Reddit mentions: The best photography criticism & essays books

Since you don't say whether you want to learn how to operate a camera or the field of photography in general and what interests you in photography in particular this is quite a stab in the dark but here are a few suggestions of books I keep coming back to or hold important.

This assumes that you have a basic understanding on how to operate a camera. If you don't, read your camera manual or something like Adam's The Camera and .


Technical advice

• Light, Science and Magic - the best theoretical book there is about understanding how light behaves and how to work with it. Its exercises are quite focused on artificial light and if you are just getting into photography it won't be easy but at the end of it you will know how to work with light artificial or natural and get to your vision or have a better understanding of other people's work.
  
• Studio Anywhere - this is not the most technical book per se (far from it) and the images are not to my taste but what it lacks in pure knowledge it makes up for with motivating you to take images no matter how little you own. This was a fun (if a bit too quick) read and is a good book to jump into when Light, Science and Magic feels like you are a profoto pack and 3 Chimera modifiers short of what you are trying to do.
  
  Theory/Motivational advice
  
  
• The Ongoing Moment by Geoff Dyer - Great book about the history of American photography, its origin and how it flourished. This book is really easy to read and a very good way to start gaining some theoretical knowledge about the wide field of photography.
  
• Understanding a photograph by John Berger - Great collection of essays from one of the greatest art theorist and a fervent believer in photography as a medium pieced together by Geoff Dyer. Super engaging reads on a variety of topics and styles.
  
• Ways of Seeing by John Berger - An absolute must read in my opinion, not focused solely on photography but in the arts in general. The BBC series is also a great watch and its content is still as relevant today as it was when it came out.
  
• On Photography by Susan Sontag - A very important book, if not the most important when it comes to identifying the role of photography in our world. Personally found it quite hard to read but when it finally hit home it was with great impact.

>I would say a professional is someone who lives off their photography and says nothing about their abilities.

The problem with your reply, well intended as it may be, is that it veers into whataboutism territory. The OP is framing their request as seeking resources for a path to excellence, and your reply asserts that some people are professional despite a lack of excellence. While true, it sidesteps the issue and doesn't contribute anything meaningful - as opposed to the post you're replying to, which is not only accurate, but also helpful.

I'm a pro. I can tell you while it's 100% correct that I see two of my defining qualities as exactly what /u/ShitWookie describes, I would add to it a third pillar which is understanding, being receptive to and directing the human component of a shoot. Working to deliver consistency under compromised circumstances, and having a vision are both fantastic… but being able to navigate the egos, the emotions that percolate on set, to quickly gain the trust of your subject and have them engage in a willingness to experiment and go out of their comfort zone, all of that is exceptional. And to repeat for emphasis, the major unifying factor at play with all three is just going out and doing the work a lot. Set goals, fail to hit them, refine and repeat. It's extremely helpful to define objectives clearly and put your work in a guided context.

To the OP's question about resources, I suggest:

For a set of actionable exercises and several new ways to think about your work, try The Photographer's Playbook:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/159711247X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511023706

To expand your ability to read a photo and get meaning from it, and in turn, have a more rich vocabulary to impart to your own work, try The Ongoing Moment: https://www.amazon.com/Ongoing-Moment-Geoff-Dyer/dp/1400031680

To see what a 4 time Guggenheim fellow says about his method and the psychology behind how a photo works, check out Winogrand's full speech/workshop/Q&A at Rice University:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wP6lP3UaP24

To take the mystery out of the working style of a legend in fashion, watch June Newton's doc on her husband Helmut, titled "Helmut By June" - Google it. Often online in 8-10 parts. The whole thing is about an hour and amazing.

If you can't get on set and assist an established pro covering a subject that excites you in a style you admire (this is the single greatest accelerant for learning), the next best thing is creating a list of current working photographers you admire and Googling "their name" plus "bts video". Take notes on their lights, light placement, distances and try to recreate their setups and see what you discover in the process.

Check out The Red List: https://theredlist.com

As a big champion of Vollmann, I'll be the first to admit he's not written a perfect book. But he's also never written a terrible book. His excessive page numbers, sentimentality, editorial sloppiness, genre-splicing, and often baroque voice put a lot of people off. The difficult thing is that Vollmann's massive output (which has slowed down a bit in recent years, but see my note further down) only creates something extraordinary when you start to put the pieces together. So while his books may not be the most tight and shimmering on the surface, read just two or three of them and you'll start to get a sense of his glacial vision.

With that said, here my suggestions for five books, any three of which will give you an idea of what he's all about:

• Europe Central (2007) - Sprawling WWII historical novel, won the National Book Award, probably his most accessible piece. What it offers the reader: a brilliant story, a genuine appreciation for Vollmann's writing at its tightest, and an understanding of how he reads history (which can be followed up with his Seven Dreams septology about the making of North America).
  
  
• You Bright and Risen Angels (1987) - His first novel, which Vollmann himself sub-titled a "cartoon." What it offers the reader: Vollmann's politics and perspective on revolutionary means. A little like Pynchon, difficult, excessive, but lots of fun and a lot of heart once you break its shell. Nothing else like it.
  
  
• Rainbow Stories (1989) - Features some of Vollmann's best writing from the demimonde of San Fran in the 80s. Stories of neo-Nazis, prostitutes, and serial killers. Styles range from urban non-fiction to historical fiction to sci-fi to Victorian gothic. What it offers the reader: entertainment, a good idea of Vollmann's complex network, philosophy, and treatment of characters.
  
  
• An Afghanistan Picture Show (1992) - Technically his first book, and a young man's book if there ever was one, it's Vollmann's account of his travels with the Muhajadeen in Afghanistan in the early 80s. What it offers the reader: Messy and anticlimactic journalism, a breathtaking "Alaska" digression, a background of the political and humanitarian idealism that has shaped all of his work.
  
  
• Rising Up and Rising Down: An Essay on Violence and Urgent Means (2004) - And by 'essay' he means 3000-page 7-volume treatise. Read abridged version (800 pages), and feel free the skip around. What it offers the reader: extensive journalism and historical research putting forth a theory. It presents a rigorous and systematic calculus for when violent means are acceptable. It is truly a useful book.
  
  
  Like I said, any three of those five books will help you build an appreciation for what many critics have dismissed as an insanely misguided and cynical and boring and narcissistic career. He's definitely an author one must learn to forgive in order to appreciate.
  
  He's about to release a photography/art book called The Book of Dolores -- self-portraits of himself as his female alter ego, Dolores. Bold move for a hideously aging man in his fifties. But even reading the companion essays to Dolores (he shamelessly incorporates excepts from his novel about a drag queen that he has yet to publish), you get a sense that Vollmann knows his work will outlast him in some form, and it matters little to him now if he is ridiculed as the most sad and pathetic writer of his generation.

I come from an academic background. I'm certainly not saying you have to go to school for it (and unless you have specific reasons I probably wouldn't recommend it) but going off of the american college education system we can use that as a model for learning:

• Associates degree (or the first 2 years of your bachelors degree): General education of most things outside of photography. Math, reading, literature. Basic understanding of these are very useful in photography and a lot of it is "learning how to learn." A little more photo-centric would be drawing, 2D design, color theory classes that will help you when it comes to finding or designing compositions. Photo classes: the basics: Aperture/shutter/ISO, focal length and perspective, basic post processing, very rudimentary lighting, most of what I would expect the r/PhotoClass2014 to cover. Surveys of Art and Photo history. Just the basics, the must-knows. A very rough overview of the history of art and how we got from cave paintings to signed urinals. And a slightly more indepth idea of the history of photography covering the technology and several key photographers and their works. A lot of this is giving you a vocabulary to compare and contrast by.
  
  
• Bachelors (particularly the last 2 years). There is a bit more techincal... more advanced techniques such as lighting more advanced retouching, maybe things like color management for digital or advanced darkroom techniques like unsharp masking, but a lot more concept and project driven. This is where it starts to get hard, you're not being lead by the hand as much, you need to start coming up with your own concepts and executing them. If you need to be able to do something that you don't know how to do, you research. Define what you need to do (not always easy) then look it up. You will have critiques which are a huge motivator. You will regularly have to bring your work to a group and talk about it. Talking about your work in this context helps you understand what you're really trying to get at and how to refine it. Most of the critiques at this point center largely around the technical execution but as you progress they get a little more into the concepts.
  
  
• Masters. Supposedly at this point you've got the technical down (mostly) there will still be some classes to cover some technical things. But the heavy focus is on creating work going through the process and critique. At this point your critiques are not as focused on the techincal. It's very concept driven. More often the advice and guidance that comes out of these critiques is more "You should read Kafka because I see similar themes in his work" than "you should look up the smart-blur/vivid-light sharpening method to make the image pop more"
  
  Technique is great, but it's not everything. You have to go out, do it, practice, fail, repeat a bunch to improve. At the same time you need to get an idea of what you're going for and understand why you're photographing. Look at other photographers work. Go to museums, go to art galleries, find what you like, find what you don't like, but don't stop there, figure out what it is about something that makes you like it and what it is that makes you not like something. Write about it. When you think about it, it's easy to jump from point B to point K without really thinking of C through J, writing makes you do it. A journal can improve your photography as much as any technical understanding.
  
  Here's a good book on the history of photography if you're interested.

Spot on. Most of the time I re-read is because I was distracted and knew I didn't read it properly. I don't like to lie to - or trick - myself.

Then I re-read very techy or detailed/important things over if I do not feel I understand them well enough the first time or for clarity if there is a new element added that interacts with or involves a previous concept.

Then in fiction most of the time I read on and even if I was distracted or didn't quite understand, I come across the answer soon enough. Sometimes I do the same with tech/academic material if I feel that there will not be any context or added detail later on, in which case I'll make an effort to research whatever it is myself.

>The whole informs the parts.

I definitely feel this is a very unique perspective...maybe not exclusively to INTPs, but very unique and a very good way to put it. I was trying to explain to a very good friend the other day why I went through the process of learning so many things and not just specializing in one thing concerning my CompSci education and goals, and she could not understand why I needed what she saw as seemingly useless knowledge. She thought it better that a person who specialized in only one branch could make any real progress in that area of study, and that maybe a diverse team of such people could do what I aim to do even better which is true. The only thing is that I am only one person and I feel that I require the perspective of several different people, and the main reason I do this is so that I may see the big picture or the "spectrum". If I can see all the color codes of a limited spectrum, I can see where the gradients don't meet and I can better imagine and/or create a part that would fit. If I was only limited to one perspective I would obviously not be capable of this, even when conversing with a varied group of experts. The big picture is most important, and so I must learn how the big picture is formed and form it for myself so that I can see how to better utilize it and/or improve it, and those missing parts or grey areas will be "informed" by the whole.

I always used to use the example I had read in this book many years ago that was something along the lines of: If a man could see in front of him all the colors he has learned but one or two, he could see where they were not instead and imagine them himself using the rest of the colors and gradients as a reference. I believe it was used to show the difference between imagination being an innate ability that "spawned" things, and that you can't just flat out imagine things you did not previously know about except for in certain instances (such as the example above) but it was so long ago I read it that I'm not too sure about that. Anyway my point was that's always how I thought about my obsession with learning every fact and detail and practice and whatever about something I am very interested in even if it seemed impractical or inefficient to others. I'm trying to learn all the colors so I can fill the colors I don't know (the colors that aren't given) in by myself with my imagination. To be blunt, I suppose it's just "exploring limitations" crossed with my love for knowledge. That brings up more questions, but I've ranted enough.

Hi :D

1. I currently go to a community college in Los Angeles and I'm applying to transfer out this year!! Woohoo!!!!!!!!! :) I hope to be at a brand new college next year as a junior, studying Information Systems. I am still deciding where I am going to apply but I have a couple of schools in mind. I am hoping to have a finalized list by the end of the month.
   
   
2. I currently have three textbooks on my wishlist that I need for this upcoming Fall semester. This is the cheapest one, starting at $17. This one is starting at $34, and this one is pretty expensive. I am taking five classes this semester and these three books are only for two out of the five classes. This would help me out TREMENDOUSLY and I can't be thankful enough if I were to receive these textbooks.
   
   
3. Totally up to you :)
   
   Thank you so much for this contest.
   
   edit: Oh and I have this planner on my wishlist that I would love to have for the new school year :D

Usually we recommend the 35 1.8G instead of the 50; it's a lot easier to work with on that kind of camera. It's an awesome lens and will work quite a lot better in low light than the ones you guys have right now.

That said, it's more than possible to get excellent pictures with the kit you already have. There's a pretty big learning curve with photography - well, at least, if you want to get properly good at it. I recommend starting with this, reading your camera's user manual carefully, then grabbing this book. And of course, practice, practice, practice.

Ramayana: The Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel is a gorgeously illustrated Hindu myth.

The Mirror of Yoga by Richard Freeman is a great exploration of all things yoga.

And I would love to get this book of gorgeous yoga photographs called Michael O'Neill: On Yoga, The Architecture of Peace

That's some quality glass to start out with - I'm a bit jealous!

Based on your hardware I'll assume you're not entirely new to photography so, suggestions for next steps, aside from taking photos:

Books/Websites to read:

• The Moment it clicks - I got a big kick out of this book, but some didn't like it.
  
  
• Susan Sontag's On Photography is a thought-provoking look into the psychology and philosophy of photography. On some level it feels slightly dated, but it's still incredibly relevant - probably more relevant than when it was originally written.
  
  
• Digital Photography School is an extremely valuable online resource for people getting into photography.
  
  
• Strobist is almost required reading for people wanting to introduce artificial light into their photos.
  
  
• Flickr is a huge site, and a very useful place to find like-minded people. Search their groups for the kind of photography you're interested in and you're sure to find groups full of kindred spirits (and the occasional troll).
  
  Secondly, I'd suggest you pick some masters to emulate/study/admire. There are far too many to list so I'll just pop down a few that got my juices flowing when I first got into photography:
  
  
• Henri Cartier-Bresson
  
  
• Ansel Adams
  
  
• James Nachtwey
  
  
  Cartier-Bresson once said "your first 10,000 photos are always your worst", so get out there and take some! Then take some more :-)
  
  Edit: Fixed formatting.

I don't remember how I came across this one but my current favorite: Darcy Padilla's Family Love. It's powerful, heartbreaking, and haunting. I just wish I understood French. The photos speak for themselves, though. Just be ready for a ride.

For straight reading, I like William Steacy's Photographs not Taken. It's somewhat comforting to know that it's not just you -- everyone misses out on that perfect photo.

And finally Robert Capa's Slightly Out of Focus.

I would say a single book addressing the topics you are integrating would be difficult to find but either multiple books or a collection of essays and book chapters would be a good approach.

• Crowley and Hawhee's Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students is an introduction and move for historical contextualization and working through the movement of the field. (Classical Rhetoric, Philosophy, and English Composition approach)
  
• Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch's Rhetoric in Civic Life provides some very basic ties to classical rhetoric and looks at the move to rhetorical criticism in contemporary rhetorical studies. (Communication Studies approach) (Link to first edition; the edition this comment is based on)
  
• Miller's The Norton Book of Composition Studies has essays that address the English and Communication Studies divide but situates rhetoric as an important study regardless of the discipline that thinks owns it.
  
• Eyman's Digital Rhetoric: Theory, Method, Practice gives a broad history of rhetoric and transitions this history into digital humanities. (Publisher's website link that has the full text of this book)
  
• Losh, Alexander, Cannon, & Cannon's Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing provides some significant background for constructing thoughts and arguments and situating what rhetoric is and what it can be.
  
• Dickinson, Blair, and Ott's Places of Public Memory is a fantastic edited collection with essays situating monuments and memorials.
  
• In a similar line to Dickinson et al., you could look at Hariman and Lucaites's No Caption Needed text to examine visual rhetoric as well or even their more recent text The Public Image.
  
  I don't know that any one of these texts would be necessary for students to purchase but a smattering of readings from them may be worth pulling into the course. Additionally, essays from significant scholars or journals (similar to what Miller's book has) that are reasonably up-to-date would probably go further than any textbook can. Although for understanding the Greek tradition or classical rhetoric, some of the tried-and-true texts such as Crowley and Hawhee's are a good place to turn.
  
  edit: added links to make it easier for me to find these things when I return to this post.

Highly recommend this read: https://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Playbook-307-Assignments-Ideas/dp/159711247X

​

The "prompts" (jf you can call them that) are intellectually and creatively engaging--and they're from some of the best photographers alive right now

Once you get the basics down with some of these other suggestions, I'd recommend going a slightly different direction and reading a book about the history of photography. The best one I've read is Seizing the Light by Robert Hirsch. Learning about the success and struggles of the best that have come before you will broaden your perspective on the artform and probably steer your work in a whole new direction.

You can buy anything with the KISS logo on it. Urinal cakes? Waffle maker? Baby pacifier? They got you. I'd recommend maybe one of the books;

Ace Frehley: No Regrets

Paul Stanley: Face The Music

Are my two favorites.

There is also a pretty cool photo art book that came out semi-recently that my wife bought me awhile back for a gift https://www.amazon.com/dp/0847860124/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_i_lRBXDb5982H09

I would recommend ["The Print"] (http://www.amazon.com/New-Photo-Negative-Ansel-Photography/dp/0821221868) by Ansel Adams. A techincally deep but easy to read book covering the zone system and how to capture different forms of light.

For thinking about photography Susan Sontag's ["On Photography"] (http://www.amazon.com/Photography-Susan-Sontag/dp/0312420099/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341440297&sr=1-1&keywords=sontag+photography) a great book on the meaning of photography.

Both are somewhat dated, but are the basis upon much has been written since. They are the touchstones.

I'm not a historian, but I do live in Rochester NY (home of Kodak and the George Eastman photography museum), and I'm a semi-pro photographer. So I've seen and studied a lot of historic photos.

If you want some cool reading on the subject, the book Camera by Todd Gustavson is a good choice. He's the curator of camera technology at the Eastman museum. And if you're ever in this area, a trip to the museum is always a good time.

Great tip, thnx! I already had the Susan Sontag book of course. May I also tip: The pleasures of good photographs ... jeebus we should also start a photobook subreddit ;)

MA in Photo History and BFA in Studio Photography here. If I was teaching beginning photography, these would be the books I would use to illustrate the history, theory, and techniques behind photography:

• The History of Photography by Beaumont Newhall This book is a bit outdated but it is the seminal text for the history of photography
  
• On Photography by Susan Sontag A series of essays about the meaning of photography
  
• [Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes] (http://www.amazon.com/Camera-Lucida-Reflections-Roland-Barthes/dp/0374532338/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374024103&sr=1-2) A book that illuminates the standard theory of studium and punctum
  
• Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual by Henry Horenstein
  
  The two theory texts (Sontag and Barthes) are collegiate level so I would introduce them lightly - maybe use a section out of both to structure a project around. If you want to PM me I can email you a syllabus I created for when I taught 6 week adult course at a community studio. This will give basic gist of how it can be structured and what you will need supply-wise. Also- if you want - I'd be happy to review any syllabus you make.

• Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World by Alexandra Avakia
  
• Inferno by James Nachtwey
  
• Signos by Veejay Villafrancia
  
• Magnum Contact Sheets by Magnum Photo Agency
  
• Free E-Books on street photography by Eric Kim
  
• Afghanistan: The Road to Kabul by Ron Haviv
  
• American Color 2 by Constantine Manos
  
• Wear Good Shoes: Inspiring Advice from Magnum Photographers by LensCulture
  
• Sleeping by the Mississippi by Alec Soth
  
  
  I suggest you visit Magnum, LensCulture, Invisible Photographers Asia, In-Public, British Journal of Photography, etc. Have fun!

Similar to the Adams book (which I love as well!) is Core Curriculum by Tod Papageorge.

Anyone with an interest in photography will find something to glean from this collection, but if you're into street photography you'll especially enjoy it.

You could find a project to take up. This book is pretty cool for finding ideas. A 30 day photography challenge with different photo requirements each day can be fun too.

Honestly if you don't know what they need from asking them, a gift card to Amazon. I'd much rather have that and spend it on what I need or whatever G.A.S. tells me I need than to receive a piece of kit that I didn't choose. I don't mean to sound rude, it's just that I rather prefer researching and choosing my own gear.

If you absolutely must, though, I recommend a book.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1907708952/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0817439390/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0961454733/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159711247X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312420099/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Or a notebook for taking notes while out shooting, scouting, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/8883701127/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

>Jesus guys, we had this exact same discussion a week ago, about his picture with the cyclist.

But it's a different photo. This one here is arguably Cartier-Bresson's most famous one and I find it perfectly legitimate to ask why it's great.

Keep in mind that the masters of the past often produced photographs that on the surface are much less striking than what we are used to seeing today. They didn't tonemap, they didn't have lenses of extreme focal lengths, HCB barely did any kind of post-processing in the dark-room either - the qualities of their work are much subtler and hence warrant an occasional question.

>Take an art history class.

My default recommendation here would be Newhall's History of Photography. It's the standard textbook on this subject and a must for everyone who is serious about photography.

I started reading http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photography-Composition-Lifestyles-Paperback/dp/0470647612/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346857068&sr=8-1&keywords=composition+photo+dummies two days ago. It may be for beginners (which I totally am anyway) but quite insightful and easy to read. Well that's my 2 cents.

I think after getting the basics down (exposure triangle) it’s about composition and making creative decisions.

There’s a book called The Photographer’s Playbook that might offer you some cool ideas.

I also like Ted Forbes’ Photo Assignments series on YouTube.

It's from a set of photographs (released as a book.) I tried to find a good quality link to the whole set but alas could not. This is the best I could do.

Although not known exclusively for his color work, Magnum photographer Constantine Manos' American Color and American Color 2 (book) (gallery) comes to mind. His use of light and shadow play against a backdrop of bold carnival colors has always left an impression on me.

We use this book in our program, seems like it would useful for this purpose..!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0789209373/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdb_6sgeAbTMP177J

The Photographer's Playbook: 307 Assignments and Ideas https://www.amazon.com/dp/159711247X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_gHH2CbS43S1K7

You can try this book. I bought it myself, but haven’t used it yet so I can’t tell you if it’s legit worth it. It seems like it has what you’re looking for tho (bunch of prompts to follow for practice).

That does sound really interesting. I'll look into finding some essays on that subject. I did take a history of photography class in undergrad, but we our only assigned readings were from A World History of Photography Thank you for the suggestion!

Not quite a daily assignment thing, but quite interesting.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Photographers-Playbook-Assignments-Ideas/dp/159711247X

https://www.amazon.com/History-Photography-1839-Present/dp/0870703811 This book is amazing to teach the history of photography. You can buy it used really cheap.

I highly suggest picking it up if you're going to be teaching the history

The Photographer’s Playbook from Aperture should keep you busy. I use it with my students and it’s overwhelmingly amazing.

Papageorge's Aperture core curriculum is also a good place to start.

Did you have to buy any books for your class? Maybe a book where this image is on the cover?

You might want to check out the photography of Rodchenko

https://www.amazon.ca/World-History-Photography-Naomi-Rosenblum/dp/0789209373/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Here's a book full of ideas: https://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Playbook-307-Assignments-Ideas/dp/159711247X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536092081&sr=8-1&keywords=the+photographers+playbook

Quite academic, but a classic:

Susan Sontag - On Photography

Should read Susan Sontog's "On Photography"

On Photography by Susan Sontag

http://www.amazon.com/On-Photography-Susan-Sontag/dp/0312420099

Good theory on why people do what they do with cameras. It's a little bit tough sometimes and takes a bit of harsh introspection to fully grasp, but studying one's own motivations will make you think harder about what you photograph and why.

Not exactly research but check out Susan Sontag's "On Photography". There's a reference about Japanese tourist dealing with anxiety using their cameras as a "shield".

I'll reccommend a few books chock full of essays that I found useful...it might take awhile to pick through them but there are some real gems.
Photography: A Critical Introduction , The Photography Reader , On Photography , Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography