Thursday, March 14, 2013

Sources of Inspiration: "Ways of Seeing" by John Berger

Last December I made a day trip to Paris. I wrote a bit about it in January (click to read more). Among other things I also managed to visit the famous (I think it's famous, it must be) Shakespeare and Company bookstore. 
Olympus E-420, 25mm
It was the coziest place with tons of cool books. I couldn't help, but get some (because who wouldn't want to walk around the whole day with backpack filled with books). One of the books I got was called "Ways of Seeing" by John Berger. I liked the front cover.
iPhone 4S, Afterlight (aka Afterglow)
And I liked what it said on the back cover:
"...Berger argues that when we see, we are not just looking - we are reading the language of images." 

If you in your life would only read one book on art this should be the one. It provokes thinking, it provokes seeing and re-evaluating what you already have seen or have been told.

Look, inside my book there's a stamp. So my copy of the book is also a special travel memory. 


I was one happy tourist with an inspiration-filled shopping bag. 

iPhone 4S, fisheye lens by Photojojo
I find the fisheye lens by Photojojo so cool when traveling and in desperate need for a photo of me and some cool location. Ever so often I travel alone and usually when I strangers to take my photo I end up with even more awkward shots than those mobile "selfies". However, I am a bit of a memory collector, I like having a visual "note" of having been somewhere. 

Any inspirational book recommendations?

xoxo

4 comments:

  1. I read that book for my visual rhetoric seminar last semester. WoOO!

    I like your glasses.

    And your fisheye lens.

    Random comment...done.

    I like reading your blog and following you on instragram because I love traveling (but cannot..wah wah). Thanks for sharing :)

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    1. Yay for random comments, they're the best kind. Thank you for all the kind comments! I am happy to see you here.

      I like my glasses, too. Being humble doesn't become me. Haha. No, seriously, I have this weird head (it's huge) and it's so hard to find glasses that fit, so I was over the moon when I stumbled upon these.

      Traveling kicks ass, though the never ending question of time and money is uncool.

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  2. i LOVE this book. no....that's not enough. I LOVE LOVE LOOOOOVE THIS BOOK! when they made us read it while doing my art history degree i was thrilled and my whole world was blown.

    if you're into art...steve martin "an object of beauty" is a great book. not necessarily for the storyline but for martin's beautiful and wholly accurate descriptions of art and the changes in the grand narrative of it in the past 20 years.

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    1. YAY! :)

      Thanks for the suggestion, I will check this book out. I am really into learning more about art and all. Too many years have passed since my art history classes in high school and at uni I was studying things pretty far from it (now I wonder why). :)

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