Gallery: Holiday Gift Guide: A Photo Book for Everyone on Your List
01SHAKE
If you're struggling with your holiday gift list, we have you cover-to-covered. Even if you're not a photographer, at some point in your life you've probably picked up a large photo book and been transfixed as you flipped through the satisfyingly thick pages. Being in the physical presence of photography is a wholly different experience from clicking through photos on the web. Few non-photographers actively *ask* for a photo book, but we guarantee the recipient's face will light-up as they reflexively turn the pages of your super-thoughtful gift. It's not flashy, but it stands out among the more conventional swag. Especially with the gems we've compiled here. If you choose correctly, your giftee will feel smart and cultured year-round. Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments! __Above:__ For the Person Who Squeals Every Time She Sees a Pug ---------------------------------------------------- *[Shake](http://www.shakethebook.com/)* - $11.60 This is one of those photos books that’s pure eye-candy. And we dig it. Carli Davidson has a dog who shakes his slobber everywhere. She’s also a photographer who had some high-speed strobes and decided to try and freeze the dog mid-shake. [The initial results were awesome](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/rawfile/2013/10/shake/), so she shot more dogs, and now there’s a book full of contorted dogs letting it fly. It’s the kind of book that will find a permanent place on your coffee table and it’s guaranteed to be a smash-hit with any dog-lover you know. *Photo: Carli Davidson*
02Sara-Macel-MTRRTMY-141-651x526
For the Ex-Boyfriend Who Is Forever “Finding Himself” on a Hitchhiking Trip Across the Country ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *[May the Road Rise to Meet You](http://maytheroadrisetomeetyou.bigcartel.com/products)*: $80 Settling down doesn’t mean you have to stay put. For 40 years, Sara Macel’s father has worked as a traveling telephone pole salesman, traversing the United States and making a living on his gumption alone. Marcel’s photo book, *May the Road Rise to Meet You*, captures the day-to-day movements and trappings of her father’s modest work in an absolutely charming volume that will make any wandering self-starter’s chest swell. The marginalia on hotel stationary, the transient windows, doors and landscapes of incessant travel collide to form the portrait of a single man’s restless life. Perfect if you know someone who, instead of a present, would rather see the great wide open unfolding before them. *Photo: Sara Macel*
03leikoshiga
For the Athiest-Humanist ------------------------ *[Rasen Kaigan](http://www.dalpine.com/en/book/rasen-kaigan-album)* - $140 Ask anyone to describe a Japanese tsunami photograph and they’ll recall wrought images of the immediate aftermath, total devastation, the dead and the survivors. Photojournalism did a fine job describing the massive trauma at the time. But what about since? What about before? Between 2006 and 2012, [Lieko Shiga](http://www.liekoshiga.com/) visited and lived and worked in the region of northeast Japan worst hit by the tsunami. Shiga is part photographer, part conceptual artist, exploring how an artist can inhabit the camera to faithfully describe the senses and time. The images in *Rasen Kaigan* are dark, sometimes gawdy in color and made under hard-flash. They are of people and hair and sweaters and sand and plants and minerals. It’s all very earthy. The publisher says the book asks questions of “the nature of living and expressing oneself on land,” and you can imagine these are pressing thoughts when one's surrounding *terra firma* has been beasted by nature. Ultimately, this book succeeds because through all of Shiga’s tripped out experiments (many that abandon formal photographic considerations) we still see the activities of Japanese communities on the mend, making do, building up, tilling the land and doing the simple things that they must. We are shown that big disasters are met with small victories. Shiga’s volatile approach is a reminder that the uncomplicated things she photographs only exist because of massive tectonic force. *Photo: Lieko Shiga*
04LEGO
For 12-Year-Olds of All Ages ---------------------------- *[Beautiful LEGO](http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-LEGO-Mike-Doyle/dp/1593275080)* - $19 All we want for Christmas are Legos. That way we can try and mimic even just a little bit of the awesomeness that’s included in the pages of *[Beautiful LEGO](http://nostarch.com/beautifullego)*. Curated by Mike Doyle, a well-known Lego artist in his own right, the book features [200 pages of the world’s best Lego art](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/rawfile/2013/10/legos-are-no-longer-just-a-toy-theyre-an-art-form/). From museum-ready sculptures to indulgent geek references, the book highlights the impressive evolution of the legendary toy. *Photo: Iron Man (2007). By Ramón and Amador Alfaro Marcilla.*
05CUISINE
For the Stepmom With an Industrial Range and All the Expensive Cooking Tools ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- *[The Photography of Modernist Cuisine](http://modernistcuisine.com/books/the-photography-of-modernist-cuisine/)* - $60 We usually don’t run food photos at Raw File because they tend to suck. But we quickly made an exception when we saw *[The Photography of Modernist Cuisine](http://modernistcuisine.com/books/the-photography-of-modernist-cuisine/)* by former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold. We love this behemoth new book (more than 13 pounds, and 13 x 16⅜ inches) because it takes food photography [to another, more engaging level with some creative thinking and technique](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/rawfile/2013/10/food-photography/). Our favorite photos are the cutaways, which show how food cooks when it’s inside pots and stoves. It will certainly be the heaviest book gift under the Christmas tree and perfect for any member of your family who takes their cooking seriously. *Photo: Canning cutaway*
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For the Son Who Would Rather Receive Potter’s Soil Than a PlayStation --------------------------------------------------------------------- *[Grays the Mountain Sends](http://www.silasfinch.org/grays/#/detail)* - Get on the wait list for the 2nd edition [here](http://www.silasfinch.org/about/) WIRED has [recommended](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/rawfile/2013/09/this-week-in-photography-2/) Bryan Schutmaat’s *Grays the Mountain Sends* before, and the endorsement stands. Shot in small, remote mining communities throughout the American West, the book is a measured, poetic look at a simpler life. Through portraiture, landscape and still-life photos, this contemplative and moody collection has been getting a lot of nods from the photography community lately, winning the [Aperture Portfolio Prize](http://www.aperture.org/exhibition/bryan-schutmaat-grays-the-mountain-sends-exhibition/), the [Daylight Photo Award](http://daylightbooks.org/content/daylight-photo-awards), and making the [Washington Post’s top 5 best photography books](http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/5-best-photography-books-of-2013/2013/11/21/dee6e742-4d56-11e3-9890-a1e0997fb0c0_story.html). This has also made it wildly popular, so you might have to wait for the second edition to get a copy. If you know anybody that uses the word "newfangled" without a trace of irony, check out this collection of photos available in good-ol'-fashioned book form. *Photo: Bryan Schutmaat*
?Peter van Agtmael / Magnum07petervanagtmael
For the New Girlfriend Who’s an International Relations Professor ----------------------------------------------------------------- *[Photojournalists on War](http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/kampho)* - $43.55 This is not a book of political screed but instead an outward open-ended look at how and why media operates in war-zones. The breadth of opinion and depth of questions, makes *Photojournalists On War* __the__ reference book for discussion about the War on Iraq and photography’s role. It is the perfect gift for that loved-one who carves out time at the weekend for *The New York Review of Books* and autobiographies on 19th-century artists. Truth is not usually found in a photograph, but perhaps it can be found in a photographer’s words? Featuring 89 interviews with photographers who went to Iraq, editor and interviewer [Mike Kamber](http://www.kamberphoto.com/) has produced a brick of a book. If we are to understand the ins-and-outs of the disputed legality and strategies of the War On Iraq then we should heed journalist’s words; it was they who were tasked to deliver information to us. Years on, in the process of them making sense, perhaps we can be helped to make sense also. *Photo: Peter Van Agtmael/Magnum. A weary U.S. soldier stands guard in March 2006 as a private residence is searched in Rawah.*
08Still Lifes Portraits and Parts
For the Impossible-to-Impress Brother-in-Law Artiste ---------------------------------------------------- *[Still Life Portraits and Parts](http://www.morelbooks.com/Daniel_Gordon.html)* - $87 For this series, artist Daniel Gordon deliberately mixes authentic and fabricated elements in super-saturated, brilliantly colored sculptural collages of food, flora, and other traditional still-life fare, creating images that seems to come straight out of Picasso’s happy place. They go against the norms of strict representation by flaunting their seams, which clash with the real items also in the pictures, generating a visual chaos that still manages to be gorgeous. Perfect for the artiste in your life who hates how much they secretly love pretty things. Often, when an artist challenges the meaning of an art form, the results can be [less than alluring](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_(Duchamp)). Those special cases when a new take on a creative tradition produces something new and aesthetically gratifying are worth celebrating. Hence, we are praying that Saint Nick and all his minions will leave *Still Life Portraits and Parts* under our tree. *Photo: Daniel Gordon*
09ErikSchubert-HowtoWin-04
For the Mobile Phone Salesman You Know From Freshman Year at College -------------------------------------------------------------------- *[How To Win Friends and Influence People](http://www.lavalette.com/shop/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people-erik-schubert/)* - $45 (Regular), $55 (Signed) or $125 (Special edition) [Eric Schubert](http://www.panopticongallery.com/artist/erik_schubert/#Schubert_west_10.jpg)'s first book *How To Win Friends and Influence People* is about the self-help attitudes that have shaped corporate America ever since Dale Carnegie’s 1936 [best-seller of the same title](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People). Of course, Schubert's book is dripping with irony and, of course, it will appeal mainly to smarmy artists who think it cool to nonchalantly mix chatter of internet memes with Marxist slogans. This is precisely why you should be putting it in the hands of your old college bud who’s stuck in a middle management nightmare but can’t see the exit signs. Schubert’s pictures of infomercial sets, pre-packaged business attire, obsolete products and scuffed furnishings make the aesthetic joke but, more than that, they set out a typology of corporate BS. Publisher Lavalette suggests Schubert’s vision reveals “a world built on reputation and charisma, at the edges of catastrophe.” Carnegie’s book was the first mass-selling self-help tome. Schubert's book can help too. Gift it to someone who suffers, daily, the cubicle and TPS reports and perhaps it’ll be their manual for escape. *Photo: Courtesy of Lavalette.com*
1996-98 AccuSoft Inc., All rights reserved10Mall
For the Misanthropic Uncle Who Just Doesn’t "Do" Holidays --------------------------------------------------------- *[The City](http://www.decodebooks.com/nix.html)* - $60 To some, the holiday seasons are about drinking cider with friends and looking at the bright lights. For others, holidays can mean hoping one of those bright lights is a meteor en route to snuff out all the goofy sweaters and unendurable music. When the sound of sleigh bells rings like Slayer in your ears, [Lori Nix’s book of delightful doomsday dioramas](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/rawfile/2013/08/lori-nix/) may help to pretend it’s ashes, not snow, caking up the car windshield. Each scene is a stunningly life-like vision of a post-apocalyptic world, each tiny set painstakingly crafted and intended only for the photograph it appears in. They’re so well-done that anyone can get drawn in enough to forget they’re miniature ... and hopefully tune-out some of that [music](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjwiwcUKK1c). *Photo: Lori Nix*
11salgado-genesis
For the Ex-Hippie Investment Banker ----------------------------------- *GENESIS* - [$70](http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/05767/facts.sebastio_salgado_genesis.htm) or [$4000](http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/02613/facts.sebastio_salgado_genesis.htm) (pictured) Sebastiao Salgado has a life worthy of a Tom Hanks biopic -- grew up on a farm in the rain forests of Brazil, moved to the city to become a leftist revolutionary, fled to Paris to get a PhD in economics, became an investment banker, worked with the World Bank, left it all behind to become a photographer, joined Magnum, traveled the world to document humanity, became an environmental advocate and fundraiser. *GENESIS* is the result of his last eight years of travel. He attempted to capture the parts of the world that are still living in natural harmony. The enormous black-and-white photos of nature, people and landscapes are breathtaking and will transport you to another world, even though it depicts the one in which we live. If we had $4000 to spend on someone, this is what we'd get them. It comes with its own display table. The smaller version is OK too. We suppose. *Photo: Taschen*
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For the Paranoid Conspiracy-Theorist Who Ends Up Being Right About Everything ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- *[Top Secret: Images from the Stasi Archives](http://www.amazon.com/Top-Secret-Images-Stasi-Archives/dp/3775736204)* - $23 *Images from the Stasi Archives* is a [behind-the-scenes look](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/rawfile/2013/10/stasi-archives) at one of the most (if not *the* most) surveilled societies in history. The images are fascinatingly strange and mostly banal. The book gives us some idea of the endgame of our own current battle with NSA surveillance -- a whole lot of effort to find out that most people just aren't that interesting. When industry and paranoia meet, it's like a snake eating its own tail. This is a must-have for anyone who enjoys learning about the Stasi-era or anyone who is intrigued by surveillance and spying in general. *Photo: Demonstration of combat techniques.* Top Secret: Images from the Stasi Archives *is published by Hatje Cantz.*
13TBW
For the Photo Book Addict ------------------------- *[Subscription Series 4](http://www.tbwbooks.com/books/Subscription-Series-4)* - $150 (Regular) or $300 (Signed) Small Oakland-based publishers [TBW Books](http://www.tbwbooks.com) will distribute the four books in this set quarterly -- one every 3 months. It’s like a wine club subscription; you get the good stuff as it is produced. An edition of 1,500 is pretty huge by photobook standards but TBW is one of the few publishers over whom collectors salivate. Moneyed fans wait eagerly for the next fine object released under the TBW label. This series, like its predecessors, will shift from the shelves quickly. Be part of the fashionable set. I mean, damn, the four artists included — [Christian Patterson](http://www.christianpatterson.com/), [Alessandra Sanguinetti](http://alessandrasanguinetti.com/), [Raymond Meeks](http://www.raymondmeeks.com/) and [Wolfgang Tillmans](http://tillmans.co.uk/) — are art world doyens. TBW claims the design of the book set “challenges the conventional coffee table format.” Hm, maybe. Regardless, these are four new bodies of works all wrapped up in heavyweight french folded dust jackets. Let yourself get material-obsessed and be able to drop some big names while you drop some big bucks. *Photo: Courtesy of TBW Books*
14FINDING-TRUST
For the Aunt Who Likes to Take in Strays ---------------------------------------- *[Finding Trust](https://www.facebook.com/events/234677086708462/?source=1)* - $50 Annie Marie Musselman is not your typical animal photographer. Her book is not filled with pictures of cute cats and dogs doing silly things. Instead, *Finding Trust* is a more [intimate and serious look at animals and their relationships with humans](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/rawfile/2013/01/musselman/). She shot the photos over seven years while volunteering at a wildlife care center in Washington and while the book isn’t officially out until April, she has [a few signed copies you can nab now for the holidays](https://www.facebook.com/events/234677086708462/?source=1). Get on it. *Photo: Annie Marie Musselman*
