From my Bookshelf is a monthly feature on my website where I showcase a selection of books from my personal collection.

Book #1 – Charles Harbutt “Travelog” (MIT Press)

This is where my collection began – my very first photobook.

I bought this book in the Winter of 1973, while I was living in New York and taking classes at Pratt. I don’t remember where I purchased it, perhaps at the Strand Bookstore. It was actually published that very year by MIT Press, the university press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Charles Harbutt was the one who made me want to enroll in the three year course at Pratt… his class was a real eye-opener. His images and style truly resonated with me… alongside Phil Perkins, he was one of my greatest inspirations during those years and I realize how much I owe them.

Leafing through the pages of this book I can honestly say that there is a clear connection between our ways of thinking of and taking photos. Just like Charles, my work straddles the personal, intimate dimension and more chaotic, urban scenarios in which human connections take on a whole different meaning. During my first years in New York I prevalently photographed cars, buildings and the effects of urban isolation – this is where my ongoing series “Alone Together” started taking form.

I wish I had more memories of my time with him. At the time, our professors spoke out of personal experience and not academic training, it was quite different from today. They would introduce various subject matters by showing us works by historical and contemporary authors and encourage us to go out and shoot. Phil Perkins would tell us to loiter on the same spot until something happened, to use our gaze and spatial awareness as a compass. This approach is at the very heart of street photography. Under their guidance, we would afterwards hone our ability in developing, selecting and printing… I admit that I later fully embraced this methodology when I began teaching in Florence.

Ph. Michelle Davis