The Holiday Gift Guide for the Photo Enthusiast 2023

 

Frida Kahlo, Her Photos

African-American Faces Of The Civil War

 

"Looking At Trees, a forthcoming book compiled with an introduction by artist Sophie Howarth, encourages us to reconnect with our natural surroundings. Images by more than two dozen contemporary photographers, including Beth Moon, Marc Alcock, and Myoung Ho Lee, explore a range of different species, ecosystems, and landscapes. From enigmatic plantations to lofty dwellings, the volume explores the diverse ways in which the woody plants are an important part of our daily lives, even if sometimes we have to remember to notice them." -- From Kate Mothes for Colossal.

 

Support SF Cameraworks, whose purpose is to provoke discovery, experimentation, and exchange through exhibitions and experiences for all who value new ideas in photography.

SF Camerawork's workshops, artist talks, and exhibitions create space for meaningful conversations around art and art-making. These artist-centered conversations connect our photo community through creativity and thoughtful exchange.

With your support, we can continue to grow our impact, provide even more opportunities to nurture the careers of emerging and under-recognized artists, fund creative work, and simply inspire those who love photography. Each act of generosity counts, and goes a long way to make our programs happen! Join and give to SF Camerawork today to broaden our reach and strengthen the photographic arts in the Bay Area and beyond. 

 

 

 

Although not strictly a photography book, I saw this on Annie Liebovitz's coffee table in an article about her apartment:

 

This fresh and carefully researched study brings O’Keeffe’s style to life, illuminating how this beloved American artist purposefully proclaimed her modernity in the way she dressed and posed for photographers, from Alfred Stieglitz to Bruce Weber. This beautiful book accompanies the first museum exhibition to bring together photographs, clothes, and art to explore O’Keeffe’s unified modernist aesthetic. 

Amazon

One should not neglect this book. It is worthy of a read. This is not just a book on fashion, or home decorating, or art, or an artist’s biography. It is more of an intertwining of all of these human pursuits wrapped up in the example of one woman who managed to change the way people approach their personal aesthetics by doggedly insisting on being herself.

Cindy Helms for NY Journal of Books  

Other great books on her table: The Photographer in the Garden, Instant Stories, the American Writer at Home, Passing through Eden. 

 

 

 

The Holiday Gift Guide for the Photo Enthusiast 2022

 

William Klein died this year. Looking back from the perspective of his 90 years, William Klein selected his favorite works, those that he considers to be the very best he has made over the course of his long career, in order to pay homage to the medium of photography itself. This book, appropriately titled Celebration, provides a tour of his most emblematic works, traversing New York, Rome, Moscow, Madrid and Paris, in powerful black and white or striking color. Celebration by William, Klein, $38. 

The Holiday Gift Guide for the Photo Enthusiast 2021

 

 

I don't know when it happened, but TEVAS are in. These are silly and fun (and who doesn't love a rainbow?). Midford Universal Polaroid, 80 bones. 

The extremely talented Jesse Chamberlin Marble passed away earlier this year from lymphoma. She left behind three children, her husband Jimmy and innumerable friends and admirers. Jimmy has only been a photographer for five years, which is incredible, and his book is bright, poppy and fun. I would say it's the perfect salve coming off of a pandemic year, but it has new layers due to the recent loss of his wife. Dream Baby Dream. $30. 

Apologies for putting more than one Polaroid here, but this cutie is hard to resist. Keith Haring Polaroid, $140.

 

Imogen Cunningham: A Retrospective showcases the endless innovation and profound influence of this remarkable photographer who pushed the boundaries for both women in the arts and photography as an art form. Ticket to Seattle Art Museum, November 18, 2021 through February 6, 2022, free for under 14, otherwise $20-30. 

"This book is an unparalleled look at the first surface crossing of the Arctic Ocean, and probably the first expedition to reach the North Pole by surface travel, through the words and images of the man who led it." Across the Arctic Ocean, $42. 

Founded in a small apartment in Brooklyn, New York in 2017, Accidentally Wes Anderson collects photos of quirky, Wes Anderson-esque locations from around the world. Now a book, you can search for your own area or for places you'd love to visit one day. Accidentally Wes Anderson, $35. 

Reclaimed wood picture holder/display. Use this stand to display pictures or photo calendars. Order a longer length to display multiple pieces at a time. Picture holder, $21.

You'll find many a photographer wearing the ol' fanny pack to store film, extra batteries, etc. This one is made from recycled men's chino pants in classic preppy colors. And it's locally made by a freelance photographer and designer. Prep Squad Fanny Pack, $48. 

 

Interested in film photography? The first microprocessor-equipped SLR, the Canon AE-1 is a favorite. The Canon AE-1 from the Shot on Film Store in Seattle, $280.
 

Photographer Sharon Harris takes beautiful, ethereal photographs with a pinhole camera. Catnap by Sharon Harris, price available upon request.

Whether you're a film or digital shooter, you still need electricity. Just hang it in any windowsill and connect to any device with a USB port. Window Solar Charger, $129.

Africa in the Photobook is a website initiated in 2015 by photographer and historian Ben Krewinkel. "The website is about the changing visual representation of Africa as expressed through the medium of the photobook. By showcasing book spreads the books become partly accessible to a wider public and function as a platform for students, collectors and experts to talk about the content of the books." Africa in the Photobook, free. 

"Queer Love in Color features photographs and stories of couples and families across the United States and around the world. This singular, moving collection offers an intimate look at what it means to live at the intersections of queer and POC identities today, and honors an inclusive vision of love, affection, and family across the spectrum of gender, race, and age." And here's a great article about how the book came to be. Queer Love in Color, $26. 

 

Compiled by a photojournalist, Eyes Open contains 23 projects to inspire young would-be photographers. Eyes Open, $23. 

This badass just beat her own husband's previous auction record.  Own this beautiful photograph of the queen herself, Frida Kahlo, by fashion photographer Toni Frissell. Frida Kahlo standing next to an agave plant, by Toni Frissell, $75. 

 

 

Possibly the longest photo exposure ever was recently discovered (over eight years!). Make your own six-month-long exposure camera from a beer can here. Free.

 Get your photo taken at the real deal, an analog photo booth. Orange Dracula, Pike Place Market, under $10. 

Make a donation to Blue Earth Alliance, co-founded by Seattle social documentary photographer Phil Borges. Its mission is to support photographers working on projects that involve critical social and environmental issues. To date they have sponsored over 130 documentary still and film projects on social, cultural and environmental issues and helped them raise over a million dollars. Their projects have been featured in books such as The Living Wild by Art Wolfe, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by Subhankar Banerjee, and Life on Earth: A Journey Through Time by Frans Lanting. 

And always, and forever, film. Discontinued 400H, $15.

 

The Gift Guide 2011, 2012,  2013, 2014, 2015 and 2020.

The Holiday Gift Guide for the Photo Enthusiast, 2020

 

An adorable photographer doll for your budding photo enthusiast from Portugese brand Severina Kids. $100.   

 

 

Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, the long-awaited monograph from one of the most powerful visual activists of our time, $79.

 

 

UNSEEN uncovers never-before published photographs of Black history from the New York Times and tells the stories behind them. $28. 

 

A gorgeous photo book of fashion in the Congo: Sapeurs: Ladies & Gentlemen of the Congo, $39

A simple fanny pack to carry your film while you're on the job, $48

 

 

Wrap your camera in this ingenious origami cover, the Pop Up Camera Cover, that folds flat when not in use, $423

 A fun and simple instant camera from Fuji, the Square SQI in terracotta orange, $120 and film, $20

A large scale photograph from Captured 52, like this one, by photographer Jill Beth Hanes, $2695 

 

A donation to Youth and Focus, where they provide students with high-quality equipment and tools to release their creative voices, priceless 

The much-anticipated monograph from Tyler Mitchell, I Can Make You Feel Good, in which he imagines what a Black utopia could look like, $55.

 

 A manual that resembles an old film camera manual to introduce (or reintroduce) you to the pure joy of analog photography, $23

 

Siren, by Russian photographer Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii, taken using several color filters in the early 1900s, $75  

A vintage t-shirt from Kodak, $10

 

 Photographs from the New York Public Library's archives, free

 

Your support of a great local art museum, by purchasing or renewing your membership: Cascadia Art Museum, National Nordic Museum, Studio Museum in Harlem, International Center of Photography, varied.  

 

Fredi Guevara-Prip, Looking Glass

April Riley, New Heights

 

The Studio Museum of Harlem's first online photography exhibit featuring the work of NYC-area high school students, Hearts in Isolation, free.

Jack Naughton

Jonathan Gardenire

Support artists impacted by the pandemic at Lifeboat, a site started by photographer Jake Naughton or hire a photographer from Diversify, a site built to equip art buyers, creative and photo directors with the resources to discover photographers of color available for assignments and commissions.

 

Download a photo from the National Portrait Gallery, print it, and frame it in a large scale frame. Pro tip, search "open access" for free downloads. Top, (L) Frederick Douglass, (R) Lola Montez, Bottom, (L), Wally Pipp, 1922, (R) Unidentified Man, Matthew Brady Studio, 1860-1870

 

A mask to keep you and your friends and family safe, $13
 

 

Contact prints from some of the world's most talented photographers from Magnum Photos, $279. 

 

Pictured above, a contact sheet by Elliot Erwitt of a chihuahua in New York City, 1946. 

 

Said Erwitt of his enduring interest in dogs: “Until recently, I have never especially set out to take dog pictures but somehow dogs appeared in large numbers on my contact sheets. A few years back while looking through my inventory of pictures to assemble a retrospective book and exhibition of random photographs taken on my travels, I was surprised by the preponderance of dogs. Obviously, my sympathy for the creatures was deeper than I had imagined.” 

 

 

Other notable editions include Miles Davis, The Beatles, James Dean, trees and Omaha Beach, Normandy by David Seymore.

 

 

And always and forever, film, $42

To everyone, Happy Holidays. Please stay safe. 

 

The Gift Guide 2011, 2012,  2013, 2014 and 2015.