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Desert Island Texts (Compiled by Andy Frazer)
If you were stranded on a desert island with a camera, a tripod, a locking cable release and a ton of reciprocity-resistant film and only a few night photography books, what books would you bring with you? Here is what some of the most notable night photographers think.
Tim Baskerville, Founder/Director of The Nocturnes
  • Celestial Nights, Neil Folberg, ISBN: 0-8938-1945-X
  • On Planet Earth, Jan Staller, ISBN: 0-8938-1730-9
  • Light after Dark, Karekin Goekjian (CFI)
  • Night Walk, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 0-9332-8651-1
  • Night Work, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 3-923922-83-3
  • Paris de Nuit, Brassai, ISBN: 0-394-56327-1
  • The Sky Book, Richard Misrach, ISBN: 1-892041-28-6
  • The Rouge, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 0-9630-7851-8
  • Inside the Live Reptile Tent, Jeff Brouws, ISBN: 0-8118-2824-7
  • NightScapes, Katharina Menzel, et al. ISBN: 3-77571118-X

Lance Keimig, Co-founder of The Nocturnes Workshop Series

  • Frontier New York, Jan Staller, ISBN: 1-55595-009-4
  • Night Walk, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 0-9332-8651-1
  • Photographs 1975-1987, Richard Misrach, ISBN: 4-9062-6517-x
  • On Planet Earth, Jan Staller, ISBN: 0-8938-1730-9
  • Japan, Michael Kenna, ISBN 1-5900-5043-6
  • Washington by Night, Volmar Wentzel, ISBN: 1-5559-1410-1
  • Expansions, William Lesch, ISBN: 4-8457-0667-9
  • The Sky Book, Richard Misrach, ISBN: 1-892041-28-6
  • London After Dark, Alan Delaney, ISBN: 0-7148-2870-x

Tom Paiva, author of "Industrial Night"

  • London After Dark, Alan Delaney, ISBN: 0-7148-2870-x
  • Paris at Night, Brassai, ISBN: 0-394-56327-1
  • Frontier New York, Jan Staller, ISBN: 1-55595-009-4
  • 20 Year Retrospective, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 1590050193
  • Venice Night, Luca Campgottas, ISBN: 1-8992-3520-5

Alan Delaney, author of "London After Dark"

  • The Secret Paris Of The 30’s', Brassai
  • Weegee's New York 1935-1960, Weegee
  • The Work Of Atget, Atget, Museum of Modern Art
  • Paris de Nuit, Brassai
  • In the American Midwest, Richard Avedon
  • (photographs of london blackout), Bill Brandt
  • Isle of Dogs Nocturnal Project, Peter Marlow
  • NW1, David Bailey
  • London Night, Harold Burdekin

Todd Hido, author of "Outskirts", and "House Hunting"

  • By Night, edited by the Foundation Cartier (CFI)
  • After the Photo-Secession, edited by Christian Petersen, ISBN: 0-393041-11-5
  • Diesels and Dinosaurs, Steve Fitch (CFI)
  • Cragie Horsfield, Cragie Horsfield, ISBN: 0-905263-33-2
  • Nightscapes, Katharina Menzel, ISBN: 3-775711-18-X
  • Brandt, Bill Brandt
  • Summer Nights, Robert Adams, ISBN: 0-893811-41-6
  • Night Work, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 3-923922-83-3
  • Liebeslied, Rut Blees Luxemburg (CFI)

Troy Paiva, author of "Lost America: Night Photography of the Abandoned Roadside West"

  • Bunker, Erasmus Schrotter (CFI)
  • Expansions, William Lesch, ISBN: 4-8457-0667-9
  • Frontier New York, Jan Staller, ISBN: 1-55595-009-4
  • Industrial Night, Tom Paiva, ISBN: 0-9716928-0-7

Stu Jenks

  • Night Work, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 3-923922-83-3
  • 28 Photographs, Rolfe Horn
  • Lost America, Troy Paiva, ISBN: 0-7603-1490-X
  • Wood, Andy Goldsworthy, ISBN: 0670871370
  • The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot, Larry J. Schaaf , ISBN: 0691050007 (Note: Talbot was one of the fathers of the paper negative. Even though his photographs were all daylight photographs, the long exposures have a bit of a nocturnal feel).

Brian Kelly, author of "Grand Rapids: Night After Night"

  • Paris by Night, Brassai, ISBN: 0-394-56327-1
  • 20 Year Retrospective, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 1590050193
  • Bill Schwab - Photographs, Bill Schwab
  • Golden Gate, Richard Misrach, ISBN: 1-892041-43-X
  • Japan, Michael Kenna, ISBN 1-5900-5043-6
  • TWA Terminal, Ezra Stoller, ISBN: 1-568981-82-1

Matthew Donovan Lennert, author of " Answer Yourself: Night Photographs"

  • Paris by Night, Brassai, ISBN: 0-394-56327-1
  • Washington by Night, Volmar Wentzel, ISBN: 1-5559-1410-1
  • Acquainted with the Night, Lynne Saville
  • Grand Rapids, Night After Night
  • Night Walk, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 0-9332-8651-1
  • 20 Year Retrospective, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 1590050193
  • Japan, Michael Kenna, ISBN 1-5900-5043-6

Most often recommended by the above photographers:

(5) Paris de Nuit, Brassai, ISBN: 0-394-56327-1
(3) Night Work, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 3-923922-83-3
(3) Night Walk, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 0-9332-8651-1
(3) Japan, Michael Kenna, ISBN 1-5900-5043-6
(3) Frontier New York, Jan Staller, ISBN: 1-55595-009-4
(3) 20 Year Retrospective, Michael Kenna, ISBN: 1590050193
(2) London After Dark, Alan Delaney, ISBN: 0-7148-2870-x
(2) Washington by Night, Volmar Wentzel, ISBN: 1-5559-1410-1
(2) The Sky Book, Richard Misrach, ISBN: 1-892041-28-6
(2) On Planet Earth, Jan Staller, ISBN: 0-8938-1730-9
(2) Expansions, William Lesch, ISBN: 4-8457-0667-9

In addition to the books in the preceding lists, Andy and Tim would also add the following books which were not previously mentioned:

  • The Last Steam Railroad, O. Winston Link, ISBN: 0-810916-45
  • City Lights: Illuminating the American Night, John Jakle, ISBN: 0-8018-6593-X
  • Highway: America's Endless Dream, Jeff Brouws, et al. ISBN:1-55670-604-9
  • Full Moon, Michael Light, ISBN: 0-375-40634-4