Rinko Kawauchi (November 24, 2025)

I think you may already have this one: Luminance

Henri Cartier-Bresson (December 8, 2025)

There are quite a few good options for him, but this one is the classic, the most well know: The Decisive Moment

I have this one and it’s pretty good: Americans in Passing

Saul Leiter (December 15, 2025)

Start here: Saul Leiter: The Centennial Retrospective

Elliott Erwitt (January 5, 2026)

There are so many great Elliott Erwitt books and sometimes the same images will show up in another publication. But this one covers a lot of ground and one of my favorites: Snaps

So many of his monographs are specific to a particular theme. One of my favorites in this regard is Museum Watching. This really shows what an incredibly keen observer Erwitt is. This is out of print but can be had for a very low cost, currently. This is one of the best deals on this whole list. Highly recommended.

Alex Webb (January 12, 2026)

The Suffering of Light and Dislocations are popular choices. There are others, too, that are great. I don’t have this next one, but I do have a couple others in this Workshop Series that highlight other photographers so if this is anything like what I have, it’s bound to be a really solid choice and I love the format of these Workshop Series books: Here’s the one for Alex Webb and it includes conversations with his wife, who is a poet, and they work closely together on all their projects.

Right before going to Haiti for my first time, I hurried and bought this book for inspiration and just to see the approach of another photographer. It was more discouraging that inspiring on account of him being the master at these kinds of complicated, layered, color images. Under A Grudging Sun

William Eggleston (January 26, 2026)

I sure don’t want to tell you what to do, but if I did, I would tell you to get William Eggleston’s Guide. A classic. But it’s pretty small (but currently low cost!) so the other one that might be better (my gosh, what am I saying?!!!) is A Democratic Forrest. New, the price is absurd but can be found used at reasonable rates. But there are others. I’d start with those, though.

Todd Hido (March 2, 2026)

A real good overview of his whole career is Intimate Distance but there are others worth getting, too. He also has an option from that Workbook Series publisher like the one I mentioned of Alex Webb.

Platon (March 24, 2026)

I like Platon’s Republic because it shows a big variety of the kind of work he does. It’s out of print and a little pricy right now. Keep an eye on that one and see if it ever falls below 50 bucks.

Arnold Newman (April 7, 2026)

Sally Mann (April 15, 2026)

Brandon Stanton (April 21, 2026)

Richard Avedon (June 9, 2026)

Duane Michals (June 23, 2026)

This is the one I have but it’s out of print - The Portraits of Duane Michals.

Here’s a more recent and more thorough body of work - Duane Michals: Portraits

There are SO many more but this is a good starting point.

Others

Robert Frank - The Americans (Every photographer should own this book)

Irving Penn - Passage, A Work Record

Rodney Smith - Rodney Smith Photographs

Magnum - Contact Sheets

Diane Arbus - Diane Arbus

Garry Winnogrand - Figments From a Real World