Influential landscape photography books

I would like to ask the members of this website what their favourite photography books are. By this I mean books that have had a significant and lasting impact on you or that have really inspired you.

Coming from more of an art/painting background I currently I have only one photography book – First Light by Joe Cornish – a photographer I greatly admire. I would really like to explore more but simply don’t know where to start.

Thanks,
Tristan

Tristan,

Any of the books by Galen Rowell, in particular 'Mountain Light', 'The Art of Adventure' and 'Galen Rowell's Vision' would be a great start. They make for great reading and the photography is fantastic. John Shaw has several good books about technique. Bruce Barnbaum has nice discussions about photography on his website. And of course anything by Ansel Adams is interesting and timeless.

Galen Rowell's "Mountain Light" has always inspired me. The images in it are ok (considering the printing technology at the time) but it's really the amazing array of articles is what keeps me coming back.

Guy

David Muench's first book on the national parks called "Our National Parks." His work was by far the most inspirational to me. I have some of his other books as well. While I've developed my own style, his influence is a big reason why I still shoot at f/22 quite a bit.

Yeah I third the suggestion about the Galen Rowell books. His writing really taught me a lot about the thinking process of photography, more so than his pictures. Most books out there are just about technique or pretty pictures but very few actually go into the thought process of creative image making. I must have read his Vision book 100 times by now.

"Mountain Light" is the bible. Not only for landscape photography, but about understanding the different kinds of natural light, the philosophy of photography in general and the creative process. Not to mention as a source of inspiration. His writing has an eloquence not remotely equalled by any other.
Other classics I have found useful & inspiring include : "First Light" by Joe Cornish & "Landscape" by Charlie Waite. These 2 focus on the creative process rather than technical. Another more recent book I would highly recommend is "Working the Light" by Cornish, Waite & Ward. This gives a workshop feel. Apart from a selection of the authors' work, included are photos by their students which are analysed & critiques.
For books that focus more on technique there are several by John Shaw which cover landscapes, nature & close-ups.

some you might like:

Terry Hope - World's Top Photographers: Landscape

Jack Dykinga
- Sonoran Desert
- Desert (Mojave & Death Valley)
- Stone Canyons of the colorado Plateau

Carr Clifton - Wild & Scenic California

Art Wolfe - Edge of the Earth Corner of the Sky

if you can get your hand on any of the Scandinavian photographers:
anything by Hans Strand or Jan Töve

as much as I like D. Muench, the books are too often somewhat disappointing.

georg

mountain light is perhaps the best book written by a nature photographer.

Look for anything by Freeman Patterson and, more recently, in partership with Andre Gallant. Mr. Patterson, in particular, although not limited to landscape, has an amasing ability to extract beautiful and provocative images from natural subject matter.

Add my name to the list of Mountain Light fans. I also really love William Neils book of Yosemite images. The only place I even seen it was in the visitor a center at the Big Oak Flat Gate of the Park. I continue to find it inspiring.

For non nature photography, I love Robert Frank's The Americans, anything by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Andre Kertesz

- Dan.

There are many books that are inspiring, pretty much any photography books is going to move me in some way. However, the two that I always seemed to reached for when I had a question or needed inspiration were John Fielder's "The Art of Seeing" and Art Wolfe's "The Living Wild" Though Fielder's book is more geared towards large format, there is plenty of great material that is universal. Wolfe's book not only has photography great, but he provides technical details about every shot. In both cases you have a master photographer letting you in to their worlds and it is really great.

Like others mentioned already Mountain light and First light are excellent books.

Here are some non landscape related photographers and book I highly recommend
Like mentioned before Robert Franks the Americans is an amazing classic book.
Brassai’s “Paris by night” great print quality and stunning images.
Roy DeCarava: “a retrospective”
Koudelka: “Gypsies” and his newest “Chaos” that has excellent print quality.
Wim Wenders :“Written in the west”
Also books from Garry Winogrand, Paul Strand, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Edward Weston, Eugene Atget, W. Eugene Smith, Andre Kertesz, August Sander, Julia Margaret Cameron,

Long time when I was first getting curious about photography I heard an audio followed by slides from Cartier-Bresson. That seminar session with the words and images of Bresson had me in awe, that day my life changed forever I knew I wanted to be a photographer right there and then. Because of my immense excitement the owner of the material made an exception to allow me to copy his material.
I have today both the audio and the slides that go along but I have no idea were and if it can be found anywhere but it is definitely worth looking for it.
With the help of the net today we find amazing things. Maybe one day I will be able to digitize this material and make it available to others hopefully without breaking any copyright laws.
I would buy any book from him.

May I be someone who says I dont look at any books and try not to as well, I dont own a single photography book except a Photoshop manual.

When I started learning to write music on guitar I avoided the The Beatles like the plague for the same reason, I knew I could end up cloning instead of developing, but in the end I guess I did thanks to Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. In my twenties I spent a lot of time copying, I now regret this as my solos can be picked to pieces by anyone who knows my influences, they dont sing they blast. The same applies in photography I believe so I purposefully avoid books of this type so I wont be holding some emotion that was never mine to hold. It is a personal mistake I dont want to make again.

I play four pieces of music I have written extensively on piano, I love creating on this instrument as I have absolutely know knowledge of any technique whatsoever so I cant have my thoughts bent by a Rachmaninov progression or a Keane song or something, as I have no idea how to play the instrument at all, it is the purest creativity I feel. With a knowledge of how to channel myself creativily that I have learned from many things (we can cross reference photographic composition here purhaps) my approach on the piano becomes entirely my own.

I believe you can spend so much time idolising and filling your head full of other peoples work that when you get in touch with your true creativity its swimming around with so many influences you dilute yourself. It is perhaps a failing of our twenties as we attempt to establish what we are. I find myself boxed in by the musicians I loved so dearly;I dont want this to happen with photography.

I always remember Michael Stipe saying, "one day you create a piece of music and you sit there thinking 'this sounds like something I know..' and then it dawns ' thats me! I copied myself what I am doing!' BUT then it dawns, you have been influenced by a piece of music you wrote for once.... now thats called style"

I had another look at Mark Hobson again, look at his images, there's someone who sees the world so differently to us all.

To conclude; someone elses mechanics and perspective can also be a real backstep in any artistic medium. I personally dont think you need it Tristan, you seem to me to be one of the people going his own way...just my thoughts...

....now to bed.

Thank you to everyone who has posted their thoughts here. I have ordered a copy of Mountain Light and now have a great list of photographers to work my way through - most of whom I have never heard of before.

David: Thanks very much for your very thought provoking reply. I can very much see where you are coming from. Personally I think it depends how on much you let yourself become immersed in others work and the strength of your own creativeness for one to overpower or dilute the other. I also think our past and everyday experiences have the strongest influences on how we see the world.

I find viewing other photographers work - in books, on this website and in other places - can provide me with lots of enthusiasm but more than anything I find examining other photographers compositions to be most useful. Trying to figure out why it does or does not work for me is a great way to learn.

I'm probably completely wrong but I feel as though I am beginning to find my own style and I am not aware of being pulled much from any particular direction regarding other photographers (other than my late grandfather). Hopefully it is more from within and a result of my own personal experiences over the past 20 years or so.

Anyway, I hope some of that makes sense and thanks again.
Tristan

If you want to try something different... try "landscape within" by David Ward.
Guy, I think you would like this...