You think of yourself as a decent photographer. Your work gets better and you expose it regularly to peer groups for constructive criticism.
Now and then fortune smiles upon you and you find yourself with some spare cash. Money to blow. Like photographers through the ages, your thoughts turn to that new body, lens, gadget, whatever.
Stop.
None of those will make your pictures better.
Instead, buy some books showing others’ work. They will teach you more in a pleasurable hour or two than that new camera/lens/gadget ever will. Plus, as X. Trapnel famously remarks, somewhat the worse for a couple of glasses of wine, in Anthony Powell’s ˜A Dance to the Music of Time”, ‘Books do furnish a room’. So if you are a real philistine, at least you end up with nice decorations even if you don’t read the book. Do remember to take the plastic cover off, though.
Ridiculous, you say. Have you seen the price of picture books recently?
Well, if you are a Wall Street investment banker then, yes, by all means go to Rizzoli’s on Fifth Avenue in New York and pay retail. I, however, will be buying the same book remaindered some 6-12 months later at 25 cents on the dollar. Suddenly, that $100 tome is the price of four visits to Starbucks.
Here’s where I get mine:
1 – Strand Books in NYC. Its eight miles of books qualifies it as the eight wonder of the world. Next time you are in New York, forget the obligatory visit to the excess that is B&H and go here instead. Sales tax to the poor residents of NY only, and any walk-in. For philistines, Strand will even sell you ˜Books by the Foot™ (no kidding) so you can impress your friends while watching sports on your large screen television.
2 – Powell’s Books in Oregon. No sales tax to anywhere. And you thought the Left Coast was full of Fruits and Nuts, eh?
3 – Edward R Hamilton. OK, so they are still in the nineteenth century and accept mail orders only, but at 20 cents on the dollar you can wait a couple of weeks no?
Here are this week’s deliveries – these averaged under $25 each:
