Photographers' Sketchbooks Hardcover – Picture Book, December 9, 2014

If you're a serious photographer or amateur photographer this book should be on your bookshelf but be sure and read it first!Have you ever wanted to look behind the curtain of a famous photographer to see how he or she works or gets their inspiration? Well this book does just that. Unlike man flashy photography books that show you nothing but terrific images that make you feel inferior this book shows you the work and planning that goes into taking first class photos.You will see original hand drawn sketches and notes form professional photographers that will help you to improve our own photography by creating your own photo notebook and following in the steps of great photographers.Would I bu it again? Without a doubt this book has a permanent place on m bookshelf. Unlike many of the photography books that I've purchased over the years this book is timeless. It will not become out of date with the next software upgrade of new camera model.

The title is deceiving. This book is about the approach or working methods of about 40 photographers. Some of them use sketchbooks or notepads, but some use no such thing. That being said it's still a fairly interesting read. And as I previously knew only a handful of the photographers presented here it has been a nice opportunity to broaden my knowledge. In some cases I've gone on to further explore some of the photographers. For each photographer the editor writes an introductory paragraph and then the photographer writes 2 or 3 paragraphs about their approach. This is followed by a selection of the photographers images. The reproduction of the images is not wonderful but appropriate for the purpose of the book. The binding is made of thick cardboard and covered with glued on paper. The edges are unwrapped raw cardboard and thus easily damaged. I don't expect this book to hold up well over time.

If you are looking for a book that will take your photography to the next level and maybe even inspire you then I highly recommend this book. This is not a dull technical how-to walking you through the technical aspects of different photographers. It is about how successful photographers see. Expertly written and edited. The book is thick and pages are printed on high quality paper.

The title is a bit misleading. I thought the entire book was going to consist of pages from photographers journals and sketchbooks--there are some examples, but the vast majority of pages are just reprints of photographs and a summary of each photographers' work. I wanted to see more process, and less final product.

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I am not sure what I expected when I ordered this but what I received disappointed me. Maybe I wanted more about what a good sketchbook should include. Instead, this is basically some page examples. It could have been much more.

Great book but some pages weren’t cut correctly and I had to separate them myself! It really damaged the pages and I’m a little bit frustrated

The difference between the average photographer and fine art painter is that less space is needed to take photos. On the other hand, the photographer doesn’t “create” the way the painter and sculptor do, as he or she has to gain the trust of the subject before pointing the camera. Photographers’ Sketchbooks, another great book from Thames & Hudson, displays the works, and more importantly, the philosophies, or the photographer as an artist. The artist’s words are treated as the studio.Let’s start with Kiana Hayeri of Iran. She documents women in her country, focusing on how the veil dominates (or benefits) their lives. Her series titled “Your Veil is a Battleground” follows the lives of young women at home, in the car, at parties, all with the subjects’ consent. One of her four-photo pieces shows a woman with and without her head covering, with different makeup and hairstyle, while another set (from the same series) shows the woman in recreation, like parties, movies, dates, museums. It’s interesting to see how Iran’s young people are accustomed to wearing black, perhaps as a result of colors attracting the religious police’s attention?John Chervinsky, on the other hand, works around props and still life setups, particularly dull black backdrops. He admits he has a fascination with the old black chalkboards of Harvard’s lecture halls, and photographs black-painted apples and pears with white chalk patterns. While he doesn’t require the massive mess-and-clean setup of the average painter, his exploding fluorescent tubes required a bit more setup time!Most of the photographers in this book, especially the ones who document people, discuss the issue of trust. Most photojournalists are more interested in the “other half” who are rarely seen, rather than the wealthy classes, but this requires greater effort. While the upper classes will probably be concerned with flattering imagery, the impoverished areas are wary of any outsider. However, as with Susan Meiselas, the subjects aren’t finicky about looking attractive. She gained the trust of locals in a poor neighborhood of Lisbon, where the people and buildings resemble the West Indies, and took photos of them going about their lives. They resemble Black Americans, only the clothing is not as colorful and the people are much slimmer. It reminded me of Ash Thayer’s book Kill City, where she photographs NYC squatters, or the book A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, about young hobos. The subjects clearly weren’t concerned about being “dolled up.”

It features a large number of photographers, a few of them very well known, and showcases their workbooks. For some of them they are actual workbooks very much like anyone who studied photography would be expected to make alongside their projects. For others it could be a documentation of their work process in other form - them writing about projects, screenshots of blogs, few 'work in progress' images in case of 'process' photographers/

Some great pages and examples. Would've been better with more well-known photographers. Focus on analogue photography approaches; would be good to see digital methods.

A photographer's delight, this book was well received - and is still talked about with joy.

Great for students research.

Not familiar with most of the photographers to be honest but a wonderful book to dip into and get ideas. Some great images and concepts.