Books for Photographers - 3 of Today's Hottest Photo Books

I'm going to buck the trend of posting today about unusual and rarified holiday gifts for photographers. Hey, this is a throw-in-the-towel post, giving a nod to runaway hits in the photo book category. Here are three of the hottest titles this season.

Underwater Dogs by Seth Casteel - There was little indication that this book would become such a huge seller, but it's practically the must-give gift this holiday season. The photography is excellent, the concept is extremely clever, and the subjects are beyond adorable. This is the best-selling photo book now on Amazon. 

Capturing Camelot: Stanley Tretick's Iconic Images of the Kennedys combines Tretick's presidential photographs, where he had access to JFK from the time of his 1960 campaign and his tenure in office, with Kitty Kelly's stories of what went on behind the scenes around each shot.

And then there's Awkward Family Photos by Mike Bender and Doug Chernack. If you don't care for your photo book to be particularly artsy or inspiring, I highly recommend this extremely painful (on purpose) collection of terrible family portraits gathered by the hysterical Awkward Family Photos blog. 

We're the New York Institute of Photography, a distance education school teaching photography since 1910 - over 100 years of knowledge and experience. Listen to the following podcast to learn more about who we are and what we do. WHAT IS THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY? [20:58M]