It is raw and transgressive, but in a fresh and stimulating way. It maintained the observational quality of documentary, but introduced a theatrical element. It was more like a hurricane, and it cleared away the cobwebs. Calling it a breath of fresh air seems like a gross understatement.

Then I found Case History by Boris Mikhailov. The field had such a limited lexicon: I was constantly reiterating the same ideas and functions. In 2002, I was feeling constrained with the political pressures and so-called responsibilities one has as a вЂњSouth African documentary photographerвЂќ. It was one of the first photobooks I ever laid my hands on.Дirector of the PhotographersвЂ™ Gallery, London.Д¬ase History, by Boris Mikhailov. Eyelids of Morning then, by Peter Beard, about the Turkana tribespeople who live side by side with Nile crocodiles. My favourite photobook is my first private album, which my mum made for me. He designed the book and struggled to find a way to print it вЂ“ this was before digital presses, so it was expensive. He was around for some of mine, which ended up in my New Europe book, so there is that sweet memory of freedom and fertile youth. I was present when he took many of the images (and am in one). We were close friends and shared an apartment in Berlin, working together and roaming the city.

But really itвЂ™s not about Berlin so much as a state of mind, a point of time in the walled-off city. Great images, shallow focus, details that are pointless to describe: a gate, a pipeвЂ™s shadow, a girlвЂ™s fingers. Volker HeinzeвЂ™s Ahnung (Foreboding) was about Berlin in the late 1980s, when the wall was still up. Maybe itвЂ™s a reminder that these moments are meant to remain private, especially in a world where everything is now documented.ДЇounder of online publishing house Self-Publish Be Happy. ItвЂ™s just the fact that such important, intimate and private moments in growing are captured on film and widely distributed. I think what makes it such a scary read is not that anything depicted in the book is wrong (we all played doctor with our next-door neighbours). I donвЂ™t agree with any suggestion that itвЂ™s child pornography. At best, it keeps us thinking about how society has changed in terms of how we view, touch and interact with children вЂ“ as parents, friends or strangers вЂ“ highlighting the state of paranoia and paralysis we are in now, where all forms of intimacy and sensuality are actively repressed through fear. The book is challenging on so many levels вЂ“ exposing the limits of photography, society and our own moral boundaries. The publishers found themselves in court for six years in the US defending it, until they finally pulled its distribution, unable to afford the legal costs. Originally published as Zeig Mal! in 1974, it was developed as a sex-education book, but with explicit images of sometimes pre-pubescent children engaged in sexual acts. Show Me! by photographer Will McBride and psychoanalyst Helga Fleischhauer-Hardt had a profound effect on me.

Will mcbride show me full