New York 1954.55 by William Klein (1995)

This book that is being flipped is from the English edition. Published by Dewi Lewis Publishing, Manchester (England), 1995.

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It was Winogrand, giving advice to photographers, who said, "They should be, the problem is, the primary problem is learning to be your own toughest critic. You have to pay attention to intelligent work. And work at the same time. I mean, you have to bounce what you do with better work. It's a matter of working" (1981). This Winogrand quote is at the heart of the book flips.
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What is Book Flip?

Book Flip (hereafter BF) exists to expose (if not seen before) some photography work to the public (meaning probably to 1 or 2 of you). Primarily street, social landscape, documentary photography, a few landscape works out there that may not have gotten much airplay. And of course my choice of books are subjective. The choice of books are from my own bent which I cannot escape also it's due to limited book resources. But one thing I know for sure, Street photography (whether you like that term or not) is the best photographic genre of all time hands down, take that and booyah! These book flips will consist of books that I particularly appreciate and enjoy or photo books that I thought were just okay yet thought photographers could learn from. Some photographic poetry are in your face, some are intentionally subtle, some very serious, others pun-filled funny, some brilliant, and many all the above.

Second, photography and art school can be expensive and therefore whack so BF attempts to show photography books via youtube in order to show how the photographer or editor thoughtfully (or the reverse) sequenced the photographs, how the photographer makes clear the content where hopefully at the same time appreciating the hard work that went in to making a book, among other things that photographers may learn from photography books.

Also, there is this idea with some photographers where they do not view other photographic work other than their own in fear that it would negatively influence their own work or would put a wrench in their particular style. I believe this is wrongheaded. First, established photographers of the past did not isolate themselves but viewed and studied the work of others; for example, Diane Arbus learned from Berenice Abbot, among others. Most Magnum photographers claim their influence to Henri Cartier-Bresson. Robert Frank learned from Walker Evans, among others. Garry Winogrand learned heavily and appreciated the works of Walker Evans and Robert Frank. It was Winogrand, giving advice to photographers, who said, "they should be, the problem is, the primary problem is learning to be your own toughest critic. You have to pay attention to intelligent work. And work at the same time. I mean, you have to bounce what you do with better work. It's a matter of working" (1981). This Winogrand quote is at the heart of the Book Flips. Along with appreciating the photo-poems in the book or the work as a whole, some of the questions that I ask are, why did the photographer choose this subject matter? What was the photographer's process? Did he shoot with film or digitally? Did she switch lenses for different shots? How long did this book take to put together? Did he shoot the shots candidly, posed or both? Why did he or she sequence the photographs this way? What is the photographer saying regarding the subject matter? Were the photographs edited and sequenced by the photographer or by an editor? When were these photographs made? How does the form and content coincide with each other. And so on.

In my opinion, the idea of a photographer not interested in other work does not jive. I believe in all crafts and sports the doer appreciates the works of other doers because he or she would have an interest to that craft or sport, correct me if I'm wrong. Rap artists listen and appreciate rap music other than their own, writers do the same, basketball players not only enjoy playing but like watching the game of basketball, and so on. Further, to establish and claim an influence in photography was a huge thing and not something every photographer had the right to do.

Yo! I know these book flips do not do the book justice, but at least the book is displayed in its entirety here (among other places).

If you don't like the quality of my book flips and/or resolution (in settings change it to HD), no offense taken. There are some good flips on vimeo you can go to.

Books are great, hope the internet in the future does not weed out physical prints.

Enjoy the book flips. And if you shoot, shoot on.

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