Favourite book – The Photography Storytelling Workshop by Finn Beales
(Currently only available in English.)
I first became aware of Finn Beales on Instagram - where he now has almost 600,000 followers. His photos appear in advertising campaigns for Land Rover, Audi, or Cartier. I find his photos very cinematic, fresh, and modern, and thought that I could certainly learn something from someone like him.
The book is very much what I expected. It is not just another book about exposure or the golden ratio but starts where many other classic photography books leave off.
The first large chapter is dedicated to storytelling. In the following chapters, he delves into topics that are very interesting and important for (aspiring) professional photographers, but perhaps less so for the ambitious amateur. However, the accompanying photos are so beautiful that one will probably enjoy looking at these chapters anyway. Again and again, there are suggestions for exercises to put what you have read into practice yourself. Besides the storytelling chapter, I particularly like the explanations of colour theory and the insight into how Finn Beales develops and processes his images.
Finn Beales: The Photography Storytelling Workshop – A five-step Guide to creating unforgettable Photographs. 2020, White Lion Publishing.