisher will do 1000 copies and that's it. When they're sold they're sold. Is that what happens? Reprints: are these essentially exact replicas of old books which are being reprinted by popular demand? Or are these 'remasters'. How does one figure out if it's worth seeking an original or a reprint (when both are available)?
Also exhibitions: seems like sometimes a famous photographer will do an exhibition and the Museum will decide to make a book out of the exhibited selection. Are these titles worth seeking out or are they usually inferior in quality compared to the 'original' books by the same author? Are exhibition sometimes the sole outlet for some of the work by a photographer? Is there a reason to buy the 'exhibition' books if one has already most of those pictures in the book where they were first released?
For essential photo books that everyone raves about and where a reprint does not exist - am I doomed, essentially? Do I have to google the pictures and watch them on my screen? Or wait until a copy for 500£ ends up on the ebay?
To summarise, is the enjoyment of photography art an essentially more 'elite' (read: big, big pockets) endeavour than say Jazz music on CD/vinyl?
So far, I've been interested in (mostly) the titles printed by two publishers: Steidl (Germany) and Mack (UK). If anyone has recommendations on how to build a collection of good quality photo books without opening a mortgage I'd be all ears.
Many thanks and apologies for the lengthy post.
I was hoping that the photography aficionados on here could help me understand how the photo book publishing world works.
Just to clarify - I'm not trying to get any own work published. My perspective is that of someone who is starting to develop an interest in purchasing and owning photography books. The reason is that I increasingly enjoy looking at the work of the masters and have been awfully ignorant of the history of photography so far. I'm ashamed of this, but better late than never.
So my question essentially is: how does one go about building a collection of unmissable photography books? So far my process has been pretty unstructured: I'll see something I like (perhaps a local exhibition? Perhaps an article on the Guardian? Wikipedia?) and I'll seek something out on Amazon. Sometimes I'll buy directly new from Amazon, sometimes I'll go via third party sellers. Some third party sellers seem to be specialised art books dealers, and I've found a couple of reliable ones so I have been ordering directly from them at times.
Now the reason why I'm puzzled. The concept of 'out of print' and 'reprint' for photo books. What does this mean? Why do most recommended books by the masters appear to be 'out of print' everywhere, with some third party sellers offering them at eyewatering prices?
Now, I now my question sounds stupid but please bear with me. I'm used to the world of Jazz music. I have a respectable collection of CDs and vinyl. Most of the titles I've had no issues sourcing directly from Amazon. Eg Blue Notes - you'll find all of them, even the most of obscure ones, though you might have to do with different mastering. ECM - all available. Atlantic -same. Vinyl records: gets a bit more difficult here for obvious reasons, but apart from truly exotic stuff, I've always found what I wanted, including reasonably priced Blue Note Japanese King pressings that sound divine.
For photo books it appears to be a different proposition entirely: perhaps the publisher will do 1000 copies and that's it. When they're sold they're sold. Is that what happens? Reprints: are these essentially exact replicas of old books which are being reprinted by popular demand? Or are these 'remasters'. How does one figure out if it's worth seeking an original or a reprint (when both are available)?
Also exhibitions: seems like sometimes a famous photographer will do an exhibition and the Museum will decide to make a book out of the exhibited selection. Are these titles worth seeking out or are they usually inferior in quality compared to the 'original' books by the same author? Are exhibition sometimes the sole outlet for some of the work by a photographer? Is there a reason to buy the 'exhibition' books if one has already most of those pictures in the book where they were first released?
For essential photo books that everyone raves about and where a reprint does not exist - am I doomed, essentially? Do I have to google the pictures and watch them on my screen? Or wait until a copy for 500£ ends up on the ebay?
To summarise, is the enjoyment of photography art an essentially more 'elite' (read: big, big pockets) endeavour than say Jazz music on CD/vinyl?
So far, I've been interested in (mostly) the titles printed by two publishers: Steidl (Germany) and Mack (UK). If anyone has recommendations on how to build a collection of good quality photo books without opening a mortgage I'd be all ears.
Many thanks and apologies for the lengthy post.