Have You Ever Read A Novel About A Photographer? There’s A First Time for Everything! Sink Your Teeth Into These Books Featuring Photographers As Main Characters or Protagonists

“Trick of Light”

This mystery novel by David Hunt (AKA William Bayer) revolves around Kay Farrow, a photojournalist investigating the death of her mentor. Join Kay as she seeks to understand her mentor’s unforeseen death. Photography elements of the plot include Kay’s job as a photojournalist and disturbing images found on her mentor’s camera.
If you’ve ever dabbled in photojournalism or you enjoy a good thriller, check out this novel. 

“Eight Girls Taking Pictures”

This novel by Whitney Otto weaves the story of eight photographers who work to achieve a balance between their photography careers and their personal lives. Otto blends in elements of historical fiction as her tale spans decades with the characters Amadora capturing color in images of WWI, and Lenny photographing the French countryside after WWII. This bestselling novel gives a voice to a variety of characters based on real-life photographers. 

If you’re a landscape photographer, travelling photojournalist, or anything in between, try out Otto’s novel today. 

“Moments Captured: A Novel”

This novel by Robert J Seidman fictionalizes the life of photographer Edward Muybridge as he narrates the reader on a journey into Muybridge’s personal life with dancer Holly Hughes and his artistic developemt. Muybridge became famous in the mid-19th century century for developing new methods of capturing motion pictures. Seidman uses this novel to create a story from Muybridge’s eventful and controversial life, including Muybridge’s brain injury, and the murder of his wife’s lover.
If you’re a travel photographer like Muybridge was, a history buff, or you just love a great story, give Seidman’s novel a shot. 

“The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre”

Another historical fiction novel, Dominic Smith’s The Mysterious Visions of Louis Daguerre provides captivating insight into the life and last days of the famous inventor of the Daguerrotype. Louis’ mercury-imposed illness led to the strange and intriguing world that Smith displays for the reader. This account delves beyond a biography by weaving eclectic characters including French author Charles Baudelaire into the plot. 

If you’d like an entertaining novel related to an influential player in the evolution of photography, pick up a copy of Smith’s book today. 

“The Image Interpreter”

This novel, written by Zoran Živković and translated by Randall A. Major, delves into street photography. It focuses on several Parisian train passengers and the photographer who tries to interpret who they are through the images she captures. This eclectic group, composed of an office worker, an author, a tourist, a mourner, a secret agent, a military administrator, a jilted woman, a young man, and an older woman with memory issues, and they all have fascinating stories to tell. The tenth character is the photographer who uses just her cell phone camera to capture each of the other passengers and seeks to tell their stories. 

If you’d like a touch of mystery with intriguing characters, check out this novel today and get inspired to take your own street photography cell phone photos. 

“Click: One Novel, Ten Authors”

This unique novel penned by ten different authors (David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Deborah Ellis, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park, and Tim Wynne-Jones) provides a look into photojournalism. The story details the journey of a young character getting started with photography after his grandfather, the photojournalist passes away. 

This novel features the unique experience of an artist starting their  photography journey with coming-of-age elements included. 

If you enjoy photojournalism, travel photography, and a photography coming-of-age story, then give this collaborative novel a shot.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this list highlighting photographers in literature. If you’d like to discover more novels that feature themes of photography or characters who are photographers, check out this list from Goodreads.com. 

For more books that can help you improve your photography and your business, browse the Imaging USA Speaker bookshelf which includes books that have been written by past Imaging USA speakers. 

And for  more more inspiration, browse our online library of educational video content, accessible through the end of May with a free PPA account.