I would like to think that my book collection says something about my personality beyond my being an obsessive. Not that my collection is particularly large (1500 titles and counting) but it is sprawling in subject — I cast a large net when it comes the breadth of photographic practice. My friend Ed's collection says a lot about who he is. He'll spend years tracking down little obscure books from South America with two photos by Martin Chambi yet wouldn't own a William Klein book if it was given to him. So when I was invited down to Washington DC by John Gossage to spend a few days talking about books I wondered: a) What will his library say about him, and b) How will we fill inevitable long spans of silence because you can't spend three whole days just talking about photobooks.

Well, actually — turns out you can. And the spans of silence? Perfect for digesting a wealth of books I had never experienced. When I wasn't losing my mind over Bill Brandt's A Night in London or Yukata Takanashi's Toshi-e (Towards the City), John and I recorded some conversation. Here is a transcript of a short bit.