A friend of mine has just published his own book and this week I finally got round to getting a copy of it and having a read. The book in question is 'Within the Frame', by David DuChemin. I'm sure some of you will know David's work from his site the pixelatedimage.com.
I met David pretty much by chance. He'd stumbled upon my site and had written a very kind review of my work and we got talking. He's very enthusiastic but I didn't really get a chance to meet him until I was in Nepal this year. I've since kept up correspondence with him and I find him to be very inspiring: when you're busy trying to make a go of being 100% professional, it's always good to surround yourself with people who are positive, forward thinking and inspiring.
So David has published his first book, and although he is predominantly a 'people photographer', what I found striking about his book was that I feel the contents apply to anyone be it a landscape photographer or a street photographer. The text is engaging and if I didn't know better, I'd say that David is a very talented writer - end of story. But his images are very beautiful too. He's got an innocent charm in how he approaches subjects and I personally felt I could draw a lot of parallels to how he approaches his photography to my own.
This book is not a technical book. And I'm grateful for it. The last good read I had was Galen Rowell's 'Mountain Light', an inspiring book about being out there and 'connecting' with what you see. David's book is similar in that respect, but it's more aimed at the enthusiast who wants to improve his skills. he talks about 'Vision' - something that the late Galen Rowell brought up, as did Ansel Adams, but what David does is break vision down into it's integral parts. It's a nice book which makes you *think* more about what it is you are trying to do with your photography, rather than what gear you want to buy. And for that, It's rather refreshing.
David used to be a stand up comedian. I only bring this up because each time I pick a paragraph to read, I can't help being reeled in. It's nice writing, humourous, humble and engaging.