Source
Summer 2011

Books have the power to reach people everywhere and then stay with them, to be referred to repeatedly and have a lasting influence on the way they see the world. Many people will have had their formative experiences of photography by looking at photographs in books, or have formed their ideas of the medium by reading about its history. To sample this bedrock of inspiration we have asked writers, photographers and curators to name three books that have influenced their view of photography. Some have named titles that appear to have nothing to do with photographs. Others have named classics – On Photography and Camera Lucida being popular choices – while some of the selections are obscure and personal. Altogether the choices are testament to the enduring influence of books.

Karen Knorr is interviewed by Roger Hargreaves; looking back over her work they discuss her collaboration with Olivier Richon, studying at the Polytechnic of Central London with Victor Burgin and the impact of Bill Owens. Her more recent work was made in India where she continues to explore ideas of class and gender divisions.

Neil Drabble develops his ideas through installation, sculpture, text, photography and performance. The pieces in his new work followed three assumptions: that each would be suggested by titles appropriated from a list of works made by Salvador Dali, photographed in the immediate locale of the Drabble holiday home and made using only items (or people) ‘found on-site’. Daniel Jewesbury discusses the transformative processes at play in the resulting work.

Alberto Maserin’s images stem from a childhood experience of perceiving priests as having two different identities, one before and one during mass itself. His images show priests robing themselves in the vestry for mass. David Brett discusses the work, examining the idea of transformation and how things take on meaning.

Source is a quarterly photography magazine, available in print and as a digital edition, published in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They publish emerging photographic work and engage with the latest in contemporary photography through news, thoughtful features and reviews of the latest exhibitions and books from Ireland and the UK. Their website brings together an archive of writing and pictures from the magazine alongside current features.¹