Michael Freeman

I recently reviewed here the new iPad photography magazine, Photographer’s I, and gave it an A+ rating. I was very impressed with the new magazine. Photographer’s I is edited by Michael Freeman, a British photographer who has authored over 120 books and 40 articles for Smithsonian magazine. I have high hopes for the new magazine based on Michael’s reputation.

Three books in particular cover much of what Michael knows about making photographs and form the basis for the new magazine. One of these books has just recently been published, The Photographer’s Vision: Understanding and Appreciating Great Photography. Here again we have a work on that all-important matter of vision.

The middle opus of these three books was The Photographer’s Mind: Creative Thinking for Better Digital Photos, published just last year.  The Photographer’s Mind is also, in its own way, devoted to the matter of the photographer’s personal vision.

The first of the three books is the one that Michael says the new magazine Photographers I is mostly based on, The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos.  This one speaks to the matter of style that I mentioned yesterday. How do we convey in a photographic image the vision we see? This book is absolutely fascinating.

I know of no better way to improve one’s own photographs by studying and applying some basic principles of composition and design. Freeman’s book goes beyond this to provide an entertaining and illuminating guide to seeing, the “photographer’s eye.”

All three books highly recommended.