Interesting blogs and books about photography that I recommend

http://www.cod.edu/photo/curto/index.htm
This website is actually a blog created by college professor to teach photography classes of College of DuPage. There are online lectures posted on this website for students but anyone can access them if you just go to the website. You can learn about history of photography, techniques of photography and advanced digital imaging. Since this website is used for education of college students it is a reliable source for information.

http://www.smashandpeas.com/
This blog has photograpy galleries, suggestions and tips about photography, equipment, and photography concepts. It also has thoughts and opinions section where issues about photography can be posted and debated. Overall, this website has interesting tidbits of information about photography.

http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/
This blog is helpful to learning how to photograph because the it has tons of videos showing you how to operate specific equipments. It also contains news and forums for photographers. This website is great for people who is planning to become a professional photographer and run a photography business.


For academic resources, I found some books in Amazon.com with interesting ideas/concepts.

On Photography by Susan Sontag
This book is an essay about the meaning of photography and more specifically, the psychology of those who photograph and their purpose behind it. In the introduction, for example, it explains why tourists stop to take a picture when they encounter something extraordinary, how taking a picture is like imaginary possession of something a person can't have in reality. I think this book is little cynical and opinionated but still it contains many creative ideas about photograph and its meaning/purpose.

Why People Photograph by Robert Adams
This book is written by a professional photographer who aparently has great affection for photography. He shares his insight on why photography is beautiful and meaningful and his lifetime experience in photographing landscapes. My favorite quote in this book is "they may or may not make a living by photography but they are alive by it." (page 15)

Criticizing Photographs by Terry Barrett.
If Why People Photograph is a book that is designed to kindle love for photography, this book is desgined to educate photographers how to look photograph from a critical, academical stand point. I think its neccessary to know how to criticize photographs because it helps you develop critical and analytical thinking skills. Also, if you can sort out good photographs from bad photographs, then you can appreciate the good photographs more.