Photography Book Review - The Art Book

Ok so it is not mainly a photography book, but a book that should be in every photographers library, amateur or professional.
Any photograher needs some inspiration now and then. The internet is of course a vast source for inspiration, but often we get flooded by impressions, and its not always the good stuff.

Thats when a book like this is great. For one thing, lots of work has been done making the selection of artists. And the selection contains the best works created by the best (or at least the most influential) artists from the middle ages through to our age. In this book you find about 500 artists, and pictures of their most important works.

If you are looking for inspiration in your photography, either when it comes to lighting portraits, posing models, composing landscapes or just getting a creative boost, then this is a great place to start. I've spent hours looking through this book, looking for painters that have a style I get inspired by.

Here are three examples of painters I found that had what I consider to be wonderful styles.
John Constable , Lord Frederic Leighton and Jean Francois Millet .



Pure photography books are great for inspiration, but what the old masters did with a paintbrush is both important, impressive and inspiring. Art books like this, and books covering the works of specific artists are well worth the their cost. I see it as an investment, that pays back in better photographs and a greater joy of making photographs. Standing on giants is not such a bad idea.

At time of writing you can get The Art Book from Amazon for less than $20. Thats a steal for that amount of inspiration.