Here is a list of my favorite photo or photo-related books of 2009 (in order by author):War is Only Half the Story Volume II - Aftermath Project (Kathryn Cook, Natela Grigalashvili, Tinka Dietz, Pep Bonet and Christine Fenzl)Photowisdom: Master Photographers on their Art - Lewis BlackwellTo Walk in Beauty - Stacia Spragg-BraudeThe Spirit & the Flesh - Debbie Fleming CafferyFirefly: Photographs of Children - Keith CarterSummer Heart - Thekla EhlingKutuuka - Gloria Baker FeinsteinLooking In: Robert Frank's The Americans (Expanded Edition) - Robert Frank and Sarah GreenoughEmmet Gowin: Photographs - Emmet GowinThree - Ed KashiFun and Games - Lisa KeresziMemories of Myself - Danny LyonsAsylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals - Christopher PayneSurfland - Joni SternbachViolet Isle: A Duet of Photography from Cuba - Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

In this podcast I talk about some of the ways in which we photographers can sometimes veer from the photographic life for one reason or another and I offer up some suggestions that have worked for me to get back on track with my photography.

Eliza Lamb's most recent photo series explores the neighborhood ofAstoria, Queens in New York City and how people use their yards as a public display of their religious beliefs. Lamb was fascinated by thewillingness or need to share these beliefs so openly while also hiding their personality and nature at the same time.

Lauren Semivan creates imagined events through the use of staged photographs. This approach gives her both the control necessary to tell a story while incorporating autobiographical elements into the narrative such as dreams, preoccupations, desires, anxieties, and the collective unconscious.

Lisa Kereszi's latest monograph "Fun and Games" explores places where some people might go to escape from the boredom and challenges of everyday life. Boardwalks, dance halls, the great outdoors, and even strip clubs are all places of interest for Kereszi but rather than give us a glamorized travelogue, Kereszi scratches below the surface, sometimes deeply, to show us what these places of interest are really like and, in a way, that makes them even more interesting (and maybe even fun).

Currently in the photographic art world, style and process seem to be the means by which we measure photography worthy of the title "art." This is why I found Lori Vrba's photography to be so exciting. Her total devotion to the subject matter to her photographs, rather than to "how" the photographs were made, set Lori apart and provides a welcome and refreshing journey.

Elizabeth Fleming's photography captures the small moments of everyday life. Children at play, objects in our everyday world, and the non-events that surround us provide opportunities to slow us down so that we can appreciate the wonderful subtleties that life offers us every day, that is if we will only take a moment to be stopped by it.

Ralf Bruck's photographs focus on architecture, landscapes, and people. Educated at the Duesseldorf School of Photography, Bruck's street photography, we might call it the social landscape in the United States, rarely show a complete situation but rather, he focuses on the small details that are typically overlooked through casual observation thus creating a new dialog between the images themselves and their relationship to the viewer.

Beth Kientzle's photographs, which focus mostly on urban and natural landscapes, are made using alternative tools and techniques. This allows her to play with abstract shapes, light, and motion in her photographs. Although Kientzle's approach introduces an element of chance into her photography, it is chance tempered with a distinct and unique vision.