One might say I have an obsession with books. And magazines. I will rarely say no to a book or magazine. And back in the day, the same would be said about music. Now I just pay the good people at Apple to satisfy that itch.
My wife and I were at a local Barnes & Noble a couple of weekends ago and I walked out with two books on photography. The weekend before, the same. And I think two weeks before that, Amazon was my dealer. I’m surprised that Borders went out of business considering how much money I contributed to that business.
Today, as we were sitting in the cafe, flipping through various books and magazines, I asked myself why I buy books on photography when I should be out making photographs. Damn good question, self. I think I lean on books about a specific subject for two reasons. The first, and obvious, is to learn about it. The second, less obvious, is as a surrogate.
I think we can all understand the first reason. The second reason, books being a surrogate, might need some explaining. When I can’t go make photos, I tend to spend time with photography books. Sure, people use books to escape all of the time. I’m not assuming to be presenting a new or novel concept here.
One of my favorite YouTubers is Ted Forbes (Art of Photography). He seems to have a book addiction as well. He often shares his favorite books on his channel which triggers my scrolling down to the show notes to jot down titles or click on links.
Maybe you are asking, why not just go out and shoot? It has been a wet spring here and my poor X100T isn’t weather sealed. And no, I’m not going out with a baggie over my camera. Hopefully soon I will be able to get something that is weather sealed so that excuse can go away. (I’m holding out for the new X-Pro3 or the next iteration of the X100 whatever.)
So if you find yourself in a bookstore - come look for me. I’m probably the guy in the cafe with a stack of books and magazines, sipping on a decaf coffee. You should stop by and say, “hello"