Desert island photos - black & white.
Desert island photos - black & white.
An impossible task (1).
Today, instead of sharing my photos, I share my favourite photos taken by others.
Based on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs (in which esteemed people share the eight records that mean the most to them), I have chosen the eight photos which mean the most to me.
It’s an impossible task. So I am cheating…
Today - eight black and white photos. Tomorrow - eight colour photos.
There were dozens of contenders. I have selected the one photo that first made me linger, think, move my eye around the frame to observe the detail and inspired me to search out the photographer’s archive.
Like any list of favourites, it will doubtless change.
Jane Bown - Samuel Beckett (1976)
Further reading: A life in photography
Recommended book: Exposures
Tony Ray Jones - Beach Head Trip Boat (1967)
Further reading: How the 60’s really looked
Recommended book: Tony Ray Jones
Eamonn Doyle - ON1 (2015)
Further reading: The Saviour of Street Photography
Recommended book: ON (which is rare) so start with Made in Dublin.
John Myers - Mr and Mrs Seabourne (1973)
Further reading: My Best Shot
Recommended book: Portraits
Trent Parke - Untitled (2004)
Further reading: Magnum Photos
Recommended book: Minutes to Midnight (rare - as are all his books. For good reason).
Tish Murtha - Kids Jumping onto Mattresses (1980)
Further reading: Exhibition at The Photographers Gallery
Recommended book: Youth Unemployment
Henri Cartier-Bresson - Madrid, Spain (1933)
Further reading: Magnum Photos
Recommended book: The Decisive Moment
Josef Koudelka - Parc de Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, France (1987)
Further reading: Magnum Photos
Recommended book: Exiles
Like any list of favourites, some cherished photos didn’t make it. Sorry August Sander, Bill Brandt, Garry Winogrand, Don McCullin, Chris Killip, W.Eugene Smith and Jason Eskenazi. Others will appear in my Colour list.
I’m intrigued, what which photos would you save for your desert island?
Desert island photos - black & white.
Some wonderful photos. Beckett means so much to me, so that photo has always had an electric quality beyond the stare, the wonderful face and the stunning capture.
Kids jumping on mattresses. I remember playing on a building site when I was young but not to this level! Also the creepy doll?? This photo has so much going on!