There's an unsettling irony at the heart of the biggest photography auction story of the year. The prints now estimated to fetch between $100,000 and $150,000 at Phillips in New York show men covered in mud, carrying sacks on their backs in a vast open pit mine in Brazil, earning almost nothing. These photographs document misery, back-breaking labour and forgotten lives. Yet now they are among the most coveted objects in the art market.

Welcome to the world of Sebastião Salgado, who spent more than four decades making images the world needed to see, and who passed away in May last year. His estate, and the collectors who believed in him, are now watching his work command prices that reflect just how singular his vision was.

Phillips is presenting Sebastião Salgado: A Life's Voyage, the largest single offering of his work ever presented at auction. 30 signed photographs, spanning four decades, are being offered across an online sale (until April 10) and a live auction in New York (April 11).

Why this sale is different

The phrase "lifetime print" is thrown around a lot in collecting, but it matters here more than usual. Every lot in this sale is a print made during Salgado's lifetime and signed by the man himself. Now that he is gone, no more will follow. That reality is already being felt in the market, where demand for his work has reportedly intensified sharply since his death.

The two centerpiece portfolios tell you everything about Salgado's range and ambition. Gold Mine, a portfolio of 20 prints, documents Serra Pelada in Brazil, where in the mid-1980s up to 50,000 men worked a single open pit with little more than their bodies and basic tools. The images look like something from antiquity, or from a nightmare, and yet they are photos taken in living memory. 

Elsewhere Kuwait: A Desert on Fire, making its auction debut, documents the efforts of international firefighters battling the blazing oil wells set alight during the Gulf War. The estimate on the Kuwait portfolio alone is $60,000-$80,000.

Economist turned photographer

It's worth remembering that Salgado did not pick up a camera until his late twenties. He trained and worked as an economist, and only began photographing seriously after relocating to Paris in the early 1970s.

That background matters: his photographs are never merely beautiful, though they often are. They carry an analytical intelligence, a sense of systems and structures and the forces that grind people down. He understood what he was looking at, and it shows.

That combination, of documentary rigour, extraordinary compositional instinct and a genuine humanitarian impulse, is precisely what elevated his work beyond photojournalism and into the permanent collection of global visual culture. His images in this sale span subjects as varied as the mountains of Ecuador and the oil fields of Kuwait, the Antarctic ice and the railways of Bombay. Yet all are instantly, unmistakably Salgado.

What photographers can learn

The obvious lesson is that commitment compounds. Salgado did not make a career from a single iconic image. He made it from decades of patient, costly, sometimes dangerous immersion in the stories he believed the world should confront. The portfolios in this sale were not produced by a photographer chasing trends.

A second lesson is about the prints themselves. In an era when most photography is consumed on a screen and forgotten within seconds, the physical, signed, archival print remains the object that holds value, both cultural and financial. For photographers still deciding whether darkroom craft and editioned printing are worth the effort, the answer here is fairly unambiguous.

Salgado co-founded Instituto Terra with his wife Lélia Wanick Salgado, planting millions of native trees to restore degraded land in Brazil's Atlantic Forest. He restored a landscape as well as documenting one. That instinct, to repair as well as to witness, may be his most remarkable legacy. The auction prices are simply the market confirming what many photographers already knew.

Sebastião Salgado: A Life's Voyage runs as an online auction at phillips.com from 2-10 April, with the live auction in New York on 11 April 11. Viewing is open until April 10 at 432 Park Avenue, New York.

Don't you just love a good second act? There’s something so inspiring about watching someone switch career paths and find their true calling. And it's incredible to think that some of the biggest names in photography didn’t start out behind the lens at all.

So if you’re reading this while juggling another job, or wondering if it’s too late to take photography seriously, we can all take encouragement from their example. Not least because their previous occupations gave them unique perspectives – and that’s part of what made their work so powerful.

Music and modelling

Take Ansel Adams (1902-1984), the man who gave us those epic black-and-white landscapes of the American West that still inspire photographers today. Originally, though, he trained as a concert pianist and was completely devoted to music. Photography was just a hobby until, in 1930, he decided to make it his main focus.

Crucially, that discipline from his music days never left him. You can see it in his precise technique, in his development of the Zone System, and in his obsession with tonal perfection. His background in one artform directly fed into another.

Then there’s Lee Miller (1907-1977), whose story was recently brought to life in Lee – a hit film starring Kate Winslet. Before becoming one of the 20th century’s most important photographers, Miller worked as a fashion model in New York and Paris posing for legends like Edward Steichen and Cecil Beaton.

Modelling taught her how light, angles and expression worked, and she brought that knowledge behind the camera. Her 1937 image, Portrait of Space, taken in Egypt's Siwa Oasis, remains one of the defining images of 20th-century photography.

Later, as of the few accredited female photojournalists of the Second World War, she documented the liberation of Europe, capturing images that still resonate today.

Economics and science

What’s striking about these photographers is that their earlier experiences weren’t setbacks; they were strengths. Having a first career helped them build skills, resilience and worldliness that shaped how they saw and captured life with a camera. Sebastião Salgado (1944-2025), who passed away this May, was another prime example of this dynamic.

The Brazilian photographer, known for vast, humanist projects, originally trained as an economist. He worked for the International Coffee Organization and travelled through Africa for the World Bank, before switching to photography in 1973.

Those years in economics gave him rare insight into global systems, labor and migration. So when he later photographed miners or displaced communities, he wasn’t just making powerful images: he was documenting the human side of forces he understood deeply.

Then there’s Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971), one of the most pioneering women in photography history. Before becoming Life magazine’s first female staff photographer, she studied herpetology (yes, reptiles!) at Columbia University and planned to become a scientist.

That scientific training shaped her photography. Bourke-White approached her subjects with careful precision, whether she was capturing Soviet factories, Gandhi at his spinning wheel or the battlefields of World War Two. She combined artistry with a methodical eye, documenting history as it unfolded.

What this means for you

Here's the obvious lesson from all of this: if you want to be a professional photographer but are working another job right now, don’t think of your current career as wasted time. It’s all fuel. Every skill, every experience, every weird office story will eventually feed your creative eye.

Because let's be frank: the world doesn’t just need photographers who’ve done nothing but photography. It needs people who’ve lived other lives – teachers, chefs, nurses, engineers, builders. People who can show us new corners of human experience.

So, if you’re thinking about making the leap, take heart. Age doesn’t matter. And your first career isn’t a detour; it’s your foundation. Use it.

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While photography is about freezing moments, it's often helpful to unfreeze the stories behind them. And these photography autobiographies provide just that.

From the death and destruction captured by Don McCullin to the intimate family portraits of Sally Mann, these fascinating books offer a rare glimpse into the lives, minds and motivations of those who have shaped the discipline.

Expect personal confessions, creative breakthroughs, and behind-the-scenes anecdotes that bring both the struggles and triumphs of a photographer’s life into sharp focus.

1. The Daybooks of Edward Weston – Edward Weston (1886–1958)

One of the masters of 20th-century photography, Edward Weston’s diaries were written between 1922 and 1934 but compiled and published posthumously in 1966. The Daybooks document the peak of his artistic development, including his iconic still lifes, nudes and landscapes, and provide a first-hand account of his creative process.

2. Eye to I: The Autobiography of a Photographer – Erwin Blumenfeld (1887–1969)

Erwin Blumenfeld wrote his autobiography in the 1950s, but it wasn’t published until 1979, years after his death. Eye to I captures the full arc of his life; from his early days in Berlin to working as a fashion photographer in Paris and New York. More broadly, it offers a unique posthumous portrait of a creative innovator reflecting on turbulent times.

3. An Autobiography – Ansel Adams (1902–1984)

In An Autobiography, landscape photography legend Ansel Adams traces his artistic journey from his early days as a pianist to his transformation into a master photographer and environmental activist. Written shortly before his death and published one year later, in 1985, this book captures the wisdom and reflections of a master photographer.

4. Portrait of Myself – Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971)

Published in 1963, this autobiography was written near the end of American photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White’s career, after she'd been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. It’s both a retrospective of her groundbreaking achievements and a testament to her determination in the face of adversity.

5. A Choice of Weapons – Gordon Parks (1912–2006)

Released in 1966, this memoir marked the mid-point of Gordon Parks’ extraordinary career as a photographer, filmmaker and writer. He'd already made history by becoming Life magazine’s first black photographer, and used this book to chronicle his early struggles against racism and poverty; choosing the camera as his “weapon” for social change.

6. To Smile in Autumn – Gordon Parks (1912–2006)

Published in 1979, Gordon Parks' second memoir came just as he was expanding his creative work beyond photography into film and literature. Reflecting on his later career, he thoughtfully examines the successes and challenges of being a black artist navigating mid-20th-century America, while continuing to advocate for social change.

7. In Retrospect – Eve Arnold (1912–2012)

Released in 1995, In Retrospect came as celebrated photojournalist Eve Arnold looked back over four decades of work with Magnum Photos. Written late in her career, it does a stand-out job of reflecting her experiences photographing cultural icons and major historical moments.

8. Slightly Out of Focus – Robert Capa (1913–1954)

Written in 1947, just two years after the end of the Second World War, this memoir vividly recounts the Hungarian-American's experiences as a war photographer. It’s a must-read account of a man considered by many to be the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history.

9. Revelations – Diane Arbus (1923–1971)

Published posthumously in 2003, Revelations is both a retrospective and a deeply personal window into the life and work of Diane Arbus. The book combines her haunting photographs with diary entries, letters, and other intimate writings that reveal the complex mind behind her groundbreaking portraits of marginalised communities.

10. Autobiography – Helmut Newton (1920–2004)

Helmut Newton’s Autobiography was released in 2003, just one year before his death. It’s a candid and often mischievous reflection on his long career in fashion and erotic photography. Written during the twilight of the German-Australian photographer's life, he pulls no punches in discussing the people and events that shaped his provocative style.

11. An Autobiography – Richard Avedon (1923–2004)

First published in 1993, An Autobiography was released during the later part of  Richard Avedon's career, as he transitioned from fashion work to more personal, introspective projects such as In the American West. It's as much a retrospective of his images as it is a narrative of his life and insight into his artistic mindset.

12. The Lines of My Hand – Robert Frank (1924–2019)

Originally published in 1972, this memoir came during a transitional period in the Swiss-American's career, when he was moving from photography into filmmaking. Bringing together his incredible images with some fascinating personal reflections, the book is an intoxicating visual diary of a restless creative mind.

13. Pictures and People: A Search for Visual Truth and Social Justice – Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret (1929–2022)

Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret was an American photographer, book publisher and civil rights activist. In 1951, she became the first woman to photograph herself giving birth. Published in 2019, three years before her death, this memoir encapsulates a career that was dedicated to capturing rural communities and advocating for social justice.

14. Unreasonable Behaviour – Don McCullin (1935–)

Celebrated for his work everywhere from Vietnam to Northern Ireland, Don McCullin is perhaps the world's most celebrated war photographer. In Unreasonable Behaviour, he reflects on the personal toll this has taken on him, from near-death experiences to the emotional weight of documenting humankind at its worst. Published in 1990, when McCullin had already cemented his reputation, it serves both as a gripping memoir and a meditation on the ethics of photojournalism.

15. Look Again – David Bailey (1938–)

One of the key figures of Swinging London in the 1960s, David Bailey revolutionised the art of portrait photography with his pared-down style. In Look Again, published in 2020, he offers a late-life take on his personal journey from working-class East London to becoming a fashion-world legend, working with cultural icons such as Mick Jagger, Jean Shrimpton and Kate Moss.

16. Memories of a Dog – Daido Moriyama (1938–)

Daidō Moriyama is a Japanese photographer best known for his arresting black-and-white street photography. This memoir, first published in 1984, was written when he was already a key figure in Japanese street photography, and captures his raw, unfiltered approach to both life and art.

17. Taking My Time – Joel Meyerowitz (1938–)

This career-spanning memoir, published in 2012, came when Joel Meyerowitz had become firmly established as a pioneer of American street photography. It’s both a retrospective of his work and a personal reflection on how his artistic voice developed from the 1960s onwards.

18. Seen Behind the Scene – Mary Ellen Mark (1940-2015)

Mary Ellen Mark was an American photographer best known for capturing people on the margins of society, with a keen interest in both subcultures and social issues. Published in 2008, Seen Behind the Scene is a late-career reflection on her work in Hollywood and beyond, as well as offering a deep dive into her photography process.

19. Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This: My Life in the Jazz World – Val Wilmer (1941– )

Released in 1989, Val Wilmer’s memoir came after decades of documenting jazz and blues culture. It’s a thrilling and engaging reflection on the British photographer's career up to that date, as well as covering her work as a writer and cultural historian.

20. From My Land to the Planet – Sebastião Salgado (1944–2025)

Published in 2014, this memoir reflects on Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado’s decades-long career as a documentarian of social issues, migration and the environment. Written after the completion of his famed Genesis series, it combines a twin focus on both his personal history and his environmental activism.

21. Annie Leibovitz at Work – Annie Leibovitz (1949–)

Eight years after being declared a Living Legend by The Library of Congress, portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz released this book in 2008, looking back on decades of work with the likes of Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Vogue. It's full of fascinating insights into how Leibovitz approaches assignments and iconic shoots, while also reflecting on her creative evolution over time.

22. Hold Still – Sally Mann (1951–)

Famed for her large-format black-and-white photographs, Sally Mann published this memoir in 2015. It came at a reflective point in her career, decades after the controversy surrounding her naturalistic nudes of children in Immediate Family. In the book, she looks back on her Southern upbringing, her family, and the moral complexities of her work.

23. Road to Seeing – Dan Winters (1962–)

First released in 2014, Road to Seeing chronicles Dan Winters’ path from aspiring artist to one of the most respected portrait photographers of his generation. Written around the middle of his career, it does a great job of blending autobiography with lessons on developing a creative eye.

24. It’s What I Do – Lynsey Addario (1973–)

Released in 2015, It’s What I Do chronicles Lynsey Addario's career as one of the world’s leading conflict photographers. Written while she was still covering major global events, it reflects on both her early career and the personal sacrifices required to work in war zones.

First released in 2014, Road to Seeing chronicles Dan Winters’ path from aspiring artist to one of the most respected portrait photographers of his generation. Written around the middle of his career, it does a great job of blending autobiography with lessons on developing a creative eye.

25. There and Back: Photographs from the Edge – Jimmy Chin (1973–)

Published in 2021, this memoir captures Jimmy Chin at the height of his career as a world-class adventure photographer and Academy Award-winning filmmaker. There and Back looks back on decades of risk-taking expeditions and also delves into the philosophy behind capturing the extremes of nature.

The photography world lost one of its most vital voices last month, when Sebastião Salgado passed away. He was a titan whose vision shaped not just images but worldviews. For many of us, his work was more than inspirational. It was foundational.

I still remember the first time I opened Genesis. It was like stepping into another dimension, a monochrome reflection on the natural world that managed to be both intimate and immense. The scale, the silence, the staggering beauty of it all, stopped me cold.

That moment was my turning point. I didn’t just want to take photographs. I wanted to make work with meaning, weight and a reason for it to exist.

And I wasn’t alone. Salgado’s work lit the way for countless photographers seeking more from the medium, those drawn to storytelling with purpose and substance.

If you're a photographer or someone curious about the medium, there’s no better time to explore Salgado’s body of work. Not out of obligation, but because you may, as I did, uncover a new way of seeing.

His projects, such as Workers, Migrations, and Genesis, are not just visual records; they are moral documents. They ask us to slow down, to witness, and to care.

What set Salgado apart wasn’t just his technical mastery or his preference for black-and-white film; it was his unwavering commitment to humanity.

Whether photographing gold miners in Serra Pelada or the untouched landscapes of the Galápagos, he approached every subject with reverence and empathy. His camera was never invasive, it was invitational.

In a time when photography can feel disposable, Salgado’s work reminds us of what the medium is capable of. His photographs stay. They demand presence.

ABOVE: A video by Taschen about Sebastião Salgado's Genesis

That clarity of purpose inspired a generation, myself included. Salgado not only shaped how I shoot, but he ignited my love for photobooks. Genesis was the first book that made me understand photography as a long-form language, a deeply considered statement rather than a single moment.

That spark eventually led me to a career working with photography books, but the roots of that journey trace directly back to him.

His legacy isn’t just in the prints or the pages. It’s in how he carried himself. As an artist. As an environmentalist. As a human being. Through Instituto Terra, the reforestation project he co-founded with his wife Lélia, Salgado didn’t just observe the world; he helped heal it.

His was a life lived in full alignment with his values, and we need more of that in the arts.

If you’ve never explored his work, now is the time. Start with Genesis. Then go back to Workers, to Migrations, to Sahel. Let it challenge you. You may find, as so many of us have, that the bar for what photography can be suddenly rises. And once you see the world through Salgado’s eyes, you can’t unsee it.

The world was better for having him in it. And through his images, it still is.

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The death of celebrated photographer Sebastiao Salgado was announced on Friday, following a long struggle with leukemia.

Back in 2017, Digital Camera interviewed Salgado on the publication of his book Kuwait which depicted the graphic images he shot of of burning oil fields and the workers that were fighting to bring the wells back under control.

In this free-ranging interview with Keith Wilson, Salgado talks about his long career, the way he worked, the influence of this work, and his thoughts on the legacy he would leave when he died. We reproduce the words of this interview in honor of what many had called "the world's greatest living photographer"…

Sebastião Salgado was known for the epic scale of his photo projects, which involve years of planning and editing; a painstaking devotion to the creation of books as heavy as coffee tables; and exhibitions that fill the world’s grandest museums.

Salgado’s first great book, Workers, published in 1993, is a prime example of his ambition: over a six-year period, the Brazilian-born photographer travelled across 23 countries, taking more than 10 thousand negatives of what playwright Arthur Miller described as “the pain, beauty and brutality of the world of work on which everything rests”. 

For Salgado, who also wrote the text accompanying the 350 black-and-white photographs, Workers was “a farewell to a world of manual labour that is slowly disappearing, and a tribute to those men and women who still work as they have for centuries”.

Before discovering photography, Salgado grew up on a cattle ranch in Brazil, then moved to Paris in the 1960s to study economics at university. After graduating, he joined the International Coffee Organisation in London as a macroeconomist. Student politics, economics and the role of manual labour provided the inspiration for Workers.

He recalls: “I made my studies as an economist, I made studies of the macro economy, and I made studies of Marxism where proletarians were important. So, you know what I wished to do? I started with the proletarians and went to photograph the workers of this planet over many years.”

Salgado’s lens accentuated the harsh and grim reality of the working lives of shipbreakers, cane cutters, steel makers, miners and fishermen, while also bestowing a nobility and stoicism onto his subjects that left no doubt about his own political sympathies. He explains: “You see, everything that I did was linked to my preoccupations with my way of life, from the studies that I made from my political orientation. I love very much to work on a long-term project where it is possible for me to put myself inside – to have a dedication, a concentration and identification with the things that I’m looking at photographing.”

Workers covered far more than impoverished manual labour in the developing world: Salgado also went underground to document the excavations of the Channel Tunnel, and to the oil-drenched deserts of Kuwait in the aftermath of the first Gulf War in 1991. Of the dangerous assignments undertaken during his career, this was one of the most perilous, as he witnessed the seemingly unstoppable inferno of more than 700 oil wells set ablaze by Saddam Hussein’s retreating troops. While photographing the firefighters, Salgado captured a burnt-out landscape still littered with cluster bombs and the scorched remains of camels, beneath a sky filled with acrid black smoke and soot; the sweltering temperatures were so intense that one of his lenses warped.

It is only in the past year that he has returned to this body of work to reveal the unpublished frames accompanying those now-iconic prints of exhausted firemen. “This is a story I made 26 years ago,” he recalls. “I had an assignment with The New York Times Magazine and we published some of them.”

Seven of the Kuwait photos were also published in Workers, but the contact sheets and negatives remained undisturbed as Salgado became immersed in a succession of epic publications: Terra (1997), Migrations (2000), Africa (2010), and the grandest of them all, Genesis (2013).

He continues: “Last year I made a decision: I must look again at this story. I am sure I have an interesting set of pictures. I looked at my contact sheets and I saw that I have a set of pictures that was reasonable, and so I went to my publisher.”

Salgado’s re-examination of his contact sheets turned up 83 exposures for Kuwait: A Desert on Fire, published in 2016 by Taschen, and now exhibited at La Photographie Galerie in Brussels. “About 70 per cent or 80 per cent of the pictures have not been published before,” he says.

Salgado depicts the world in black and white, but in his early days he shot many magazine assignments in color while working for the Paris-based agencies Sygma and Gamma. “It was necessary for me to survive, and I photographed in color; but I am not a color photographer. I do not see things in color.” For Salgado, color is an unwanted distraction. By photographing in black and white, he believes he can better understand the subject he is photographing, and construct a photo story to match his vision.

He cites another, more practical reason for eschewing color: “In color, it was slides that we were photographing at the time; and when you select the two or three that are the good pictures of the few, you put the others aside and you lose all the sequence of the article, and you have a very short story. In my journey to photograph Kuwait, I selected 10 or 20 pictures that I liked the most and I left the others. But now I can come back, and on my contact sheet everything is there. Because all that I have photographed is in black and white, I have all my films, all my contact sheets, and I have everything. It is my life that is there.”

Salgado’s photography is primarily film-based, but the making of Genesis marked his switch to digital capture, and the beginning of the digitalisation of his archives.

Although he uses digital capture, Salgado upholds an analogue style of working, producing digital contact sheets and making test prints of his chosen exposures. He explains: “I do a contact sheet. I cannot edit in a computer, I edit my pictures with a loupe and we choose; then my assistant makes for me the work prints, and I choose, and we print like this.”

Salgado’s passion for black-and-white printing is also matched by his devotion to depth of field. Look at any of his photographs and there is so much front-to-back sharpness and so many finely focused areas in the frame that you can immediately see another reason to shoot in black and white and thereby reduce, as he says, “all the flashy colors, the red, the blue, the green” to shades of grey.

“Yes, I love depth of field,” he says. “I like to have the volume – like life gives me the volume, my eyes give me the volume. I like to work very clear and I prefer to close my diaphragm, to work in f/16, f/19; because it is beautiful to see the separation, the spaces all inside the picture. I like to photograph large. There is a lot of information inside my pictures. To have information I must give space, and to give space I must give depth of field.”

The transformation of Salgado the economist to Salgado the photographer would not have happened if it wasn’t for Lélia, his wife of over 50 years, who used a camera to help with her architectural studies. “It was 1970 when my wife bought a camera, and I looked for the first time inside a viewfinder, and for me it was so amazing. It was just fabulous. Fantastic.”

From that moment, he says, photography “made a total invasion of my life”. He acquired a darkroom and learned to print. After a few years, the passion for photography overwhelmed his professional work as an economist, and he decided “to drop everything to become a photographer”.

Lélia’s early career as an architect funded many of Salgado’s first tentative steps as a photographer. Today, he is devoting more time to examining his earliest pictures, from the days when Lélia and he were first establishing themselves in Paris. “I have some incredible things that I forgot I had photographed,” he says. “I am looking at my life, and it is so moving. We made so many things together, we have suffered together, we have so much pleasure together, one life together.” He pauses before then declaring: “The oddest thing is I want to die before her because I don’t know, if she should die before me, how will I live without her? I’m 73 years old and Lélia is 70 and we are alive, but probably the most important thing in my life was the day I met Lélia. If my wife had not bought this camera, most probably you would not have a photographer called Sebastião Salgado: you would have an economist instead.”

Given the discussion of mortality and his current fascination with revisiting the photographs of his past, I ask Salgado what he believes will be his greatest legacy. “I have no legacy,” he responds without hesitation. “You see, my photography is my life; it’s my way of life. If people, after I disappear, use my photography as a reference of the moment that I lived, OK, that can become a legacy, but now I cannot speak about legacy. I can speak only about my way of life.

“Photography is my way of life. It is my motivation to live; my motivation is to photograph. That is it.”

Industry-leading photography and art book publisher Taschen has just launched its 'Taschen Sale,' offering up to 75% off selected books from February 6 to February 9.

Sales like this don't come around very often, and if, like myself, you are an avid collector of photography books, this beats the Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day deals combined. Photography books are a greater investment in my photography development than a new lens or camera, and the work published by Taschen is a constant inspiration.

Renowned works by photography icons such as David Bailey, Peter Lindbergh, Annie Leibovitz, and Sebastião Salgado are all available at a discounted rate from the Taschen website. Below, I've picked out some highlights that will almost certainly make it into my checkout basket!

Taschen publishes some of the best coffee table books of all time and this sale brings the price point down significantly. There are many books I haven't mentioned here that are available in several sizes and formats, which also help to bring the price down and lower the barrier to entry.

Collecting photography books can be an expensive hobby and a hurdle for many, this is a fantastic opportunity to start off your collection today!

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While the headlines are being taken by the Amazon Prime Day camera deals, there are other ways for photographers to take advantage of the Amazon sale at a more affordable price point. 

Photography books are an incredible way to either gain inspiration from some of the greatest photographers or pick up tips to develop your practice. I have scoured the Prime Day deals and chosen three that offer incredible savings!

In addition to showcasing exceptional photography and stunning images, each of these books offers the reader something different. 

Find Your Frame: A Street Photography Masterclass by Craig Whitehead is both a short monograph and a manual for taking incredible street photographs. Chapters explore Whitehead's approach to composition techniques and processing, and he provides tips on how to create stand-out and considered work. 

The Oceans: The Maritime Photography of Chris Burkard by Chris Burkard is an ideal coffee table book and, much like its subject matter, is perfect for dipping in and out of at the reader's pleasure. The book is full of wonder and adventure is highlights the importance of looking after our oceans. 

Genesis by Sebastião Salgado is among the greatest photography books ever published and should be a staple in every collector's library. Salgado captures the beauty of the land, wildlife, and Indigenous peoples with grace and dignity, elevating the images to colossal works of art. 

I recommend taking advantage of the Prime Day deals to have a look at some photography books as there are some unbelievable savings to be had – although you can't really put a price on inspiration! 

You might be interested in the best books on photography, including the best coffee table photography books.

Annie Leibovitz has just been inducted into the French Academy of Fine Arts, and during her landmark achievement shared her thoughts on the use of artificial intelligence in photography.

Annie Leibovitz was officially installed as a Foreign Associate Member of the French Academy of Fine Arts by fellow renowned photographer Sebastião Salgado. L’Académie des Beaux-arts is one of five academies making up the Institut de France, and encourages artistic creation in all its expressions and ensures the defence of French cultural heritage. 

Leibovitz is one of the most highly regarded portrait photographers alive today. She has captured the images of some of the most notable personalities of the last six decades. There are few celebrities in Western culture that Leibovitz has not photographed, with some of her most notable being John Lennon, Queen Elizabeth, and Barack Obama.

She described the induction to the prestigious art institution as "quite an honor… but it's a bigger honor for photography".

Salgado, Patti Smith and Anna Wintour were in attendance, and the latter presented Leibovitz with a ceremonial sword, created from copper guilded branches from her home in New York.

During her visit to Paris for the ceremony, Leibovitz was interviewed by AFP (Agence France-Presse) and was asked about the growing use of AI in photography. While some people consider AI features and generators as a threat, Leibovitz sees it as the beginning of new creative opportunities.

"That doesn't worry me at all", she said of AI. "With each technological progress, there are hesitations and concerns. You just have to take the plunge and learn how to use it."

On artificiality, she noted, "Photography itself is not really real… I like to use Photoshop. I use all the tools available. Even deciding how to frame a shot implies 'editing and control' on some level."

Although I agree with Leibovitz's view on AI as a creative tool, I also understand the concerns of lesser-known photographers, retouchers, illustrators, and editors who may lose work due to AI advancements, which may not have been considered by those with a household name. 

Whether you agree with her thoughts about AI or not, an induction to L’Académie des Beaux-arts is a huge achievement. Many congratulations to Annie Leibovitz!

Annie Leibovitz is one of the best photographers ever. For more information on the best equipment to capture portraits, see our guides to the best camera for portraits, the best lens for portraits, and the best studio lighting kits. 

Canon has partnered with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to create World Unseen, an accessible and immersive photography exhibition developed for visually impaired people. 

Photography as a medium centers largely around one sense, sight, but does that mean that those with no or partial vision can't capture or view photography? Absolutely not, and Canon is highlighting this in its immersive experience that "invites visitors – blind, partially sighted, and sighted – to experience photography in a new, accessible, and immersive way".

According to the World Health Organisation, there are at least 2.2 billion people globally living with some form of visual impairment, many of whom think photography is inaccessible. Designed specifically with blind and partially sighted people in mind, World Unseen will feature a mixture of soundscapes, audio descriptions, braille, and raised photographic prints from some of the world's most renowned photographers, bringing the photographs to life in a new and exciting way.

World Unseen will not only be an experience for visually impaired people, but it will also act as a way for sighted people to experience some of the impediments presented to the partially sighted. The photographic prints will be obscured to replicate different types of visual impairment, from glaucoma to diabetic retinopathy. This will not only provide a better understanding and appreciation of the physical barriers, but also generate awareness of accessibility in the arts. 

"Photography is an incredibly powerful medium that can push the imagination and we want this experience to be accessible to everyone," says Pete Morris, brand and sponsorship senior manager at Canon EMEA. 

"This exhibition was created with blind and partially sighted people in mind to share imagery and the stories behind them in an entirely new way. With Canon’s elevated print technology, we hope all visitors will feel a deeper connection to the emotions and stories that imaging can bring to life." 

World Unseen will feature photographic work from some of the world's greatest photographers and Canon ambassadors from around the world, including Brent Stirton, Sebastião Salgado, Yagazie Emezi, Muhammed Muheisen, and Hiedi Rondak, among others. Having the work of such esteemed photographers on display will help push this campaign into the spotlight and raise further awareness for accessibility. 

A video series will accompany the exhibition featuring partially sighted individuals such as British disability activist, Lucy Edwards, and Britain’s most decorated Winter Paralympian, Menna Fitzpatrick MBE. The videos will provide an insight into their experiences and document their feelings on experiencing this photography for the first time.  

Video Above: World Unseen with Canon ambassador Brent Stirton and blind conservationist Lawrence Gunther

"The World Unseen exhibition opens up the world of photography and enables more blind and partially sighted people to experience the emotive stories, and physical touch, of these iconic images," explains Dave Williams, inclusive design ambassador at the RNIB.

"As a braille user, it’s fantastic to be working with Canon to raise awareness of the possibilities of textured print and to see in action how technology can make art more accessible for people with sight loss."

This is not the first instance of Canon bringing photography to life through elevated printing. With the combination of PRISMAelevate XL software and Canon Arizona printers, the company has supported galleries and museums with signage and braille for many years. The innovative printing technique continues to be developed and used in new and exciting ways.   

The World Unseen exhibition will be held at Somerset House in London, England, from April 05-07 2024. Tickets are available from the Somerset House webpage. 

Having seen firsthand an example of the exhibition at The Photography & Video Show 2024, I am extremely excited about this exhibition and see it as a huge step in the right direction for accessibility in photography. 

As well as creating important exhibitions Canon also produces some of the best mirrorless cameras on the market, see our guides to the best Canon cameras and best Canon lenses. Carrying on the theme of inclusivity, Canon also offers some of the best cheap cameras. 

In 1993 Sebastião Salgado published his seminal work, Workers, which shone a light on the often treacherous conditions of manual labor jobs around the world. The message is just as strong today, and renowned book publisher Taschen will soon release a republication of the work. 

Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age by Sebastião Salgado pays tribute to the time-honored tradition of manual labor. Jam-packed with beautiful thought-provoking photographs, Workers acts as a peek into a life that many think is long forgotten – but especially in more impoverished locations, this life is very much still a reality. 

"This book is an homage to workers, a farewell to a world of manual labor that is slowly disappearing, and a tribute to those men and women who still work as they have for centuries," says Salgado. 

In my opinion, Salgado is one of the greatest photographers to ever grace the medium, capturing nature's beauty like no other. His long-term project Genesis is considered among the best coffee table books available. It explored nature, animals and indigenous peoples, and its monumental images were one of the reasons I first picked up a camera. What was also evident was Salgado's considered approach to important subjects, and I feel that this was developed during his time spent on his first long-term project – Workers.

Salgado defines his work as “militant photography”, dedicated to “the best comprehension of human being”, and over the past four decades he has captured his subjects with great dignity – especially the most isolated and neglected among us. 

In this volume of Workers, Salgado provides an "archaeological perspective of the activities that have defined hard work from the Stone Age through the Industrial Revolution to the present". Through his imagery, Salgado captures the relentless spirit of men and women who work in some of the world's most difficult environments and celebrates them with honesty and respect. 

Included in the book are 400 pages of photographs that capture the unbearable heat of an Indonesian sulfur mine, turbulent sea fishing off the coast of Sicily, and the sheer scale of gold mines in Brazil, plus many more examples of hard manual labor jobs and the humans that work(ed) them. As Taschen states, "Salgado unearths layers of visual information to reveal the ceaseless human activity at the core of modern civilization."

The outstanding imagery is complemented by Salgado's introductory text, written in collaboration with Brazilian author Eric Nepomuceno, which expands Salgado's "photographic iconography". Extended captions also provide insight into his photographic approach and a description of the scene captured in the frame. 

For those who are not familiar with this body of work, I urge you to explore it further, and if possible, in person. Salgado's work is edited by his wife Lélia Wanick Salgado, and it should be mentioned that the impact of the edit when looking through physical copies of Salgado's work is unrivaled. The imagery hits you hard and stays with you, and this new edition is no exception. 

Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age by Sebastião Salgado is published by and available to purchase directly from Taschen. 

You may also be interested in our guides to the best cameras for portraits, the best cameras for landscape, and the best camera for black and white photography. 

Sebastião Salgado is one of the most influential photographers of all time, not to mention a renowned environmentalist and conservationist. At the heart of his work, he has focused on his deep love and respect for nature, while also documenting the socio-economic conditions that impact human beings. His work is selfless and caring. 

This is even more evident with his new release, Amazônia Touch. Working with the French VISIO Foundation, Sebastião Salgado and wife and co-designer Lélia Wanick Salgado, have created an exceptional project, that will allow the blind and people with visual impairments, to experience his photographic work. 

• See our guide to the best audiobooks for photographers

Published by Taschen, this special project consists of a box of 21 'three-dimensional tactile transcriptions', from the Amazônia project, featuring 18 photographs and three regional geographical maps. These transcriptions will allow readers to experience Salgado's work through their fingertips, for the first time. The 21 relief plates are accompanied by a brochure of the images, along with written texts, and an audio description of works.

The reliefs were created by using brass plates and an ancient process of embossing and stamping on Pachica paper.

Released in 2022, Amazônia by Sebastião Salgado is a tour de force that depicts life in the Amazon. Salgado spent seven years traveling through the Brazilian Amazonian biome. Along the way, he captured mountains, rainforests, clouds, and wildlife, and much like his work in Genesis, he introduced us to the immense power of nature.

By photographing the native peoples of the area, Salgado gives us an insight into their daily life and provides us with 'an invitation to contemplate those human and environmental factors that are crucial to our planet'. Amazônia issues a 'call for protection of the ecosystem and of Indigenous peoples of the region'.

This edition is unique, and its inclusivity is a refreshing pleasure and one that I hope will be used by many more. Inclusivity and accessibility are not often discussed in photography, which, in my opinion, could be looked at. Projects like this, led by industry leaders such as Salgado and Taschen are a major step in the right direction.

Amazônia Touch by Sebastião Salgado which will be released in January 2024 for $250 / £200, but can be ordered now.

For more information on the best books on photography, the best coffee table books, and the best camera for wildlife photography, see our helpful guides. 

The World Photography Organisation has awarded Sebastião Salgado the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award of the Sony World Photography Awards 2024.

Salgado is world-renowned for being one of the best photographers of all time. His stunning black-and-white photography has captured some of the most important images of the last century. Still working today, Salgado's career has spanned over 50 years, working all around the world, providing a lens for its beauty, its cruelty, but in either case, its reality. 

The Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award honors an individual or group that has 'made a significant impact on the medium of photography'. Salgado will be the 17th recipient of the award, with previous honorees including William Eggleston, Elliot Erwitt, and Graciela Iturbide.

Salgado's range of subjects is an example of his photojournalistic ability, capturing insights into worlds we can only imagine. From moving portraits of indigenous peoples and industrial workers to raising awareness of climate effects on epic landscapes and wildlife, Salgado's work is unique and continues to be celebrated worldwide.

Commenting on his acceptance of the award, Sebastião Salgado says: "I am honored to receive this award and to know that my work is reaching audiences. Photography is my way of life, it is my language, and throughout my career, I have always been interested in capturing the historical moment in which we are living, and telling the stories of our species and our planet. A photographer photographs with his heritage, and in my work I seek to explore our shared human experience.”

A selection of Salgado's images will be put on in an exhibition next year as part of the Sony World Photography Awards 2024 exhibition at Somerset House, London. The exhibition will run from April 19, 2024, to May 6, 2024, and will include photographs curated by Salgado, highlighting the key themes and milestones over the last five decades of his career, including work from his projects Gold, Workers, Genisis, and Amazonia.

Sebastião Salgado is one of my all-time favorite photographers and has provided me with a wealth of inspiration since starting my journey into photography. If you are not familiar with his work, I urge you to check it out. If his work speaks to you the way it did to me, you're in for a real treat!

More information on the Sony Awards can be found on the World Photography Organization's website. 

Salgado used the best Leica cameras during his days shooting with film and now uses the best Canon cameras for his digital work. See our guides for more information on them.  

There are lot of talented photographers on the scene today. But who are the best photographers of all time? We've draw on our expert knowledge, and a lot of spirited discussion, to bring together our definitive list.

These photographers include many famous names plus some you may not yet have encountered. Their work spans a variety of genres, from photojournalism and portraiture to landscape and abstract photography. And between them, they have captured moments that define eras, challenge perceptions, and reveal profound truths about the human experience.

These visionaries have not only produced iconic images that have stood the test of time but have also influenced generations of photographers who followed in their footsteps. heir contributions extend beyond individual photographs, encompassing groundbreaking techniques, philosophical approaches to image-making, and in some cases, redefining the very nature of photography itself.

1. Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004)

The photographers’ photographer, Cartier-Bresson had a huge impact on modern photojournalism and its establishment as an art form. His achievements included co-founding the Magnum agency in 1947 and he excelled at documentary, portrait and landscape work. His concept of capturing an event at ‘the decisive moment’ has been hugely influential.

2. Ansel Adams (1902-1984)

Arguably one of the greatest ever landscape photographers, Adams rejected painterly styles to create what he called ‘an austere and blazing poetry of the real.’ Co-originator of the Zone System for accurately calculating exposure, he’s best known for his black and white images celebrating the natural majesty of Yosemite National Park. To learn more, read How Ansel Adams changed photography forever.

3. Sebastião Salgado (1944-2025)

Salgado was a superstar of modern photojournalism. He originally studied economics, but took up a career in photography in 1973. His epic-scale black and white work has particularly focused on social injustice and poverty and during the past 45 years has carried out a number of major long-term international projects.

4. Bill Brandt (1904-1983)

Brandt, who was born in Germany but settled in England, brought his own distinctive style of photography to a range of genres. Starting in the 1930s, His work included social documentary images of rich and poor, atmospheric and emotive landscapes, edgy, unsettling portraits and distorted, extreme wide-angle nude studies.

5. Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) 

Cameron was one of the first photographers to explore photography’s potential as an expressive art form. Working in the mid-19th century, she created a body of work on glass plate negatives that included both family and friends and famous Victorians such as scientist Sir John Herschel and the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

6. Richard Avedon (1923-2004)

Avedon is one of the best-known American photographers of the 20th century. He was acclaimed for his celebrity portraiture and fashion photography for magazines including Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, but also for his powerful black and white portraiture of ordinary people, such as the work in his 1985 book In the American West.

7. Irving Penn (1917-2009)

Revered in photographic circles, Penn primarily shot fashion, portraiture and still life for high-profile editorial and commercial clients. Meticulously lit and composed, his images derive their power from their sparseness and simplicity. Iconic images include portraits of Picasso and Truman Capote and fashion images of his supermodel wife, Lisa Fonssagrives.

8. Don McCullin (born 1935)

Although best-known for images depicting the brutal reality of war in Vietnam, Cyprus and Cambodia, McCullin’s internationally-praised work includes documentary images in his native England and dark, moody landscapes. Brave and unflinching in his pursuit of a story, he was knighted for services to photography in 2017. You can learn a lot about photography just by reading these 10 mind-blowing McCullin quotes.

9. Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971)

Known as ‘Maggie the Indestructible’, Bourke-White was the first female war correspondent and Life magazine’s first female photojournalist. She photographed wartime firestorms in Moscow and the release of concentration camp prisoners. Later, she was the first foreign photographer allowed to take pictures of the Soviet five-year plan and documented violence during the partition of India.

10. Cecil Beaton (1904-1980)

Beaton was one of the great portrait and fashion photographers of the 20th century. Fascinated by glamour, elegance and style, he created a wealth of images for magazines including Vogue and Vanity Fair from the 1920s-70s. His creative talents extended to costume and set design for movies and theatre productions.

11. Robert Capa (1913-54)

Capa was a Hungarian photojournalist and co-founder of Magnum Photos. During his career he covered five different conflicts including the Spanish Civil War and is especially famous for his visceral images of the D-Day landings in 1944. He was killed only 10 years later, when he stepped on a landmine while covering the First Indochina War.

12. Alfred Stieglitz (1864 -1946)

Stieglitz was a giant of photography and an important pioneer of the medium. In the 1890s he made the controversial argument that photography was an art form as important as painting or sculpture. He went on to become an advocate of ‘straight’, un-manipulated photography and a tireless promoter of other photographers’ work.

13. Joel Meyerowitz (born 1938) 

Meyerowitz began his photographic career as a trailblazing street photographer in the early ‘60s before turning to large-format fine art work with the bestselling book Cape Light. He has published more than 20 books, including Aftermath, a body of work documenting Ground Zero after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. He currently has an exhibition in Málaga exploring the influence of his early work in the Spanish city.

14. Eve Arnold (1912-2012)

Although famous for her portraits of cultural icons including Marilyn Monroe, Arnold was a photojournalist and a member of Magnum Photos for over 50 years. Preferring to work in natural light, she shot a broad range of work from the quirky to the serious, including photo-essays on the civil rights movement and agricultural workers.

15. Bruce Davidson (born 1933)

An important American documentary photographer, Davidson concentrated on outsiders and marginalised groups in society. He gained an intimate insight into their lives by immersing himself in his subjects, whether they were teenage gangs in Brooklyn, circus entertainers, or the residents of a single block in Harlem. In an exhibition last year titled The Way Back, he presented unseen outtakes from his nearly 70-year career as a chronicler of American life.

16. Dorothea Lange (1895-1965)

Lange was a pioneering American documentary photographer and photojournalist. Although she had a portrait studio in the early part of her career, she turned to documenting the unemployed and homeless in the Great Depression of the 1930s. Her most famous image, Migrant Mother (1936) shows a poverty-stricken woman and her children.

17. Arnold Newman (1918-2006)

Newman began shooting portraits in the 1930s, preferring to work in his subjects’ home or workplace to give extra insight into their life and personality. This approach, unconventional at the time, led to Newman being regarded as ‘the father of environmental photography.’ His most famous portraits are of Igor Stravinsky and Pablo Picasso.

18. Robert Doisneau (1912-1994)

French photojournalist Doisneau was known for his playful and humorous images of life in his native Paris. They captured the lighter side of life among ordinary people and were brilliantly timed and composed. His most famous picture is The Kiss at City Hall (1950), which shows a couple kissing in the street.

19. Edward Weston (1886-1958)

Weston is one of the most celebrated figures in 20th century American photography. Innovative and charismatic, he’s best known for his highly-detailed large-format images. Subjects explored during his 40-year career include desert landscapes, nudes and still-life studies of objects such as peppers and shells.

20. Harold Edgerton (1903-1990)

Edgerton was an electrical engineer who invented the first electronic flash. He also made a large number of stunning high-speed flash photographs showing things literally never seen before, including a bullet passing through an apple, birds in mid-flight and multiple flash shots of sportsmen or dancers in action.

21. Edward Steichen (1879-1973)

Steichen is regarded as the father of modern fashion photography and before World War II was the highest paid photographer in the world while for Vogue and Vanity Fair. In the post-war period, he became an influential gallery curator and was responsible for one of the most famous photography exhibitions ever, The Family of Man (1955).

22. Bert Hardy (1913-1995)

While working for Picture Post magazine, Hardy became one of Britain’s best-loved photographers and was known for his engaging, warm-hearted pictures of ordinary people. He also shot serious subjects, such as assignments during the Korean War. In the 1950s and 60s he became one of the UK most successful and highly-paid advertising photographers, a fact celebrated in a major retrospective earlier this year.

23. William Eggleston (born 1939)

Eggleston is an American photographer who celebrates the extraordinary in the everyday. His ‘snapshot’ style, combined with his use of color-saturated dye-transfer printing methods, elevated ordinary subjects to the level of art. He’s now credited as being one of the key photographers whose work helped color photography become an accepted art-form.

24. Elliot Erwitt (1928-2023)

Erwitt was an American advertising and editorial photographer widely celebrated for his personal work. It ranged from sensitive studies of family life to witty, wryly humorous street pictures. His favourite subjects included people on beaches and in museums and he produced several books of his popular dog photographs. Last year he entered the Leica Hall of Fame in a celebration of his "pictures that touched the world".

25. Steve McCurry (born 1950)

McCurry is one of the world’s most popular living photojournalists. A long-time member of the Magnum agency and National Geographic contributor, his varied career has included war reporting, coverage of natural disasters, travel photography and portraiture. His most iconic picture is the 2002 image titled Afghan Girl. To learn more, read our exclusive interview with McCurry.

26. Robert Frank (1924-2019)

Frank started out as an editorial and commercial photographer, but his 1958 published his seminal book of documentary photography, The Americans. Made on a road trip around the country, it gave a personal, outsider’s view of its people. It was unconventional in style and technique, but was hugely influential. He later turned to film-making and autobiographical photography. Four years after his death, the book Goin' Down the Road with Robert Frank painted an intimate portrait of this enigmatic and inspirational photographer.

27. Philippe Halsman (1906-1979)

Halsman specialised in portraits and fashion and he worked for high-profile magazines including Vogue and Life. Style, panache and visual inventiveness were central to his work and he photographed major figures of his era including Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill. His most famous image is his surreal masterpiece, Dali Atomicus.

28. David Bailey (born 1938)

Bailey shot to fame as a streetwise fashion and portrait photographer in the 1960s with direct, memorable black and white images of celebrities including the Beatles, Michael Caine and model Jean Shrimpton. He remained one of the best-known British photographers for many decades, but sadly has been suffering from vascular dementia since 2021.

29. Man Ray (1890-1976)

Ray was a painter, film-maker and sculptor as well as a creative and innovative photographer who loved to break established ‘rules’. Influenced by Surrealism, his best-known images were made using solarisation or cameraless photography such as photograms. His inventiveness and experimentation took photography to a new creative level. A new book released this year, Man Ray: Liberating Photography celebrates this pioneering photographer.

30. Martin Parr (1952-2025)

Some regarded Martin Parr as a witty observer of contemporary life, while others saw him as an intellectual elitist. His signature style – ironic and sometimes acerbic color-saturated images shot with fill flash – has divided opinion, but he’s undoubtedly one of the most successful documentary photographers of his era, and one of the best-known members of the Magnum agency.

31. Horst P Horst (1906-1999)

Known for his long association with Vogue magazine, the German-born Horst shot fashion, portraits, nudes and still life photographs that had a strong sense of style and elegance. His most famous image is Mainbocher Corset (1939), one of the best known fashion images of the 20th century.

32. Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002)

In the mid-20th century ‘Karsh of Ottawa’ was seen as one of the world’s most important portrait photographers. A craftsman known for his meticulous and dramatic lighting, his images celebrated statesmen, artists, performers and royalty. His best-known portraits featured major figures including Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway and Albert Einstein.

33. André Kertész (1894-1985)

Hungarian-born Kertész, was an innovative and influential photographer who explored a range of genres: street pictures, portraits, cityscapes, still lifes and distorted nudes. He had an innate ability to find the poetic in the everyday. Images he made that are now regarded as iconic include Chez Mondrian (1926) and The Fork (1928).

34. Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995)

One of the world’s most famous photojournalists in his era, Eisenstaedt shot over 2500 assignments for Life magazine. They included photo-essays on subject including John F Kennedy and devastated cities in Japan after World War II. His best-known single image is VJ Day in Times Square, which shows a sailor spontaneously kissing a nurse.

35. Frans Lanting (born 1951)

Lanting is one of the most celebrated nature photographers working today. Long associated with National Geographic magazine, he has spent the last 35 years photographing wildlife around the world. His ambitious seven-year project Life: A Journey Through Time (2006) told ‘the story of life from its earliest beginnings to its present diversity.’

36. W. Eugene Smith (1918-1978)

Single-minded in his pursuit of a story, Smith photographed on the front line in World War II before becoming a key figure in the development of the photo-essay. His work includes Country Doctor for Life magazine, though his best-known photo-essay is a landmark two-year project documenting the industrial city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

37. Walker Evans (1903-1975)

An important American documentary photographer, Evans is most famous for his work in the 1930s on poverty-stricken sharecropper families during the Depression era. His poetic work celebrated the beauty in everyday life and he mainly worked using large-format 10x8 cameras for maximum detail and clarity.

38. Annie Leibovitz (born 1949)

Working for magazines such as Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Vogue, Leibovitz has become the most famous portrait photographer working today. She’s known for elaborate, imaginative big-budget productions featuring many of the world’s best-known celebrities. Her most iconic images include portraits of John Lennon on the day he was murdered and a naked and pregnant Demi Moore.

39. James Nachtwey (born 1948)

Five times-winner of the prestigious Robert Capa Gold Medal, Nachtwey is an American photojournalist and a founding member of the VII Photo Agency. His work includes covering wars, conflicts and social issues. He’s particularly known for his work on the war in Iraq and the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

40. Diane Arbus (1923-1971)

Arbus’s own personal documentary style was to shoot intimate, intense and sometimes disturbing portraits of people on society’s margins. She photographed giants, circus performers, nudists and transgender people in ways that emphasised their outcast status. Her most famous images show a pair of identical twins and a young boy holding a toy hand grenade.

41. Art Wolfe (born 1951)

Art Wolfe is a prolific, restlessly creative nature and fine art photographer whose work has included landscapes, indigenous cultures and body-painted studio nudes. During his 40-year career he has produced over 90 books, including The Living Wild, which focused on the urgent need for conservation, and Vanishing Act, which concentrated on camouflage in nature.

42. Lewis Hine (1874-1940)

Starting work in the early years of the 20th century, Hine was an important documentary photographer who photographed the poor conditions in American factories. Despite frequently being threatened by factory owners, he focused on working conditions and child labor and his shocking images directly influenced changes in American employment law.

43. O Winston Link (1914-2001)

Although primarily a commercial photographer, Link’s best-known work, made in the late 1950s, is a celebration of the last days of steam railways in America. These romantic and atmospheric black & white photographs, some of which were achieved with pioneering night photography techniques, evoke an age that was fast disappearing.

44. Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989)

The cool precision and beautiful lighting of Mapplethorpe’s sensual flower studies has been widely praised, but he was also a photographer who deliberately courted controversy with graphic images of male nudes and gay sex. His career was prolific but brief; he died aged 42 after contracting AIDS.

45. David Doubilet (born 1946)

Doubilet is arguably the greatest underwater photographer. Working for National Geographic magazine since 1971, he has shot around 70 underwater stories from the southwest Pacific to the Botswana’s Okavanga Delta. He pioneered the technique of showing what’s above and below the water surface in the same image.

46. Weegee (1899-1968)

Weegee (Arthur Fellig) derived his nickname from the word ‘ouija’ because he always seemed have a sixth sense when the accidents and crime scenes he photographed would take place. His pictures, published widely in newspapers at the time, are now regarded as a fascinating document of city life in the 1930s and ‘40s.

47. Tony Ray-Jones (1941-72)

Although he died from leukaemia at just 30 years old, Tony Ray-Jones has had a big influence on documentary photography. His black & white images were observant, beautifully timed and wryly humorous. He was fascinated by the English and saw his countrymen with an outsider’s eye. He particularly focused on English behaviour and traditions and the class system.

48. Andreas Gursky (born 1955)

Gursky says he is “interested in the human species and its environment” and specialises in large-scale digitally-manipulated images that comment on the contemporary world. His subjects include the building interiors such as factories, airports and landscapes covered with solar panels. One image, Rhine II, sold for £2.7 million in 2011.

49. Michael Kenna (born 1953)

British-born Kenna is one of the most successful fine art landscape photographers working today. His much-copied black & white images, shot on medium-format film cameras, are frequently minimalist in style and exude a Zen-like sense of calm. They are often shot in remote locations with very long exposures.

50. Nick Knight (born 1958)

Knight is a radical and influential fashion and advertising photographer and video-maker whose often-confrontational images go against the accepted ideas of beauty. Shooting for major brands such as Alexander McQueen and Calvin Klein and magazines including Vogue, he has tackled a range of issues including racism and disability.

Read more

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The best coffee table books on photography

The best books on portrait photography

Photography is there to be enjoyed. To be looked at, explored, examined, and understood. As photographers, we can spend a lot of time thinking purely about the technical aspects. That is essential when you’re attempting to improve your craft, but it is equally important to take pleasure in the work of others and to see the wider world of photography.

The classic medium for this is the coffee table book – an area of publishing which has proven itself surprisingly resilient in an era where other areas of publishing have struggled against the onslaught of online content.

Perhaps because this is an area where the profit margin has always mattered less than the art, perhaps because the screen is no substitute for the quality, and perhaps because curation matters. Probably all three.

In fact, the coffee table book has not just ‘clung on,’ it has kept moving forward, with innovations in sizes and formats that make the books more accessible to more people (and smaller coffee tables).

The sector also includes exhibition catalogs, an area that has benefited from a growth in photography exhibitions, as well as traditional monographs. All this, plus international distribution chains, makes appreciating great photography in a tactile form easier than ever.

A coffee table book is a perfect gift – not just for a photographer but any creative person – and that is the leading criterion for this list. Prices and formats are mixed (“democratized”, if you like), and every book on this list has been formerly published, so you can order it from your favorite bookstore.

So, without further ado, let's see some stunning work displaying photography in all its glory...

Best coffee table books on photography

In complicated political times for the UK, Martin Parr’s style seems to ask ever-more interesting questions of his homeland, and in this collection, he takes a thoroughly portrait-oriented survey of the quirks of the British.

He is able, of course, with his fame, to command equally famous sitters, including Vivienne Westwood and England goalkeeper Gordon Banks, as well as the many eccentrics he seems able to track down.

There is something a little different about the images compared to previous Parr collections – the portrait aspect seems to occasionally drag him into the same orbit as projects like Humans of New York – but look a little harder at the 220 photos and the wit and brilliance of Parr is still intact (and it’s hard to imagine Grayson Perry providing the foreword to a lesser photographer).

This is a smaller, horizontal format book which brings together the highlights of Rensbergen’s many years of shooting abandoned places.

Rensbergen began as an airline pilot who, rather than relax at the hotel, would always set out to explore locations he was layover at. He has spent two decades building a collection of haunting photography and later an online community to discover new locations.

Inevitably, other photographers' publishers have, ahem, borrowed the idea, but Rensbergen’s extensive travels and innovative approach to exploration have yielded the best results.

The images are an unsettling reminder of how the world might look should humanity disappear, and are individually filled with detail you will pore over. The compact package makes for a wonderful gift – perhaps more of a “side-table book”!

OK, so this isn’t your classic “coffee table” book – it’s got real academic credentials and only fifty images – but it is definitely something which you'd enjoy and would impress your guests if left lying around.

Looking at the original emergence of photography, this book looks at the cultural impact of the arrival of photography. It’s all the more fascinating to look back on this process of ‘democratization’ now since very similar theories have been advanced about both digital photography and social platforms in recent decades.

This is something different from the usual photography collections, but it has found its way onto the same table in a few stores and really catches the eye. Photographer Gregg Segal, with food journalist Bee Wilson, has captured a series of overhead views of kids from around the globe surrounded by the food they consume. In a way, this is like an extended magazine article, but flicking through the colorful shots leaves a strong impression. A picture does seem to be worth 1,000 words.

Admittedly, there was a book with a similar concept in the past by photographer Peter Menzel, called What the World Eats, yet that wasn’t specifically looking at children, and certainly wasn’t shot or presented with the same flair. This might not be for everyone, and it’s not as thick as a traditional coffee table book, but it certainly starts important conversations.

An old-school monograph charting Kenna’s contribution to the field of architectural photography, and presented in a gloriously tactile layered jacket in which the title is on a different leaf from Michael Kenna’s name. The consistent texture of the work, which Michael Kenna is known for, is reflected in the quality of the book and the curation by Pretel’s Yvonne Meyer-Lohr.

For fans of black-and-white photography, Kenna’s landscapes are well-known, making this more of an urban environment project than traditional architectural, and all the more interesting for it. Indeed, it is at times haunting, which is perhaps why the former World Trade Center was chosen for the main band of the cover. For a student of photography, it is also a lesson on how an approach can cross unlikely subject boundaries.

Acclaimed across the world, leading animal photographer Tim Flach brings approaches used in human portraiture to his images, where he seeks to draw an emotional response from the viewer by displaying the character and personality of his animal subjects.

Whereas Flach’s previous book, Endangered, documents a variety of species, Birds turns its lens on avians only, grouping them in subspecies chapters. Shot against black or white backgrounds so that the viewer engages only with the subject, and captured with high definition cameras, the resulting images are bursting with detail and colour.

This book from the renowned National Geographic photographer includes over 60 of his signature ‘half and half’ images, where the bottom part of the images is shot below the water level, while the top part of them shows what’s happening on or above it.

A technique that Doubilet came up with in his teens, he has been able to spend decades perfecting his ‘half and half’ images, and the photographs that grace the book certainly realize his intentions, namely to relate the underwater world to the ‘air world’. Often beautiful and always intriguing, Doubilet’s images also raise awareness of the huge changes impacting the oceans due to climate change.

Just when you thought you’d seen most of the output of this celebrated photographer, another 100 images come into view. Captured on his travels during recent decades, these previously unseen photographs join up some of the dots in the McCurry oeuvre.

In Search of Elsewhere is a collection of images from over 30 different countries – a testament to the sheer breadth and depth of the photographer’s output. With work shot in Antarctica, Madagascar, Cuba, and Jordan, there are several recurring themes within the images – including poverty, architecture, food, and religion. McCurry combed his archive to rediscover images for use in this book; now readers of In Search of Elsewhere can discover this work for the first time.

Since 1978, the professor of photography from the University of Applied Sciences, Würzberg, Germany, has been following a personal project – capturing people waiting for public transport across the globe.

This horizontal-format book, with captions in English and German, represents the highlights of that collection, which shows the architectural variety of rich, poor, hot, cold, capitalist, and socialist environments, and the humanity of the crowd or the solitary individuals as they wait. There is much that could be said, no doubt, about the lessons on human nature or infrastructure architecture, but above all, this is just an enjoyable collection of quirky images.

David Bowie’s legendary status is unarguable, and you might not know it, but many of the images you associate with that legend come from an iconic photographer, Terry O’Neill, who sadly died shortly after the publication of this book.

Though he once studied for the priesthood, O’Neill ended up chronicling the faces of the swinging sixties and beyond. Not just musicians – Churchill, Mandela, Hepburn, and Bardot have also been his subjects. Principally, though, he is known for backstage reportage, with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, and, of course, David Bowie.

Fans will love the rare and previously unpublished insights into their hero – including the last Ziggy Stardust performance and recording sessions – while all photographers will find the wealth of lightbox images inspiring. With 500 pictures knitted together with O’Neill’s first-hand memories, this is hard to pass up.

One of the world's most respected contemporary documentary photographers, Sebastião Salgado is renowned for his spellbinding black-and-white imagery of the world as we don't know it. For Genesis, Salgado documents some of the very few areas of Earth that remain relatively untouched by man with an epic collection of imagery.

There are several hundred images to peruse, which take you on a journey through polar regions, the African savannah, and the rainforests of Amazonia. "In Genesis, my camera allowed nature to speak to me. And it was my privilege to listen," says Salgado.

With over 500 pages and hardcover to boot, you're not going to want to carry this book around. But as a firm fixture on your coffee table, this rare look into Earth's somewhat unseen environments is a gift that keeps on giving.

Hoxton Mini Press has quickly established itself as one of the most interesting photography book publishers out there. It’s not quite the from-nowhere story the company’s about page implies (it neglects to mention that co-founder Martin Usbourne’s father, Peter Usbourne, founded the major global children’s publisher that takes his name).

In practice, though, it means that the firm was very much better connected than most indie ventures, and so has been able to quickly push out many interesting mini coffee table books, often of East London, with trademark colourful fabric spines.

It’s well worth browsing them all – Laundarama and London Underground 1970-1980 are definitely interesting too, but I’ve picked Funland for this list since it travels a little beyond the hip (and less-hip) parts of the East End.

One for the geeks, this is the ultimate in product porn. Commercial and product photographer McLellan has carefully deconstructed a series of iconic gadgets, right down to the individual screws.

The 50 ‘victims’ include an SLR, an iPad, an espresso machine, and a grand piano, and once they are in their component parts, McLellan has photographed them in gorgeous tidy arrangements, as well as presenting carefully arranged compositions that give a new definition to the term ‘exploded diagram.’

Looking at the inside of the technology that surrounds us is fascinating, though the book might make you feel a lot like the decadent Eloi of H.G.Wells’s Time Machine (maybe it’ll encourage your latent engineer, too). This may not be an art photography book, but there are few photographers who wouldn’t love it.

Several photographers told me I had to put a Steve McCurry book in this list, and for me, this is the obvious pick – there are bigger books out there, but at 11 inches (27cm) on the long side, this is big enough to enjoy Magnum-photographer McCurry’s amazing assignments for National Geographic back in the day, while being small enough to make it readable.

That’s a good thing too – this book doesn’t just caption photos with location and year, as other McCurry collections do, but tells the story, partly in his own words, of being on those assignments over 30 years. So much so, in fact, that it’s hard to read too much without self-assigning yourself, grabbing your camera, and setting off right away.

Read more:
• The best books on street photography
• The best books on fashion photography
• The best books on portrait photography
• The best photography books for beginners and pros
• The best books on food photography
• The best photobooks: make your own photography book

If you want to improve your technique, you need to turn to the best. Throughout history, expert photographers have shared their wisdom, offering insights into their creative processes and philosophies. And in this collection, we present 100 thought-provoking quotes from renowned photographers across a range of eras and styles.

From pioneers such as Ansel Adams to contemporary icons such as Annie Leibovitz, their wisdom can shed a unique light on the power of the lens and the photographer's eye. The quotes we've chosen touch on a range of topics, from the photographer's role in society to advice on how to improve your technique.

So whether you're a seasoned professional or an aspiring enthusiast, these pearls of wisdom will inspire you to see the world differently and push the boundaries of your craft.

Best short quotes on photography

1. "Only photograph what you love."
Tim Walker

2. “I didn’t write the rules. Why should I follow them?”
W Eugene Smith

3. "If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera."
Lewis Hine

4. "The first 10,000 shots are the worst." `
Helmut Newton

5. "Photography: so many attempts - so few masterpieces."
James Elliott

6. "For every negative that is a disappointment, there is one that is a joy."
Edward S Curtis

7. “Photography’s 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent moving furniture.”
Gregory Heisler

8. “It’s more important to click with people than to click the shutter.”
Alfred Eisenstaedt

9. “Great photography is about depth of feeling, not depth of field.”
Peter Adams

10. “I think good dreaming is what leads to good photographs.”
Wayne Miller

11. “Photography helps people to see.”
Berenice Abbott

12. “The best camera is the one that’s with you.”
Chase Jarvis

13. “Wherever there is light, one can photograph.”
Alfred Stieglitz

14. “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”
Dorothea Lange

Best photography quotes: What is photography?

15. “Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.”
Don McCullin

16. Making a photograph is rather like writing a paragraph or a short piece, and putting together a whole string of photographs is like producing a piece of writing in many ways. There is the possibility of making coherent statements in an interesting, subtle, complex way."
David Goldblatt

17. “Photography is a response that has to do with the momentary recognition of things. Suddenly you’re alive. A minute later there was nothing there. I just watched it evaporate. You look one moment and there’s everything, next moment it’s gone. Photography is very philosophical.”
Joel Meyerowitz

18. “To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces.”
Ansel Adams

19. “Photographing a cake can be art.”
Irving Penn

20. “You can’t teach people photography, they’ve got to learn how to do it the best way possible for them. They can learn from looking at pictures... but they don’t really get intimate with the medium until they’ve made a few bad shots.”
Cecil Beaton

21. “It isn’t the alphabet that’s important. The important thing is what you are writing, what you are expressing. The same thing goes for photography.”
Andre Kertesz

22. “A lot of people seem to think that art or photography is about the way things look, or the surface of things. [...] They don't understand that it's not about a style or a look or a setup. It's about emotional obsession and empathy.“
Nan Goldin

Best photography quotes: What makes a good picture?

23. “If it makes you laugh, if it makes you cry, if it rips out your heart, that’s a good picture.“
Eddie Adams

24. “Photography is truth. And cinema is truth twenty-four times a second.”
Jean-Luc Godard

25. “If you don’t have anything to say, your photographs are not going to say much.”
Gordon Parks

26. “The best pictures differentiate themselves by nuances…a tiny relationship – either a harmony or a disharmony – that creates a picture.”
Ernst Haas

27. “Just because people use Instagram and take cellphone pictures, it doesn’t mean the pictures are meaningful, any more than a text someone sends a friend is great literature. Is it something that’s going to remain? Is it going to inspire us?”
Steve McCurry

28. “To me a photograph is a page from life, and that being the case, it must be real.”
Weegee

29. "A good photograph is like a good hound dog, dumb, but eloquent."
Eugène Atget

30. "The best images are the ones that retain their strength and impact over the years, regardless of the number of times they are viewed."
Anne Geddes

31. "A photograph is a collision between a person with a camera and reality. The photograph is typically as interesting as the collision is."
Charles Harbutt

32. "A good picture is born from a state of grace. Grace becomes manifest when one is freed from conventions, free as a child in his first discovery of reality. The game is then to organize the triangle."
Sergio Larrain

Best quotes on the fundamental principles of photography

33. “Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed.”
Garry Winogrand

34. “I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.”
Diane Arbus

35. “The magic of photography is metaphysical. What you see in the photograph isn't what you saw at the time. The real skill of photography is organised visual lying." Terence Donovan

36. “Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.” Dorothea Lange

37. “The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.”
Andy Warhol

38. “Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art.”
Ambrose Bierce

39. “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.” Diane Arbus

40. “It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things, but in photography... it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.”
David Bailey

41. “Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.”
Man Ray

42. “Photography is a medium in which if you don’t do it then, very often you don’t do it at all, because it doesn’t happen twice. A rock will probably always be more or less there just the way you saw it yesterday. But other things change, they’re not always there the day after or the week after.”
Paul Strand

43. “Ultimately, simplicity is the goal in every art, and achieving simplicity is one of the hardest things to do, yet it’s easily the most essential.” Pete Turner

44. “You must let the person looking at the photograph go some of the way to finishing it. You should offer them a seed that will grow and open up their minds.” Robert Doisneau

45. “All the technique in the world doesn’t compensate for the inability to notice.” Elliott Erwitt

Best quotes on how to approach a shoot

46. “Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like.”
David Alan Harvey

47. “There is no such thing as taking too much time, because your soul is in that picture.”
Ruth Bernhard

48. “The key is to photograph your obsessions; whether that’s old people’s hands or skyscrapers. Think of a blank canvas, because that’s what you’ve got, and then think about what you want to see – not anyone else.”
David Lachapelle

49. "The satisfaction comes from working next to 500 photographers and coming away with something different."
David Burnett

50. “I think a photograph, of whatever it might be – a landscape, a person – requires personal involvement. That means knowing your subject, not just snapping away at what’s in front of you.”
Frans Lanting

51. “I can’t tell you how many pictures I’ve missed, ignored, trampled or otherwise lost, just ’cause I’ve been so hell-bent on getting the shot I think I want.”
Joe McNally

52. "The pitfall of photography is that you can end up looking at everything through a camera, instead of seeing it for itself. The viewfinder isolates you. When you look through one, you're cutting everything else out of your vision. The camera can open many doors, but sometimes you need to put it down and live."
Maggie Steber

53. "If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough."
Robert Capa

54. “If I knew what the picture was going to be like, I wouldn’t make it. It was almost like it was made already... the challenge is more about trying to make what you can’t think of.”
Cindy Sherman

The importance of instinct

55. "If you want to make good photographs, a camera has to be second nature to you. Devoting too much attention to technical decisions can interfere with your creative processes."
Robert Farber

56. “It would be mistaken to suppose that any of the best photography is come at by intellection; it is like all art, essentially the result of an intuitive process, drawing on all that the artist is rather than on anything he thinks, far less theorizes about -
Helen Levitt

57. "It seems to me that women have a bigger chance at success in photography than men… Women are quicker and more adaptable than men. And I think they have an intuition that helps them understand personalities more quickly than men."
Lee Miller

58. “It is very hard to say where you’re going until you get there. That kind of thing is based very much on instinct. As a photographer, one of the most important lessons I have learnt is that you have to learn to listen to and trust your own instinct. It has helped to guide me – this far at least.”
James Nachtwey

59. "Technique undoubtedly helps make photography magical, but I prefer to work with atmosphere. I think that the obsession with technique is a male thing. Boy's toys. They love playing... but once you've perfected something you have to start searching for a new toy. I would rather search for a new model or location."
Ellen von Unwerth

60. “Photography concentrates one’s eye on the superficial. For that reason it obscures the hidden life which glimmers through the outlines of things like a play of light and shade. One can’t catch that even with the sharpest lens. One has to grope for it by feeling.”
Franz Kafka

61. “To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk.”
Edward Weston

62. “The better images occur when you’re moving to the fringes of your own understanding. That's where self-doubt and risk taking are likely to occur. It’s when you trust what’s happening at a non-intellectual non-conscious level that you can produce work that later resonates, often in a way that you can’t articulate a response to."
Jerry Uelsmann

63. “The secret of photography is the camera takes on the character and personality of the handler.”
Walker Evans

64. “It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart, and head.”
Cartier-Bresson

65. “The camera is a remarkable instrument. Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand.”
Margaret Bourke-White

66. "Witness is borne and puzzles come together at the photographic moment, which is very simple and complete. The mind-finger presses the release on the silly machine and it stops time and holds what its jaws can encompass and what the light will stain."
Lee Freidlander

Photography technique

67. “Self-conscious artiness is fatal, but it certainly would not hurt to study composition in general. Having a basic understanding of composition would help construct a better organized image.”
Berenice Abbott

68. “I go straight in very close to people, and I do that because it’s the only way you can get the picture. You go right up to them. Even now, I don’t find it easy. I don’t announce it. I pretend to be focusing elsewhere. If you take someone’s photo, it is very difficult not to look at them just after. But it’s the one thing that gives the game away. I don’t try and hide what I’m doing – that would be folly.”
Martin Parr

69. “Black and white are the colours of photography. To me they symbolise the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.”
Robert Frank

70. “When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”
Ted Grant

71. “In photography there are no shadows that cannot be illuminated.”
August Sander

72. “The painter constructs, the photographer discloses.”
Susan Sontag

73. "The more specific you are, the more general it’ll be.”
Diane Arbus

74. “If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”
Robert Capa

75. “By making a frame you’re being selective, then you edit the pictures you want published and you’re being selective again. You develop a point of view that you want to express. You try to go into a situation with an open mind, but then you form an opinion and you express it in your photographs.”
Mary Ellen Mark

76. “Limit your tools, focus on one thing, and just make it work… you become very inventive with the restrictions you give yourself.”
Anton Corbijn

77. “A lot of photographers think that if they buy a better camera they’ll be able to take better photographs. A better camera won’t do a thing for you if you don’t have anything in your head or in your heart.”
Arnold Newman

78. “My favorite words are possibilities, opportunities, and curiosity. If you are curious, you create opportunities, and if you open the doors, you create possibilities.”
Mario Testino

79. “You are responsible for every part of your image, even the parts you’re not interested in.”
Jay Maisel

80. “The most important piece of equipment after the camera is a good pair of shoes. A writer can work from a hotel room but a photographer has to be there, so he/she is in for a hell of a lot of hiking.”
David Hurn

81. “During the work, you have to be sure that you haven’t left any holes, that you’ve captured everything, because afterwards it will be too late”
Henry Cartier-Bresson

82. “No amount of toying with shades of print or with printing papers will transform a commonplace photograph into anything other than a commonplace photograph.”
Bill Brandt

83. “I’m so worried that I’m going to perfect [my] technique someday. I have to say it’s unfortunate how many of my pictures do depend upon some technical error.”
Sally Mann

Best quotes on how to improve your photography

84. “Those who want to be serious photographers, you're really going to have to edit your work. You're going to have to understand what you're doing. You're going to have to not just shoot, shoot, shoot. To stop and look at your work is the most important thing you can do”
Annie Leibovitz

85. "If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff."
Jim Richardson

86. "Never stop looking, no matter where you are, everywhere there are good photographs."
Art Wolfe

87. “You become technically proficient whether you want to or not, the more you take pictures.”
William Eggleston

88. “Look at lots of exhibitions and books, and don't get hung up on cameras and technical things. Photography is about images."
Fay Godwin

89. “Don’t pack up your camera until you’ve left the location.”
Joe McNally

90. “The more pictures you see, the better you are as a photographer.”
Robert Mapplethorpe

91. "One of the biggest mistakes photographers make is not having work that defines their interests and strengths. No one is going to hire you for what you say you like to do. You have to show them that you are capable of it first."
Ami Vitale

92. "Be yourself. I much prefer seeing something, even it is clumsy, that doesn't look like somebody else's work."
William Klein

93. “Chance is always there. We all use it. The difference is, a poor photographer meets chance one out of a hundred times and a good photographer meets chance all the time.”
Brassaï

94. "A photographer is an acrobat treading the high wire of chance, trying to capture shooting stars."
Guy Le Querrec

95. “There is a brief moment when all there is in a man’s mind and soul and spirit is reflected through his eyes, his hands, his attitude. This is the moment to record.”
Yousuf Karsh

96. “You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.”
Galen Rowell

97. “Photography has no rules, it is not a sport. It is the result which counts, no matter how it is achieved.”
Bill Brandt

Best quotes on how to shoot people

Best quotes on how to shoot people

98. “A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people.”
Annie Leibovitz

99. “My job as a portrait photographer is to seduce, amuse and entertain.”
Helmut Newton

100. “It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like; it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.”
Paul Caponigro

101. “A photographic close-up is perhaps the purest form of portraiture, creating a confrontation between the viewer and the subject that daily interaction makes impossible, or at least impolite.”
Martin Schoeller

102. “To me, the face – the eyes, the expression of the mouth – is the thing that reflects character. It is the only part of the body that permits us to see the inner person.”
Philippe Halsman

103. “We all have a sort of mask of expression. You say goodbye, you smile, you are scared. I try to take all these masks away and little by little subtract until you have something pure left. A kind of abandon, a kind of absence.”
Paolo Roversi

104. “I never think about a shoot before I do it. Because there's no formula for people. What I try to do is to strip everything away rather than go in with preconceived notions. If I do that, I might miss a gem or a jewel that the person is offering me."
Platon

105. “People are aware of the power of a camera, and this instinctively makes most subjects uncomfortable and stiff. But Bebeto taught me to linger in a place long enough, without photographing, so that people grew comfortable with me and the camera’s presence.”
Lynsey Addario

106. "A good portrait is the rapport that is established between two people, there has to be someone in front of the camera and someone behind it."
Jeanloup Sieff

107. "It doesn't matter if you're photographing a porter in a market in Marrakech or you're photographing the king of Morocco. You have the same sympathetic approach to everybody. You be nice to everybody, basically."
Albert Watson

108. "The majority of the people I've taken photographs of, I've had conversations with. 'What are your goals and aspirations?'. 'What are you about?' It's not just about me capturing the image; I want to know what you are about."
Jamel Shabazz

109. “A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.”
Edward Steichen

110. “The photographer, even in fashion and portraiture, has to have a standpoint. It's important to know what you stand for, no? Most people just take pictures but they stand for nothing. They follow trends and don't know why."
Peter Lindbergh

111. "I don’t need to know anything about the people I photograph, but it’s important that I recognise something about myself in them."
Rineke Dijkstra

Best quotes on finding your passion

112. “If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence.”
Richard Avedon

113. “The picture that you took with your camera is the imagination you want to create with reality.”
Scott Lorenzo

114. “Which of my photographs is my favourite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.”
Imogen Cunningham

114. "There's no dividing line between adventure and photography."
Chris Noble

115. “When I have a camera in my hand, I know no fear.”
Alfred Eisenstaedt

116. “There’s a time when people say your work is revolutionary, but you have to keep being revolutionary. I can’t keep shooting pop stars all my life. You have to keep changing, keep pushing yourself, looking for the new, the unusual.”
Rankin

117. “One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you’d be stricken blind.”
Dorothy Lange

118. "Photography is something you learn to love very quickly. I know that many, many things are going to ask me to have their pictures taken and I will take them all."
Jacques-Henri Lartigue

119. “I think if I ever get satisfied, I’ll have to stop. It’s the frustration that drives you.” Eve Arnold

120. “You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at the picture for a second and think of it all your life.”
Joan Miro

Read more:
The best coffee table books on photography

The best books on portrait photography

The best books on food photography

The best books on street photography

44 tips cards for photographers

Exploring the lives of photographers through film isn't just great entertainment. It also offers a captivating glimpse into the artistry, struggles and triumphs of these visual storytellers. From biographical dramas to insightful documentaries, these works of cinematic genius not only showcase photographers' work but also delve into the personal narratives that shape their vision. 

That's why we've pulled together a curated list of the 28 best films that celebrate the lives and legacies of renowned photographers. These films highlight the intersection of photography and storytelling, revealing how images can capture profound moments in history and evoke deep emotional responses. 

Whether it's the gritty realities faced by war photographers or the glamorous yet challenging world of fashion photography, each of these films provides a unique perspective on the craft. Meanwhile, for more films where people carry cameras, check out our list of Top 25 movies about fictional photographers.

Dramatized biopics

01. Lee

Directed by Ellen Kuras, this 2023 movie tells the story of war journalist Lee Miller, who went from a career in modelling to chronicle the events of World War Two for Vogue magazine. The film, which stars Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard took eight years to make; at one point Winslet had to pay the entire cast and crew's salaries for two weeks. It made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last September and will be released theatrically on 13 September this year.

02. The Killing Fields (1991)

This British-made drama focuses on the real-life experiences of two photojournalists, Cambodian Dith Pran (1942-2008) and American Sydney Schanberg (1934-2016), during the rise of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge. It uses a more stark and documentary-style of film-making than a typical Hollywood movie, and is all the more emotionally engaging and disturbing because of it. Plus, without giving too much away, there’s a scene around the development of a piece of film that anyone from the analogue era will find both heart-stopping and fascinating.

03. Photographing Fairies (1997)

Everyone knows that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the Sherlock Holmes novels, but did you know he also believed in fairies? That’s because he was duped by a series of five fake photographs taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, two cousins who lived in Cottingley, near Bradford, England. This movie takes "inspiration" from this true-life story, rather than relating it particularly accurately, but it's an entertaining romp nonethless. And more broadly, it does a good job in showing how photographic manipulation is nothing new, nor specific to the digital age.

04. Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006) 

American photographer Diane Arbus (1923-1971) was chiefly known for her work documenting marginalised groups such as dwarfs, giants, transgender people, nudists, and circus performers. This drama based on her life is thoroughly entertaining and moving stuff, and Nicole Kidman is terrific in the main role. Don’t treat it as fact, though: the story is mainly fictional, and the Diane Arbus estate refused to give their approval as a consequence.

05. Double Exposure: The Story of Margaret Bourke-White (1989) 

Born in 1904, Margaret Bourke-White was both the first foreign photographer to take pictures of the Soviet five-year plan and America’s first female war photojournalist. She even provided the cover image for the first-ever issue of Life magazine. Farrah Fawcett gives an excellent (and award-winning) performance as Bourke-White in this well-paced biopic, which intertwines the story of her career with that of her rocky relationship with her second husband.

06. Everlasting Moments (2008)

Everlasting Moments is a Swedish drama based on the true story of Maria Larsson, an uneducated, working-class woman who, in 1911, won a camera in a lottery and went on to become a professional photographer. Narrated by her daughter, it's a classic tale of triumph over adversity and doggedly pursuing what you love; all the more affecting for being based on a real person.

07. The Bang Bang Club (2010)

The Bang Bang Club was a group of four conflict photographers active within the townships of South Africa between 1990 and 1994: Kevin Carter, Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek, and João Silva. This Canadian-South African movie adapts an account of their work written by two of its members, and depicts the extremes they went to to capture their pictures. While it's been criticised for not delving deeper into the politics of the era, as a dramatisation of the realities of life as a conflict photographer it’s a stunning achievement.

08. We'll Take Manhattan (2012)

This British movie relates the real-life affair between photographer David Bailey (Aneurin Barnard) and model Jean Shrimpton (Karen Gillan), while on a one-week assignment in New York for Vogue in 1962. The film-makers went to great pains to recreate the photos from the original shoot, using a combination of props, and computer-generated imagery. And the film also nails the central narrative, showing effectively how the pair's efforts turned the staid world of fashion photography upside-down.

09. Life (2015)

This biopic of Dennis Stock (1928-2010), a photographer for Life magazine, focuses on his friendship with the actor James Dean (played by Dane DeHaan). With Robert Pattinson in the lead role, this is a highly personal film that highlights the tension between photographing someone on a job and treating them as a friend, two things that can often come into conflict with each other. 

10. Fotograf (2015)

Born in Prague in 1935, Jan Saudek is one of the most famous photographers his nation has ever produced. Fotograf is based on his life and work, but only loosely; it's far from a straight biopic. Instead this Czech-made ‘dramedy’, which stars Karel Roden and was co-written by Saudek himself, strides a fine line between veracity and irony. In doing so, it avoids the heavy-handed plodding that biopics are typically prone to, and the result is quirky, yet satisfying.

11. Eadweard (2015)

This Canadian indie tells the tale of Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904), the pioneering photographer who in 1872 famously took 12 still images of a horse galloping and combined them in a prototype film reel, to prove that all four feet leave the ground at the same time. Muybridge was also well-known for shooting nude and deformed subjects, and for killing his wife's lover, so there's plenty of true-life material to ensure this biopic never flags. Michael Eckland gives an excellent performance in the title role, too, and while the weird score and offbeat humour can be irritating, overall this is a very entertaining and informative watch. 

12. Mapplethorpe (2018)

American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) was one of the first to convince curators that photography could be considered art. But what he'll inevitably be best remembered for is the way incorporated male genitalia, homoeroticism and BDSM subculture into his work, in a way that still shocks today. So be warned: there are a lot of penises in this biopic, currently touring film festivals, which stars The Crown actor Matt Smith as the controversial artist. That doesn’t, however, deflect the film from efficiently dramatising the main landmarks in Mapplethorpe’s life, from his youthful relationship with Patti Smith to his untimely death from AIDS. Most admirably, it avoids oversentimentalising a man that even friends and admirers said could be "difficult". 

Documentary biopics

13. Uncropped (2023) 

Directed by D.W. Young, Uncropped delves into the illustrious career of James Hamilton, a photographer who has masterfully chronicled America's cultural history over the past four decades, and traces the evolution and decline of alternative print journalism in that nation. The film highlights Hamilton's stunning visual documentation of New York City's vibrant and gritty essence through intimate conversations with notable figures like Wes Anderson and Thurston Moore. A must-see for anyone interested in the intersection of art, media, and cultural history.

14. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) 

This Oscar-nominated documentary offers a powerful and intimate portrait of renowned photographer Nan Goldin. Directed by Laura Poitras, it masterfully interweaves Goldin's groundbreaking artistic career with her passionate activism against the Sackler family's role in the opioid crisis. Along the way, the film provides a deep dive into Goldin's life and work, showcasing her raw, unflinching photographs that documented LGBTQ+ subcultures and the AIDS epidemic. 

15. The Way I See It (2020)

Directed by Dawn Porter, this documentary provides an intimate look at the Obama presidency through the lens of former chief official White House photographer Pete Souza. The film highlights Souza's journey from a non-political photographer to a visual chronicler of history, featuring iconic images like Obama bending down for a young boy to touch his hair. It also explores Souza's transformation into a photo-activist in the Trump era, using his archive to provide pointed commentary on the current administration.

16. Helmut Newton: Frames from the Edge (1989)

Known for his erotic images of tall, blond and big-breasted women, Helmut Newton (1920-2004) is one of the most iconic names in the history of fashion and advertising photography. This documentary, filmed while the German-Australian was in his sixties, follows him across shoots in LA, to Paris, Monte-Carlo and Berlin. It's a fun romp throughout and never takes its subject too seriously; in fact, it’s as much a document of the gaudy excesses of the 1980s fashion industry as an insightful look behind a photographer’s lens.

17. Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light (1995)

Richard Avedon (1923-2004) was a portrait photographer who revolutionised the worlds of fashion and advertising photography in the second half of the 20th century. This solid documentary, from the PBS 'American Masters' series, takes you through his life and career through interviews, celebrity comments and original footage. Highlights include Avedon’s stories of how Marilyn Monroe “freely danced” in his studio for hours and how, in 1952, Charlie Chaplin called him out of the blue and popped round for a visit.

18. Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye (2003)

One of the most important figures in the medium’s history, Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) was a frustrated French painter who pioneered the genre of street photography, and famous defined the discipline as “capturing a decisive moment”. Filmed shortly before his death, this documentary sees the notoriously press-shy artist review his impressive portfolio of iconic images, from Gandhi's funeral to the fall of China, as historians and colleagues explore his impact and influence on others. 

19. William Eggleston: In the Real World (2005)

One of the first in the profession to legitimise colour photography as an artistic medium, William Eggleston has been a dividing figure, not least for his groundbreaking 1976 show at New York's MoMA, described as “the most hated show of the year". This documentary follows him on trips to Kentucky, Los Angeles, New York City and Memphis, where he takes pictures on the streets and in local stores. Mumbling throughout, and frequently at odds at his interviewer, Eggleston is resistant to intellectualising or even analysing his work, but just seeing this master photographer walk, talk and shoot is a treat in its own right.

20. Smash His Camera (2010)

Born in 1931, Ronald Edward Galella, aka Ron Galella, is one of history’s most controversial photographers. Dubbed "the Godfather of the U.S. paparazzi culture" by Time magazine, he's taken more than three million photographs of public figures and gained notoriety through his feuds with Jacqueline Onassis and Marlon Brando. Although this award-winning documentary pulls its punches on the ethics of his trade, it's still an enjoyable look behind the lens of one of the industry's most colourful characters.  

21. Somewhere to Disappear (2010)

Based in Minneapolis, Alec Soth is an American photographer known for documenting life and landscapes in the midwestern states. This documentary follows along as he embarks on his ‘Broken Manual’ project, about men who are trying to disappear from society by living in places like a cave or a desert shelter. Steering a careful path between empathy and voyeurism, it’s all beautifully shot, while the quiet, meditative nature of the narrative is perfect for its often disturbing subject matter.

22. McCullin (2012)

Donald (aka Don) McCullin is a British photojournalist famed for his images of conflict in places like Berlin, Cyprus, Congo, Biafra, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon and the United States. This conventional yet informative documentary features extensive interviews with the photographer and his Sunday Times editor Harold Evans, both of whom speak plainly and frankly about everything from McCullin’s approach to composition to the ethics of his profession. 

23. Bill Cunningham New York (2012)

Bill Cunningham (1929-2016), a fashion photographer for The New York Times, was known far and wide for his candid and street photography. This profile shows him working in the studio, in the office and at home, and includes interviews with friends and subjects such as Tom Wolfe, David Rockefeller, Brooke Astor and Vogue’s Anna Wintour. Full of fun and wit, this is an uplifting film that perfectly encapsulate Cunningham’s deep passion for his calling.

24. Finding Vivian Maier (2013)

Few people ever saw the street photography of Vivian Maier (1926-2009) in her lifetime. But over 100,000 images by the New York nanny were uncovered after her death, and she is now considered one of the 20th century’s greatest photographers. This Oscar-nominated documentary tells the riveting story of this post-mortem discovery and features never-before-seen photographs and films, as well as interviews with people who thought they knew her.

25. The Salt of the Earth (2014)

Brazilian Sebastião Salgado is one of the most revered names in modern photojournalism. This documentary, directed by Wim Wenders and Salgado’s son Juliano, traces the timeline of his life, beginning with his exile from Brazil and his transition from economist to photographic artist. From the Ethiopian famine to Rwandan genocide, his images are often not for the faint-hearted, but the film-makers strike a good balance between a despairing and hopeful message in this tribute to a man whose work inspires journalists the world over.

26. War Photographer (2001)

Born in 1948, James Nachtwey is a US photojournalist who's been awarded the Overseas Press Club's Robert Capa Gold Medal five times, along with two World Press Photo awards. This Swiss documentary follows him as he travels to conflict zones around the world. Simply watching the man at work would be enough to engage most viewers, but this documentary goes beyond just explaining his process, and digs deep into Nachtwey’s psyche, as he responds to challenging questions about the ethics and emotions surrounding his work.

27. Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye (2001)

Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) was an American photographer who was pivotal in making photography an accepted art form, both through his own work and the New York galleries he ran. This thoroughly researched PBS documentary traces the career and influence of the man whose work was described by Edward Steichen as “like none ever made by any other photographer”. Along it way, you get the chance to see not just his most famous pictures but also his lesser-known images; from early images of European peasant life to views of New York’s skyscrapers seen from his window.

28. Annie Leibowitz: Life Through a Lens (2008)

Born in Conneticut in 1949, Anna-Lou ‘Annie’ Leibovitz is possibly the world’s most famous portrait photographer. This documentary, directed by her sister Barbara Leibovitz, traces the influences that have shaped her, from childhood to her transition from Rolling Stone to Vanity Fair, to later personal relationships including motherhood. Although the most negative parts of her story (such as her drug addiction) are skirted over, this is still a fascinating look at a tumultuous, but ultimately triumphant, career in photography. 

29. Guest of Cindy Sherman (2009)

Born in 1954, US photographer Cindy Sherman is best known for her work subverting the stereotypes of women in media. Rather than a straight biopic, though, this film focuses on the ill-fated relationship between Sherman and Paul H-O, a star of cable-access TV. If you’re looking for an antidote to overly sentimentalised or simplified documentaries, and want to see something a bit more down to earth and complex, this is an entertaining (if sometimes excrutiating) watch.

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