If inspiration is just the thing you are looking for, there are many ways to get exposure to a spectrum of images and visuals that may spark the artist in you. One great way to stir your imagination is to look through photography books, because where else would it be best to find tons of engaging, delightful, and awe-inspiring photographs than in some compilations of best works?
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The Art of Boudoir Photography: How to Create Stunning Photographs of Women by Christa Meola
“Cultivating sex appeal and looking great naked is not about crash dieting or Photoshop, but rather is about a woman’s attitude, confidence, playful personality, and feeling good in her own skin.” –Christa Meola, boudoir photographer
In this greatly anticipated book The Art of Boudoir Photography: How to Create Stunning Photographs of Women, pro photographer Christa Meola goes beyond photography instruction to include detailed information on how to help women look and feel beautiful by cultivating their sex appeal. This beautifully illustrated guide will not only enhance your understanding of how to bring out the best in every woman, but also sharpen your photography skills in order to capture her successfully.
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Beyond Portraiture: Creative People Photography by Bryan Peterson
Great portraits go beyond a mere record of a face. They reveal one of the millions of intimate human moments that make up a life.
In Beyond Portraiture, renowned photographer Bryan Peterson shows how to spot those “ah-ha!” moments and capture them forever. A teary child…old people laughing together…a smiling girl with big, big hair. Everyone remember pictures like these, usually taken by a mother, a father, a friend holding a camera, forever preserving small yet revealing vignettes of our personal histories.
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Immediate Family by Sally Mann
Mann’s subjects are her small children (a boy, a girl and a new baby), often shot when they’re sick or hurt or just naked.
Nosebleeds, cuts, hives, chicken pox, swollen eyes, vomiting–the usual trials of childhood–can be alarmingly beautiful, thrillingly sensual moments in Mann’s portrait album. Her ambivalence about motherhood–her delight and despair–pushes Mann to delve deeper into the steaming mess of family life than most of us are willing to go. What she comes up with is astonishing. –Vince Aletti, The Village Voice
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The Photography Book by Editors of Phaidon Press
When The Photography Book was first published in 1997 it was universally acclaimed as the most fundamental reference book ever on its subject.
This new mini edition has all the visual energy and compelling insights of the original, but in a light and easily portable format, making it ideal both for dipping into and for using as a serious sourcebook. 500 superb images represent the world’s best photographers and encompass every sort of photography, from pictures of famous events such as the Royal Wedding and the first landing on the moon, to familiar shots by masters of photography like Bill Brandt and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
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Vivian Maier: Street Photographer by by Vivian Maier
A good street photographer must be possessed of many talents: an eye for detail, light, and composition; impeccable timing; a populist or humanitarian outlook; and a tireless ability to constantly shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot and never miss a moment.
It is hard enough to find these qualities in trained photographers with the benefit of schooling and mentors and a community of fellow artists and aficionados supporting and rewarding their efforts. It is incredibly rare to find it in someone with no formal training and no network of peers.
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Un Vaillant Martien 