Even though I do not shoot material like the photographers in this list: the following books are always an inspiration to me:





Helen Levitt - Helen Levitt (sadly, she passed away recently. She was a street photography pioneer and her work is so delicate and poetic and witty)


Richard Avedon - 1946 - 2004 (the exhbition book: if you have a chance to go see the exhibition: do it. immediately)


Guy Bourdin - Exhibit A (out of print. To me, Bourdin was the best fashion photographer that ever lived, to this day even)


Mary Ellen Mark - Exposure (The best of her documentaries. The personal anecdotes in the back of the book alone are worth it).


Diane Arbus - Aperture Monograph (Even some people (like me) feel Arbus' work was exploitative (is that a word?) and her views of her subjects not always clear, if you look at her psychological profile you could say that she didn't portray all these (strange) people, she portrayed herself, through her choices and through those people. But that's a whole other discussion. Her work fascinates me.