I’m a collector of photography books. The first section I head towards in any bookstore or thrift store is the photography section. I keep a running list in my head of books I wish to collect. I’ve never paid more than $100 for a book, even with shipping. The lowest was probably around $15. My best finds have been on trips to Japan. On a recent trip, I laughed to myself when the customs officer asked if all the books in my the suitcase were for resale. Hell no! I get excited when I find used copy of a book of work by Carrie Mae Weems or some other female artist whose work I want to restudy. A photograph is always more dramatic in person on quality paper. The same effect is not always captured on a computer screen. There are times I splurge for a new photo book. Perhaps it’s a new artist or a fellow photographer I know whom I want to support.
It’s always been my goal to self-publish my own photo book. It’s an overwhelming process putting your work out into the universe. What photos to publish? What type of paper? How many copies? How to promote your work? Captions? No Captions? A preface? How to fund? How much to charge? I think you’re getting my point. Indeed collecting photography books can be costly and no different than keeping an exclusive collection of wine. Most books are rarely repeat productions. You may find publishers who release the same photo in another collection, but some books are elusive. W. Eugene Smith is an example of this. I’m not sure why, but a publisher released what was a contact sheet version of Smith’s photos. I saw a copy of it in a Japanese bookstore. It was sealed and I don’t buy books that are sealed. I plopped myself down on a bookstore bench and found a review along with some sample photos. Nope, I’m not spending money on a book that weighs over 10 pounds. It paid to wait. A year or so later, I came across a used copy of photos published by Aperture of Smith’s work. It’s not his complete work, but the photos are large enough to review over and over.
A considerable portion of my collection features female photographers. I want to know the work of women often buried in the discourse of photography. Think about it, the first names you always hear are Walker Evans, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Edward Stiegliz, and so on. My curiosity about female music photographers lead me to Autumn de Wilde, Linda McCartney, Jini Dellaccio, Linda Wolf, Lynn Goldsmith, and others (Thank you! UW Library, Seattle Public Library, and King County Library for that).
Recently I saw Lynn Goldsmith and Patti Smith being interviewed on the CBS Morning News. I sat down with my coffee and absorbed that interview like a sponge. I watched how Smith responded to Goldsmith’s camera. I also thought, how crazy is it that a photo of female armpit hair was considered controversial? The record company airbrushed the hair originally, but then acquiesced. According to Smith, “It caused the record not to be racked even when it had a hit song on it. It hurt the album… It wound up a picture teenage boys were tacking up on their wall.” The photos shared to promote their photo collaboration burst with color, strength, and female fragility. A thing I’ve learned about collecting photo books, is the minute you hear about them, is that you must seek them out right away. I really wanted to study Goldsmith’s work with Patti more, but here’s the kicker, the cost of the book is $700 for a limited-edition 1300-copy pressing. The books will be signed by Goldsmith and Smith.
My heart sank. I wondered, who is this book for? Is it the wealthy Patti Smith fan? An art collector? Then I questioned myself, doesn’t Goldsmith deserve to earn what her work is worth? Then, I thought, perhaps when I’m seventy-five, I’ll find a discarded, roughed up, cheap copy in a thrift store… now that would be so punk.
See description of Goldsmith’s book on Artnet