What I learned reading 'Photo Work: Forty Photographers on Process and Practice

First off, I couldn't put this book down; I read it every day I had a moment of free time. This book isn't a story or a journey. It is a series of in-depth interviews from forty photographers asked the same exact questions. Photographers ranging from Robert Adams, Alec Soth, Todd Hido, Lisa Sarfati to Justine Kurland, to name a few.

What made this interesting were the questions and how each photographer answered them so differently. The questions target deeper meaning and philosophical aspects of their practice, resulting in sometimes deep and sometimes reflective insights into each artist's reasons to take photos. Questions like, is your practice intuitive or intellectually formulated? Is the idea of a complete body of work important to you? What comes first, the idea, or the photography?

When reading, I knew many of the photographers' work and had ideas about their processes. However, it was the photographers I knew less about that completely differed from myself in terms of subject matter and style that I resonated with the most. The amount of self-reflection this interviews prompted was amazing. Ideas upon ideas, reflection after reflection were spilling out of me. This book changed what I consider important in photography and a body of work.

Here are two photographers' answers to the same questions, they could not be further away from each other in their responses, yet at the same time, so very close to what really matters.

Q: Assuming you now shoot in what you would consider your natural voice, have you ever wished your voice was different?

A: No. The key is nurturing your own talents and abilities. You cannot be someone you are not, and there is no reason to try. - John Edmonds

A: All the time. There's a lot of impactful work out there, a lot of artists that I admire. But my voice is always going to be my voice... - Zora Murff

It's so refreshing to know that these photographers are human; they have doubts but also conviction about who they are. Still, that doesn't stop them from admiring others; it simply means they don't need to copy because being themselves is far more effective in connecting with this medium and their subjects. Anything else is a lie.

It was so refreshing to have a book that wasn't about gear, business, image processing, or even techniques. It touched on a subject that never gets the light of day when it comes to learning about photography in the modern age: Meaning, purpose, and the inner need to capture the photograph. To resonate with a subject matter.

This is a wonderful read that every photographer needs to read on their journey through this medium. When you should read this publication is up to you and when you are ready to dive a little deeper into purpose. I will forever be flipping back through the pages and absorbing the parts that resonated with me. I highly recommend getting this book written by Sasha Wolf, published by Aperture. It deserves a place on every photographer's bookshelf.