What is a photo book?
If a photos is worth a thousand words then a photo book is worth a million words.
Photo book is for the most part just what the name suggests a collection of photos. Not to be confuse it with a picture book that toddlers enjoy while learning to read and they are also different from the photo albums our parents and grandparents saved snapshot in.
The photobooks are full of photographs with little or no documentary, they are printed on a heavier paper stock by professional printing companies, giving them the feel and look of museum quality prints.
Generally a photo book is the larger size coffee table book, often with an upscale material used for the cover, however they are printed in all sizes and can be also a paperbacks.
The first photo book as published in 1843, as a scientific guide to identify marine life. Some are intended as a pictorial reference, other are to entertain and inspire. Subject matter of photobook are as varied as people’s interests.
Generally they are a collection of work by professional photographers.
Some are collections of photographs just one subject, others are a collection of photos by one photographer. Whatever the subject matter these photographs will the best of the best.
Beautiful scenery, vivid colors, breathtaking pictures, truly a treat for the eyes. They are a great way to relax by taking a trip and never leave your easy chair.
The subject matter may be of someplace you may never visit like outer space as seen by the Hubble telescope, the top of Mount Everest or moments in time are captured, which are in the past and can never be revisited.
The photobooks will inspire the imagination answer questions in a way mere words cannot convey.
I strongly recommend photobooks as quit time entertainment, relaxation, and learning experience. Stuck for a gift idea give the gift of beauty. For an ornithology consider a birds’ book. For the car enthusiasts a book of favorite cars. A street photography book to a lover of big cities.
No matter what the interest you will find a photobook on the subject.
Enjoy!
Photos by: Ben White, Breather, Drew Coffman.
