Visual Toolbox, The: 60 Lessons for Stronger Photographs, 1st edition

The Visual Toolbox: 60 Lessons for Stronger Photographs is author David duChemin’s conception of a “curriculum” for the first year of a photography school that doesn’t exist, but could. It’s what he calls “the bones”–a year’s worth of lessons and assignments for photographers who want to do more than just master their cameras; it’s for those who want to create photographs. It’s for photographers who are stuck and for those having a hard time making it an aesthetic art and not merely a technical craft. The book is targeted at any aspiring, hobbyist, or pro photographer who can benefit from sitting with a photographer and teacher who has learned–and is still learning–these lessons the hard way and wants others to benefit from them.

This book is not made up of magic bullets or quick tips, but if the reader studies the book’s lessons and completes the assignments, he or she will become a stronger photographer faster than they would by just picking up a bunch of quick tips and platitudes out there in other books. With 60 short “micro¿chapter” lessons, where David pairs an explanation of the concept (“Learn to Isolate”) with an active assignment for the reader to complete, every one of the lessons is a stepping stone to becoming more proficient with the tools of the photographic art, and the means by which the reader can create stronger experiences with their images. Some of these tools are the camera and lens, but many of them have to do with composition, balance, tension, and scale–the tools of the visual language itself–or with being present, perceptive, and learning to see. And they’re all practical, get¿out¿there¿and¿do¿it kind of lessons, because in the end one doesn’t truly improve her photography by only reading from a book, but from time spent making photographs. This book is a collection of 60 guided steps in that direction.