011 - Here's 5 photo books that inspired me more than anything!

Do yourself a favour, and get at least one of them!

One of the greatest sources of inspiration in my photography comes from my somewhat unhealthy obsession with photo books.

Over the past decade, I’ve poured most of my money into building a collection of books that resonate deeply with me, each one for its own unique reasons.

For every assignment, trip, or adventure abroad, I find myself sifting through this collection to select a few books that align with the theme of my upcoming journey.

I screenshot images that inspire me and organise them into folders on my phone, creating a visual mood board I can access whenever a lack of inspiration strikes while on the road.

I truly believe that one of the best ways to learn about photography is by studying the work of others, learning to articulate what moves you in their images.

So, in this Substack, I’m going to share five books that have made a significant impact on me recently.

These are the books I keep coming back to, either to dissect and study in detail, or simply to feel the work again. The beauty in them is undeniable, and they continue to fuel my creative fire.

Permissions - Emma Hardy

When our daughter Lily was born in 2021, I promised myself to document every step of her life and my own journey as a father, until the age of 18. Now, 4 years in, I realised that one of the hardest things to photograph is the people who are closest to you. As a result, the amount of images I consider meaningful and at the same time photographically interesting (a tough combination) are countable on 1 hand.

This realisation creates a deep respect and admiration for Emma Hardy’s work. For 2 decades, Emma has photographed her family. Through documenting motherhood, childhood, love, and leaving home, she witnessed her own 3 children grow into teenagers, and later in adults, and then turned her gaze towards her own mother, re-examining their relationship through her lens.

In Permissions (named after the ongoing debate about the exploration of consent, vulnerability and autonomy), she explores the context of how individuals of all ages navigate their roles within intimate family structures.

As a parent and photographer myself, I felt a real connection with this work. Hardy’s images capture those small, everyday moments at home alongside still lives of her garden flowers. The passage of time reflected in these blooms and in her children as they grow into their teenage years, is touching.

It’s like you’re witnessing her family becoming more independent while she quietly embraces her role as both a mother and an artist. The book comes with an essay by Alice Zoo which really stayed with me. It perfectly sums up the way a mother’s presence is felt even when she’s not in the frame. Turning these pages feels like looking at a heartfelt family album that celebrates change and the fleeting nature of time.

Publisher: GOST - Order Here

The Anthropocene Illusion - Zed Nelson

Next book is one of my latest acquisitions, one that hit me hard. I’ve been following photographer Zed Nelson’s work for years, seeing this project slowly coming to life.

The story essentially explores and documents how nature has become a curated experience, in which he takes readers on a global journey to expose the myth of “wilderness” and our increasingly strained bond as humans with nature. “As we destroy the real natural world, we’ve mastered a comforting illusion, an artificial experience of nature,” he writes.

Over six years and across four continents, Nelson captures how we humans hide from the damage we’ve done to nature by creating these fake, stage-managed “experiences” of it. It’s crazy to see how we’ve reshaped the Earth like no other species, yet we can’t face what we’ve lost.

Flipping through, you see theme parks, zoos, safaris, even alpine resorts selling a comfortable illusion of nature. It’s fascinating, unsettling, and the images feel so wrong yet so real they pull you right into this strange spectacle we’ve built.

Knowing how much research goes into long-term photographic projects, it’s mind-boggling to understand how much dedication & time must have gone into building this body of work.

It stayed with me long after I closed the book.

Publisher: Guest Editions - Order here

Dogbreath - Matthew Genitempo

As a devoted collector of his earlier works, Jasper and Mother of Dogs, I was expecting a masterpiece with the release of Dogbreath, but even that felt like an understatement.

What strikes me a lot is the methodology of Matthew’s work, in which he relies strongly on intuition. He approaches projects with no clear finish line in mind. Instead, he settles in somewhere and cruises around, believing that something will lead him. As a result, one conversation leads to another, and after a while, the contours of what might be a book start to form.

Dogbreath feels like stepping into a heat-soaked dream. It portrays the sun-bleached, desolate landscape of Tucson, Arizone. Vast, fenced-in, rocky, and guarded by dogs. The project actually began before Mother of Dogs, but its production was disrupted by Covid and some personal relocations. Despite this, he never lost focus. At some point, his Tucson photos began to merge with a series of vintage television screenshots, creating a unique blend that feels both modern and nostalgic.

In some way, books on growing up and breaching adolescence hold a very special place in my heart. Dogbreath captures the restless spirit of youth, weaving together images of urban decay, sun-bleached neighbourhoods, mosh pits, and punk teenagers alongside their wild dog counterparts.

Occasionally, Genitempo’s lens captures a disaffected adolescent boy, offering a brief flicker of life amid the bleak surroundings. These weary figures seem almost part of the earth itself, ready to dissolve into the nearby gravel or stone.

Perhaps my favourite part of this work, is the absence of context. There’s some vague lines seemingly said my a mysterious boy name Dove, but without much context, the specifics remains unclear, which is something not every story can get away with. But Matthew masters it like no one else.

Publisher: Trespasser - Order Here

Nothing’s Coming Soon - Clay Maxwell Jordan

The magic of photography, and collecting photo books, is stumbling upon the work of someone you’ve never heard of before. A complete unknown, yet their work is solid and captivating. The deeper you dig, the more this happens. Its precious.

During my time at Chico, I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Boling, the founder of Fall Line Press. We had a great conversation, and he introduced me to the work of Clay Maxwell Jordan. I was hooked immediately.

Now, I’ll admit, I do have a soft spot for strong environmental portraiture shot on medium format cameras, and that’s probably what first drew me in. But Jordan’s work was something else entirely.

I kept coming back to it, flipping through the pages over and over again. Each time, I would discover new pairings, sequences, or individual images that were not just thought-provoking, but also funny and deeply emotional. It was a rare kind of work that kept revealing new layers every time you looked at it.

Nothing’s Coming Soon marks the debut book from Jordan, a young American photographer, and it’s a stunning, introspective exploration of beauty in its most subtle, meditative form. Coming from Georgia, he returns to his Southern roots for this deeply personal and reflective study of small-town life.

The themes of hope, dreams, regret, and mortality are delicately preserved in each frame, bathed in a soft, nuanced color palette (one I particularly like). Some images communicate their messages directly, while others quietly invite the viewer to pause and delve deeper. A great blend of both styles. What initially seems random slowly falls into place, revealing a deeper, metaphysical purpose with each repeated viewing.

Throughout the collection, Jordan’s subtle humor peeks through, making his exploration of “just being” encompass the full spectrum of human emotion. The book’s title itself holds multiple meanings, hinting at the layered complexity beneath its surface. Among the most carefree images is that of a dog leaping in the air, free from worry, purely joyful in the moment.

For me personally, the book serves as a reminder that sometimes you need to return home to realsze that home is always with you, wherever you go.

Publisher: Fall Line Press - Order Here

För - Agnieszka Sosnowska

It’s not an easy task to create a body of work that feels both profoundly personal and quietly universal to the reader or viewer. I never heard about Agnieszka Sosnowska until Trespasser published her first monograph last year, and oh boy, what a gem…

Sosnowska, a Polish-American, who relocated to Iceland to settle with her Icelandic husband, started out as a teacher at a local school in the remote East of the island. However, overtime, she starts to turn her camera on her own life with an honesty that’s as tender as it is unsparing. Using a large-format camera, she captures herself, her husband, neighbors, community members, and the stark Icelandic landscape in a way that’s contemplative rather than performative. As someone who also works with portraiture, I was struck by her ability to create vulnerability without spectacle, a true gift.

Shot over two decades, the images in För are not just about place, but about becoming part of it. What makes it resonate so deeply is Sosnowska’s commitment to slowness, both in her process and in the lives of the people she documents. The images are quiet and breathe with the rhythm of rural Icelandic routines, changing seasons, and emotional undercurrents. There’s a timelessness here that doesn’t feel nostalgic, it feels earned, through decades of relationship building and mutual respect.

Technically, the work is a masterpiece. The detail and tonal range of her analog photographs give weight to the simplest scenes, a hand touching a wooden fence, a body resting in the snow.

For me, För raises the bar on what autobiographical photography can be. It’s not just a document of a life lived off-grid, it’s a meditation on intimacy, endurance, and the evolving relationship between photographer and subject, self and land.

Publisher: Trespasser - Order Here

Thanks for making it all the way to the end! I like that commitment :)

Please let me know if you appreciate this edition?

I might do another series of 5 other books soon.

Love, Pie

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Where Else Can You Find Me?

• Website: www.pieaerts.com

• Instagram: @BecausePeopleMatter & @PieAerts

Let’s build something meaningful together.