Book Description

For more than ten years, wildlife photographer Steve Bloom traveled all over the world, roaming through the jungles of Borneo, the African savannahs, and the frozen banks of Antarctica to assemble this dazzling collection of photographs of animals in their natural environments. With an international range that is rare in books of animal photography, the 200 photographs in Untamed bring to life a vast panorama of animal diversity, and of the landscapes, climates, and habitats in which they live.

Here we see the serene gaze of a gorilla relaxing in the trees, a shark jumping in midair to catch its prey, a Siberian tiger traipsing through the snow in search of food, and penguins congregating on an ice floe. Bloom's anthropomorphic approach reveals rage, tenderness, and even humor in his subjects, capturing those fleeting moments when the gap between animal and human seems to disappear altogether. These amazing images, augmented by a personal account of Bloom's unforgettable career as a wildlife photographer, make Untamed an essential volume for all animal and photography lovers. AUTHOR BIO: Steve Bloom is an award-winning wildlife photographer who also founded his own wildlife stock photo agency and fine print gallery in the mid-1990s. His first photography book, In Praise of Primates, has been published in ten languages. His other publications include Thank You for Being a Friend! and We Are Family! . ... Read more

Book Description

Amazon.com

Henri Cartier-Bresson spent four decades traveling the world as a photojournalistin search of what he called "the decisive moment"--the instant when visual harmony and human significance coalesce. Published in honor of his 95th birthday, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, The Image & The World is a handsome volume that reproduces more than 600 photographs, film stills, and drawings and includes essays by art, photography, and film experts. Trained as a painter in his native France, Cartier-Bresson began his photography career during a trip to the Ivory Coast in 1931. After shooting his way through Europe, Mexico and the U.S., he became an assistant to filmmaker Jean Renoir and directed documentaries in support of the Spanish Civil War. Imprisoned by the Germans during World War II, he escaped to document the liberation of Paris. More than a quarter-century of magazine photography followed—-including vivid glimpses of modern life in India, China and the Soviet Union—-before he put aside his camera in favor of his sketchbook. Cartier-Bresson's ability to capture peak moments resulted in unforgettable single photographs, like that of a woman in a group of former concentration camp prisoners who suddenly recognizes her Gestapo informer and reaches out to hit her. His constant watchfulness led to images that capture fleeting emotion—-lust, pride, despair, expectation, glee—-on the faces of people going about their daily lives in grim cities, sleepy villages, and vast landscapes. Shaped by compassion and a self-effacing absence of personal judgment, these photographs reflect a worldview no longer fashionable but forever relevant to human understanding. —Cathy Curtis ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Very well-done Cartier-Bresson retrospective
I am a big fan of Cartier-Bresson's photography, so this review could be considered a little biased. This is a great book -- lots of Cartier-Bresson's photos (all my favourites, and there are many), well-printed, with just enough text to add some substance to the book without overwhelming the images. There are even a bunch of photos of Cartier-Bresson at the end for those who are curious what he looks like. A few of his sketches/paintings and some information on his films are also included, which may interest some. The only downside is the book weighs a ton, and is an awkward size that doesn't fit in my bookcase. ;-) Highly recommended.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: the Man, the Image & the World
"I have never been interested in photography," asserts the greatest image-maker in the history of the medium, and he put his camera away, thirty years ago, in order to focus on drawing, his first love. Perhaps Cartier-Bresson was more interested in the act of seeing than recording an image on film, but this massive portfolio of images from the 1930s through the early 1970s shows his mastery of composition, his fusion of candor and humanity, and his gift for capturing the decisive moment. It's superbly produced, and every architect will delight in his brilliant sense of shadow and light, and his interweaving of figures and buildings-notably in the opening spread of the church of San Francisco in Ranchos de Taos. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

A superb comprehensive collection of HCB's photography
This title is in my opinion by far the best, most comprehensive single book on the works of Henri Cartier-Bresson ever published, or ever likely to be published. The selection of photographs is huge and they are printed superbly on very heavy fine art paper. The accompanying essays provide a very useful insight into Henri Cartier-Bresson's approach to photography, in particular into his concept of the "decisive moment". The sections on his life provide further substance to the book and raise it well above the level of a coffee table publication. My only (very slight) reservation is that because of the huge number of photographs included, not all could be printed at full-page size and several of my favourites are reproduced a little small. However, the title in its present form is already the heaviest in my collection by a considerable margin and to make it any thicker would have made it too difficult to manage. This title is great value for a fine art book of such quality - if you have any interest in HCB at all, get it!

An essential for every photographer's collection
"Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, the Image and the World: A Retrospective by Peter Galassi, Robert Delpire" is an essential purchase for anyone with more than a passing interest in photography.

As the images and essays in this retrospective of HCB's work make clear, Cartier-Bresson invented 35 mm photography as a visual form. What studying, or even browsing through this massive collection makes clear is that despite being known as a "photographer," Cartier-Bresson is not being disengeuous when he eschews that descriptive: he is not a photographer; he is an artist whose primary tool for about 50 years was a camera. But he wasn't "taking pictures," he was creating art, and happened to use a camera to do it.

A careful examination of this collection of images leaves one with the impression is that the reason HCB has had such an enormous impact on the history of photography in many different forms - including "street photography," "photojournalism," and "documentary photography," is the fact that he is one of the great artists of the 20th century.

Even if you think you know all Cartier-Bresson's work; even if you own all the books in which most of these photos originally appeared over the past 50 years, "Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, the Image and the World: A Retrospective" is a book worth owning because of the overview it provides, and because of the insightfulness of several of the essays included. ... Read more

Book Description

The Camera, together with The Negative and The Print, comprise The Ansel Adams Photography Series, a legendary triad of books about photographic technique that has become the most influential "how-to" series on photography ever written. The first edition of this series was completed in the 1950s. Adams completely revised and updated it just a few years before his death, making it his last word on the technical mastery of his medium. Three generations of photographers have learned how to approach the artistic possibilities of their art form through this seminal series. Now available in paperback, it remains as vital today as when it was first published.

The Camera covers 35 mm, medium format, and large-format view cameras and offers detailed advice on camera components such as lenses, shutters, and light meters. Adams' concepts of "visualization" and "image management" are the philosophical cornerstones of the book. Extensively illustrated with photographs by Adams as well as instructive line drawings, this classic manual belongs on every serious photographer's bookshelf. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Wanna learn to take pictures, start here.
Einstein wrote a book for lay people to explain the theory of relativity. I've read it twice, and I stilldon't know what Albert's talking about. Ansel Adams wrotethree books on photography, The Camera, The Negative, and The Print, for lay people to explain how to takegood photographs. I've read 'em all, and at least I know what Ansel's talking about, even if I can't take photographs like his yet (gimme fifty years of practice). Whether you like Adams' style or not, in technique, he is to photography what Einstein is to physics: a single authoritative master who's work can be relied upon.Of the three books, _The Negative_ is the most important;but if you are just getting started, the Camera iswhere to begin.

A brilliant introduction to the camera
Ansel Adams is indeed one of the most highly regarded photographers ever, and in this first of three instructional books, he reveals much of the foundational wisdom that he gathered over a lifetime taking pictures. The focus of this book is the camera and deals with all types and formats of film cameras and techniques for using them to take wonderful photos.

This book is one of the most common and cherished textbooks used in beginning photography but is indispensable for any interested in better understanding camera arts.

Truly a masterpiece
Just like his photos, this book is a classic. It explains the fundamentals quite clearly, with intuitive diagram and real pictures. Its coverage on view camera is extremely valuable. Although not many people use view camera these days, that chapter is an eye-openner for appreciating some of the best pictures ever taken by Ansel and other classic photographers. Its coverage on the basic principles are very thourough too. A must read for every serious photographer.

Classic
A must have for all those wanting to expand their understanding of cameras in the process of making beautiful fine prints

Great series
This whole series (The Camera, The Negative, & The Print) are highly recommended for anyone seriously interested in learning more about photography and improving their skills. If you're not interested in that, then the books are probably still worth adding to your collection just to see all of Adams's stunning images. ... Read more

Book Description

The big, bold, seductive, and surprising color photographs of German photographer Andreas Gursky set forth a stunning image of our contemporary world of high-tech industry, international markets, big-time sports, fast-paced tourism, and slick commerce. Tracking the zeitgeist from his native Germany to such far-flung places as Hong Kong, Brasilia, Cairo, New York, Shanghai, Stockholm, Tokyo, Paris, Singapore, and Los Angeles, Gursky has earned acclaim at the leading edge of contemporary art with a polished signature style that draws upon a great diversity of ideas, precedents, and techniques. Created in collaboration with the artist, this oversize book surveys the fullness of his work to date with gorgeous colorplates, generous two-page details, and a wealth of supporting illustrations. The first in-depth study in English of Gursky's art, this book was published in conjunction with a major retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Essay by Peter Galassi.
Foreword by Glenn D. Lowry. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Utterly jaw-dropping
The Andreas Gursky exhibition at MoMA (and beyond) and its attendant book will be remembered as one of the biggest splashes that a photographer has made in the art world in nearly a decade.
His mentors Bernd and Hilla Becher devoted decades to the formulaic documentation of industrial archetypes. Gursky takes a similarly cool precisionist vision and blows it up to satelite simulcast proportions: everything is saturated color, super-scaled and hyper-detailed in this collection of hyper-mega-super-synthetic 'modern world as lurid theme-park' landscapes. His depiction of discount stores, sports arenas, hotel lobbies and stock markets are so crisply rendered that every dollar sign and pock-marked cheek are clearly seen. Images haven't had this kind of imformation density since Jackson Pollock was at his height. Then he follows it with images of such minimalist austerity as to turn a Prada boutique into an object of Zen contemplation. As his work has evolved, Gursky has made increasing use of digital manpulation to clean-up and enhance his environments. But it hardly serves qualify the veracity of these artificial spaces. This is our age with the volume turned to high shriek.

At Last: -a book that does justice to Gursky's work
Again and again, devotees of Gursky's work find themselves struggling to describe the sheer physical impressiveness of his prints. Pristine, perfect and awe-inspiring as they are; they ... in the viewer, challenging one to see more, to make sense of this information overload.

Previous coffee-table monographs on Gursky failed pitifully to convey the experience of viewing his finest work: such as the retrospectives at the Tate Liverpool (UK) or this latest show at MOMA NY -from which this book arises.

This MOMA book succeeds where others have failed: thanks to its designer's skill in taking portions -sometimes very small portions- of Gursky's images and placing them in the book as visual puzzles. They challenge the reader to recognise what they are, from which images -and where they belong. They also serve as an implicit yard-stick. "my God" the reader realises, "if this double page spread is only that tiny part of the whole image, I can imagine just how big and detailed the whole picture must be".

So, if you've not seen Gursky's actual prints yet, then please do: there is no substitute. But -having seen them - this is the only book that will come anywhere near to reminding you of that delightful experience.

Bill Hirst

***Andreas Gursky; Modern Master of Photography***
First you must understand why this book was put together. Peter Galassi, the Museum of Modern Art in New York's Chief Curator in the Department of Photography made this book as a sort of large catalog to accompany the Gursky retrospective which was in May 2001. The Gursky's photos are huge, the exhibition at MOMA was huge and the book is - well, big, but other's will more than likely agree, it could be bigger especially in context to Gursky's work. (12" x 13.5")

Inside you'll find two things Gursky's photos and Peter Galassi's essay. More than likely you'll thumb through the book ogling the photos first, only to find the treasure of Peter's research about Gursky much later. Galassi's writes with authority and intellect as he discusses the "artistic contexts and origins of the work" in detail. In the preface Galassi admits that the introduction is lengthy but is only meant to encourage further study. Indeed, you are curious, you are pulled in. Here is a sample "Andreas Gursky's best pictures of the past decade knock your socks off, and they're meant to. They're big, bold, full of color, and full of surprise. As each delivers its punch, the viewer is already wondering where it came from - and will continue to enjoy the seduction of surprise long after scrutinizing the picture in detail." Galassi continues with bringing non-photo experts up to speed on the environment of the European aesthetic over the past 150 years, with much of the focus being on the 1950'6 - 60's. Fortunately attention has been paid also the Becher's, one of Andreas Gursky's mentors from the Kunstakademie (art academy), as well as the changes that had occurred in the practice of what was being taught there. Influential artists are named and noted and neatly woven into the grand picture. There is more, but for my purposes here, the result is a writing that so thoroughly saturates the history of the artist and his medium, that it is indispensable to the book as a whole. If it were only a book of slick, meticulously composed scenes on a gargantuan scale, it would be just another coffee table book; left to collect dust in some neatly arranged corner.

The discovery of Gursky's photos is a big one. (Quick note, anyone who has ever been remotely associated with graphic design will appreciate the clean lines and layout of text and photos.) Not only is the book highly readable, it looks modern. Pages 43 -186 are entirely the color plates. They are huge. They are fascinating.

I have read a variety of descriptions of Gursky's works, many of them come from very different starting points and all come to the conclusion that he is a master artist. The photos are everything from "...modestly scaled, infallibly exposed, sharply focused images..." and "focus on the recent phase of capitalism, reified leisure, consumerist fantasies and global transformation of production." His works are "complex and labor intensive process", "Olympian" in their "detached observation of setting and stilled activity," and " overwhelmingly dense image(s) rendered with astonishing visual clarity." My point being, that you cannot escape something mesmerizing, which is the view on the world only Gursky can offer. He shoots everything from alpine landscapes to stock exchange rooms, sunsets and shoe racks, rock concerts to factories, all with the same omniscient eye. The result is astonishing; it is a sucker punch. Urbanscapes, which encompass both, views of the micro and the macro, and often render a feeling of disbelief.

There is something in these photos for EVERYONE. Literally in the sense that Gursky has traveled the world to capture these scenes. Figuratively because there is something here that everyone can relate to. Above and beyond shopping for candy, watching a sunset, standing on the mezzanine of a hotel balcony, this work conjures big questions about: commerce, ultra-consumerism, mass development and cultural homogenization, the feeling of being alone in a crowd, great energy spent on insignificant things and more. The conclusions are here for you to discover.

In summary, the book is wonderful. It is eye candy and it is brain candy. In no way is the book a substitute for seeing the artwork, but if you have to take "the next best thing" surely this book is it. I highly recommend this book for students who are actively pursuing a degree or career in photography, for art historians, teachers of art or photography, and anyone interested in social - political - environmental - or spiritual commentary by a modern artist.

Awesome!
The best photo book I've seen in a long time. I only wish the book were bigger.

A Revelation
Every photograph in Andreas Gurskey's book is a revelation. It's not a page turner-you'll linger at length over each photograph's wealth of detail, painterly composition, and absurd landscape. The images in this book have an amazing ability to startle and provoke. They are at once humorous and full of despair, alienating and invigorating. Traveling all over the globe to capture these moments, Gurskey has created a discourse about utopiansism, mass culture, work, consumerism, nature, and modern design. While the reduced size of the photographs (in contrast to the MOMA exhibit) means they lose some of their power, the book is ordered in a way that puts the images in dialogue with each other. And it reads better than any novel I have read in recent memory. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

An Absolutely Inspiring Book
A truly beautiful book, with rich photographs and nice summaries. Inspiring to the last page - and particularly useful for igniting one's creative juices. A small note to the Amazon reviewer: Andy Goldsworthy was born in England in 1956. He lives in Penpont, Scotland, but is English - not Scottish.

Astonishing natural art
In "Stone," as in his other books, Andy Goldsworthy takes the natural play of a child--fooling around with sticks, leaves, water, stones, mud, and more--and elevates it to something above and beyond its natural status. He uses his adult design skills to create great manmade beauty from existing natural beauty. He never falls over the line into obvious, coy, or precious art--he simply lets nature be what it is with a tiny little bit of rearranging on his part.

The results are never short of astonishing. Witness the sharp-edged rocks against which Goldsworthy has "glued" (with plain water) the leaves of brilliantly red Japanese maples, thereby making the edges look almost bloodied (p. 76). Witness the delicate, calligraphic tracery Goldsworthy stitched up by pinning together rush after rush after rush with thorns and then hanging these on a gallery wall so that it appears that either Calder or Matisse have wandered in and scribbled elegantly on the walls (p. 83). Witness the balanced oval boulders Goldsworthy lays in a curvaceous line from beach to the sea, and see how they roll and disappear from view as the tide comes crashing in (p. 101). These are but three of the many visual astonishments Goldsworthy shares in this book. The book is a never-ending source of delight and admiration for the feverish workings of one of 20th-century art's most creative minds.

breathtaking simple beauty of nature & imagination
Andy Goldsworthy's art is so inspiring. In this book, the art pieces focus on, as the title says, stone. It's unbelievable. He just unveils so much magic in the world with his brilliant thinking. "Otherworldly" is surely the word to describe how much of the art in this book feels. I keep thinking it couldn't possibly be this planet, but I suppose it's not even a planet anymore; it's the mind of the artist. Time also plays a significant role in this art. He builds pieces with the intent to photograph it when the day moves & the light hits it a certain way. Or he builds things that the incoming tide tears apart. In a piece I love in this book, he gathered ice from a lake & put it on the shade side of a rock. The ice gradually melted & was shed. I wish I could have listened & watched. Something that adds so wonderfully to this book's beauty made from such simple natural materials is that he also accompanies photographs with very Haiku-like, very poetic, short descriptions of the art pieces & how they existed in time & in the act of his making them.

ingenious natural art
Of this book, my mother said, "I can't understand artwork that's not meant to last." I replied, "That's the whole point." The beauty of Goldworthy's artistry is in its impermanence -- the sand sculptures will be washed out with the tide, the leaves will be carried away in a river current, the cairns will fall...and part of the artist's charm is that he never harms the landscape. In time, his art will vanish and so will his footprints... Nature leaves us constant gifts, and it's up to us to see them, digest their beauty -- and accept wholeheartedly that it may not be here in a few minutes, days, or weeks. A wonderful book that provides insight into the nature of art -- time -- and the physical world.

Goldworthy's art is an unfailing source of wonder, delight!
This book is a revelation! Goldsworthy's conceptual art never fails to stir a sense of wonder and delight. As I paged through Stone, which is filled with beautiful photographs of Goldworthy's work, not only installed in museums, but in the natural settings which harbor some of his best (and most ephemeral) works, I was constantly calling friends over to see. The freshness and astonishing beauty of Goldworthy's work is evident on every page. All who love the beauties of art and nature should see this book. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This revised and updated portfolio includes nearly 200 images by the master portrait photographer. The best known faces of our time have been memorably "Karshed"--a glowering Churchill (his trademark cigar having been just snatched out of his mouth), a beaming Khruschev peeking out from a massive fur coat, a serene Helen Keller reading a book of Braille with quiet delight, a pensive Tennessee Williams at his typewriter, an impish Margaret O'Brien yanking at her pigtails. Karsh's portraits of fellow artists--especially sculptors and architects--are among his most sensitive and intuitive. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An insightful and sensetive look at famous 20th cent. people
A wonderful retrospective view of Karsh's most famous photographs.Most portraits are in black and white and capture rare insights of the most influential people in the arts, politics, academics and entertainment. All photographs are brilliantly reproduced, most in full page format. The comments by Karsh reveal personal insights adding a dimension of accessibility to the most revered in our century. There are also numerous excellently reproduced color portraits, which along with the black and white portraits, are reproduced in a wonderful satin finish. There are many portraits from the 40's and 50's including his most famous portrait of Winston Churchill and powerful portraits such as the back of Pablo Casals playing the cello in an austerely but masterfully lit setting.

This book is a genuinely beautiful work of art. It will bring joy to the young and old at heart and will prove to be one of those treasures which one is proud to cherish for generations.

Exceptional photographic studies of familiar faces.
This is a must have book for the portrait photographer. Or for anyone who just enjoys famous faces.Years of wonderful portrait studies of people we all know and admire. These portraits make us feel as if we are really getting to know these people up close. Such emotions are rare to be captured as still images. A SUCCESS in portraiture!!! ... Read more

Book Description

A chronicle of the struggles, bravado, and irrepressible sexuality of young men.

Will McBride, an American who has spent his adult life in Germany, has made one of the great extended photographic portraits of male adolescence, created over the course of his forty-year career as a photographer. In his studio work and in his reportage for such magazines as Twen, McBride has focused on young men as they come to terms with their inner and outer development.

McBride creates a portrait of the young male that is more revealing than those available in countless books, plays, movies, and television shows. In his work, young men discover the power of their own sexuality, fall in love, suffer the imposition of the regimentation of study and religion, seek comfort, flaunt their courage, and play with the unfettered, goofy energy of boys. Clearly made in collaboration with his subjects, McBride's photographs are as telling and sensual as they are unforgettable.
... Read more

Reviews (5)

Good book for boy entering adolecens!
I bought this book when I was looking for some puberty material for my 12 year old son. I thought at first that it was a bit too pornographic for a pre-teen to see,but the reality is,this book is just perfect. My son and I looked inside the book together and it was a lot easier for me answering any question about his body when you have pictures of other boys his age who are the same stage,or soon to be stage. It was really a fine ice braker and I'm sure any father with a soon to be teen age boy would agree. Mothers too can take advantage of the book as well..

I highly recommend this book to anyone.....

Not what I expected...
I ordered this thinking that the book would contain more photographs like the one on the cover, strong, sensual images of young men/boys making the transition from childhood to adulthood, and all that that entails. There were some great images in the book, the 15 yo matador and his family, the boy standing naked beside his fully clothed brother.... but there was a lot of wasted potential as well. As mentioned in other reviews, the photos of Indian boys towards the latter third of the book are somewhat out of place, but so is the final set of pictures (even though there are of a German teenager) that come from another of McBride's books.

All in all, this book was something of a disappointment...

An interesting collection of very varied photographs.
This is an interesting if slightly perplexing collection of photographs. I guess that the authors aim to present images of young boys making the difficult transition to young adulthood has been shown, but with a non-cohesive sense of place. The presentation of young Indian boys towards the centre of the book comes in sharp contarts to the images of West German boys elsewhere. Indeed, I felt they were out of place and opportunistically placed. Almost as if the author suddenly found this odd set of pictures he'd taken years ago and thought "I could use some of those here".

The collection ranges from candid photgraphs to rigidly posed studies, some of the latter being amongst the most haunting I've ever seen. There truly can be beauty in the peri-pubescent and adolescent male. I know some people have claimed that this book has been produced to satisfy that strange group of people who call themselves "boy-lovers", and it may indeed appeal to such people. However, lovers of the male form more generally can gain from viewing this collection, and trying to understand the context in which the photographs were taken. ....

A photographic journey through childhood
In no particular order, Will McBride presents to us a vision of childhood and youth, exposing its innocence, ennui, pride, exhuberance, despair and its loss. At first glance, this book may appear to be just a collection of portraits of boys in a variety of situations: some nude, some at play, some with family, some lost in their own thoughts. But in each photograph, McBride has managed to capture those emotions I listed, and more. None of the nudity is contrived nor is it exploitative. In some you can see the diffidence and anxiety in the subject, while in others you can see a nonchalance in the boy's posture exposing what? Trust in the photographer? Or the cynicism born out of some other, previous experience?

An excellent collection created by a photographer with an exceptional eye.

Nice boy photos!
Wonderful, large, emotional photos of boys, some nudes.

It's great to finally see a collection of McBride's photos sold in the US, especially given that many of them were take up to thirty years ago.

As the introduction says. ... Read more

Book Description

“[New York City subway riders] are members of every race and nation of the earth.
They are of all ages, of all temperaments, of all classes, of almost every imaginable occupation.
. . . Each, also, is an individual existence, as matchless as a thumbprint or a snowflake.”
—James Agee, from the introduction

Between 1936 and 1941 Walker Evans and James Agee collaborated on one of the most provocative books in American literature, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941). While at work on this book, the two also conceived another less well-known but equally important book project entitled Many Are Called. This three-year photographic study of subway passengers made with a hidden camera was first published in 1966, with an introduction written by Agee in 1940. Long out of print, Many Are Called is now being reissued with a new foreword and afterword and with exquisitely reproduced images from newly prepared digital scans.

Many Are Called came to fruition at a slow pace. In 1938, Walker Evans began surreptitiously photographing people on the New York City subway. With his camera hidden in his coat—the lens peeking through a buttonhole—he captured the faces of riders hurtling through the dark tunnels, wrapped in their own private thoughts. By 1940-41, Evans had made over six hundred photographs and had begun to edit the series. The book remained unpublished until 1966 when The Museum of Modern Art mounted an exhibition of Evans’s subway portraits.

This beautiful new edition—published in the centenary year of the NYC subway—is an essential book for all admirers of Evans’s unparalleled photographs, Agee’s elegant prose, and the great City of New York.

Luc Sante, author of Low Life, Evidence, and The Factory of Facts, is Visiting Professor of Writing and the History of Photography at Bard College; Jeff L. Rosenheim, Associate Curator, Department of Photographs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is the editor of Unclassified: A Walker Evans Anthology and Walker Evans: Polaroids and was the main contributor to the Metropolitan’s exhibition catalogue Walker Evans (2000).
... Read more

Book Description

"Crewdson is at the forefront of a movement in contemporary photography that hasabandoned realism in pursuit of pure cinematic fantasy." —The New York TimesMagazine

Twilight: in that zone between the certainty of day and fear of the dark, GregoryCrewdson sets his eerie, enigmatic photographs. A woman floats in her flooded livingroom, a cow appears to have fallen from the sky onto a front lawn, a gang of teenagers,seemingly hypnotized, pile up household objects for a bonfire. Created as elaboratelystaged tableaux, this series of images suggests the bizarre yet beautiful surrealities behinddeceptively familiar suburban facades. Scheduled to accompany three simultaneous gallery exhibitions in Spring 2002 and asubsequent retrospective at Mass MoCA, this book chronicles the completion of theTwilight series, which Crewdson began in 1998. Including both production stills and the40 finished images, all infull color, it also features an essay by Rick Moody, a novelist equally renowned forexposing the underbelly of small-town, middle-class America. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Beautiful and Wonderful Photographs by Crewdson
This exciting collection of photographs by Gregory Crewdson finally arrives! It is so wonderful to have these images together in a gorgeous book to bring home to my own living room. I have always enjoyed Crewdson's brilliantly detailed and beautifully cinematic images that evoke wonder and awe. There are excellent photographs in this collection. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates contemporary art.

fascinating photos and read
This book is an incredible documentation of community-based art. The artist, Gregory Crewdson, worked over years to unite a small town in the hills of Massachusetts to create art.
It's inspiring to find out that the people of the town (Lee) not only donate their houses for photo shoots, but they also block off streets and are subjects of the photographs.
The photos in the book are accompanied by text written by Rick Moody. The text is interesting, touching on the psychological forces compelling Crewdson to create art--but the real treat is in the photographs themselves.
The work is produced far away from the mainstream art world of Chelsea, yet it has made a great impression there.

Elephantine and Shallow
The photographs in this book are big, glossy, cinematic...and ultimately dull and derivative. Yet those who hold this type of photography as an example of what is wrong with all contemporary art perhaps fail to understand that there is a good deal of photography mining the same themes, but with much more verve and far less self-conscious pretension. One can find mystery and surrealistic undercurrents in the most mundane of contemporary settings...one can depict such settings as dystopian...but there are photographers like Philip Lorca di Corcia and Paul Graham who have done so in recent monographs with execution that is ostensibly simpler, yet riskier and far more bracing in its results.

Crewdson is a talented professional whose influence in the contemporary photography world and in academia is significant, but in this book he commits so many sins it's tough to know where to start in pinpointing what makes this book so leaden. Ultimately, it's the sheer overstatement in presentation that seems to turn the images into white elephant art (to borrow a term from film critic Manny Farber)...an overstated style that evokes the dreadful excesses of the film American Beauty and David Lynch's most self-indulgent moments.

And since Crewdson works in the realm of still images and not in film or video, he doesn't have the benefit of motion, nuanced characters or any reasonable narrative (unlike a show like Six Feet Under, for example) to keep the images from landing with a huge thud. Though there are some "Recurring Themes" in the images (which seem to involve pregnancy and mounds of flowers), whatever narrative or mystery these may imply is simply not worth considering while being assaulted with the sheer excess of everything. The expressions on the faces of the many mannequins in the book have all the subtlety of silent movie acting, except silent movies (and silent movie actors) on the whole are far more poetic in their projection than the sorry models Crewdson chooses to present to the viewer. Crewdson's dramatic lighting of his stillborn subjects only accentuates the shallowness of his concepts.

If you have a friend that loves the scene from the film "American Beauty" where Annette Benning listens to self-help tapes at an ear-deafening volume, if they consider this a solid critique of contemporary American life, Crewdson's equally vacuous volume will make the perfect coffee-table gift. To those looking for more craft, more subtlety, more depth, diCorcia's "A Storybook Life" or Paul Graham's "American Night", or even work from Crewdson's female disciples from Yale like Justine Kurland (to name just a few) -- these explore similar themes with far more rewarding results.

Amazing
Crewdson uses elements of documentary photography and cinema to give authority and narrative to intricately and flawlessly constructed, amazingly artificial scenes. To criticize these photographs for being "forced" or lacking sincerity is like criticising a race car driver for driving too fast. The amount of effort and detail that went into constructing these realities is the entire point of this book. A photograph doesn't have to refer to something that is "real" in order to be valuable, compelling, and beautiful in its own right. This is an excellent, highly recomended book.

How disappointing
There are artists whose images evoke a sincerity that is missing from most of these images. These photographs seem forced, overly contrived, pretentious, and redundant.
Look at what the photographer George Tice can do with light and the landscape. A photographer, an idea, and a camera. How simple, how sincere. ... Read more

Book Description

" A breathtaking collection of flowers by celebrated photographer Harold Feinstein, One Hundred Flowers features over a hundred luscious portraits of dahlias, roses, anemones, poppies, pansies, orchids, tulips, azaleas, peonies, and other varieties in exquisite detail. The enormous scale of these flowers allows us to examine and explore their intricacies as never before possible in a book. These botanicals are dazzling in form and appear to, be living, breathing--in all their fragility.In hear delightful introduction to One Hundred Flowers, popular gardening author Sydney Eddison enlightens us on the elaborate structure of flowers and explains the role it plays in their reproduction. Of Feinstein's sumptuous yet quietly contemplative photographs, she writes: "While they obviously are flowers,--they have another kind of life, mystical and imperishable." Horticultural commentaries by expert Greg Piotrowski precede each floral grouping, as well as brief descriptions of the individual species, numbered to correspond to the pictures. These notes include hints about cultivation, cultural and historical facts, and colorful literary references--making the book as useful and informative as it is beautiful. Finally, a passionate essay by acclaimed critic A.D. Coleman offers insight into Harold Feinstein's work and details about his life as a master photographer and teacher. One Hundred Flowers is the perfect gift for gardeners, photographers, and anyone who delights in the beauty of flowers." ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Absolutely beautiful.
The number of photographs in _One Hundred Flowers_ is astounding. The colors contrast beautifully against the black background. It's as breathtaking as the publisher claims, and more. Sydney Eddison's introduction, "A Bee's Eye View," leads readers into the photographs and in the essay, "Engendered is the Flower," A. D. Coleman talks symmetry, comparing Feinstein and Chaucer in the timing of their work.

With each section there is a 3- to 6-page piece about the flowers in the photographs (White Flowers, Roses, Pansies, Poppies, Orchids, Irises, Sunflowers and Dandelions, Cosmos and Daisies, Floral Diversity, A Name for Every Flower). Some of the photos remind me of drawings in pastel oils, such as the doubled-flowered evergreen azalea on page 105, the bouquet of pink evergreen azaleas on page 107, and the large picture of a modern rose on 32-33. I can only imagine the modern rose photo hanging on my office wall. Absolutely beautiful.

This book is huge. Place it on your coffee table and company will naturally gravitate to it. Any cultivator or artist will appreciate its ability to bring the conversation around to nature and art. My first thought was my daughter and her drawing class. This book can inspire many ways of sharing it. Be sure to look up all Feinstein's floral books. They are well worth the effort.

One Hundred Flowers
I have spent years practicing meditation and exploring the Christian and Buddhist concept of living in the moment and appreciating the beauty of the world around you. When I saw Harold's book I understood! Each image is breath taking and you see the extraordinary in the very flowers that go unappreciated and we pass by each day. He captures the meaning of "being in the moment" with each image...perfect in thier imperfection, beauty beyond belief and exquisite treasures...a meditiation and reminder to slow down, and "smell the roses"...and lilacs, and peonies, and dandelions, and iris, and lilies.... I can't wait for his new book on...FOLIAGE!

beautiful book
This is a beatiful book with extreme close-ups of many different types of flowers. The large size also is a plus so that each image looks grand and brilliant.

Vivid colors, perfect pictures.
I use this book in an artistic setting... The art room in my school has this book, and though I have not taken one class, I felt compelled to try and draw some of these magnificient flowers. They've come out pretty good, but it's not about that. This book is spectacular. The colors are so bright and vibrant. I've flipped through it countless times, and am never bored. I feel like I'm walking in a garden, every time I turn the page.

a feast for the eyes, a boost to one's well-being
This book will add to your quality of life - it is just phenomenally beautiful. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

scattered and distant
this book suffers from an excess of professionalism: as a successful fashion photographer, baptiste has adapted too well to the demands of shooting for the editorial, and the models shown here are much too practiced in looking pretty on cue. the result is a variety of photo techniques that don't seem especially keyed to the human themes in the photos, and a variety of models who do not communicate any intimacy because they are all so obviously *posed*. helmut newtson is an obvious yet undigested influence, and any newtson collection completely surpasses the emotional impact of this book.

a moment
Simply put, this book is sexy. Although it is quite different from his first book "Beautiful" he still captures the strength,
femininity and power of being a woman. He has captured very private moments yet his subjects look stunning and not forced. It's a stimulating coffee table book even for the prudish (it may make them blush). Hats off for another great body of work. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

One of the best overviews of any artist's life and work
The oft-controversial, but more oft-brilliant Will McBride often gets lumped into the same category as Jock Sturges or Sally Mann. There's some casual linkage there, but McBride has his own distinct territory, and it's examined exuberantly in this gigantic compendium of just about everything he did that's worth looking at. It's far superior to the impossibly skimpy Taschen book "My '60s", and even goes so far as to include the complete set of pages for "Zeig Mal!" (Show Me!), although they are reproduced rather small, probably to avoid too much trouble with small-minded authorities. Anyone even remotely interested in photography or McBride's work in general should not miss this.

Sad text, contrast the luminous photos of his sons & others.
Will Mcbride is as different as a man -saying he was a "bad father"- as one can contrast with his magnetic images.Never spending much time with his sons or his wife, yet creating nude portraits of them and others that transfix your imagination. Images one would swear were taken by a man doting on his subjects. Divorced later he saw little of his family thereafter. Maybe the camera was the only instrument Will McBride knew to communicate his feeling.How fortunate we are he use it. Beautiful, yet controversial to some,this book establishes again why we should all thank our founding fathers for our 1st amendment.

narcissism as engaged art
It is sad to see how a fertile period (the 60s and 70s) ends up being represented by some of its worst features: woodenly articulated ideology, narcissism, pretension, complacency, self pity. It is of course interesting to see, with time, how silly and sometimes downright wrong some of the slogans of the period in fact were. This book helps us see that, and as such is a real document.But its manipulations are deeply objectionable: invoking, for instance, Freud and Reich to justify one's own personal predilections is almost perverse (the reality of a child's sexuality should have nothing to do with the exploitation of that sexuality).
To my mind, the professionalism of the photos does not justify this book's apparent reputation.

Readers digest version of controversial photographer's work
There's a lot to be said for McBride's work and yet in learning about the man himself, I have to say I lost respect for him. It is as if you are watching a family man fall from grace into hedonism and self-involvement as he leaves his wife and family for a homosexual life. I cannot judge someone on their lifestyle, but I do criticize someone for forcing others to be witness to and party to their self-invovlement.

Nice but Photos are Old
McBride did some great original work as presented here. However, it has been surpassed by artists like Mikhail Rusinov, "Holy Nature" (a book a purchased on Amazon) which depicts Russian Nudists of all ages and many other recent art photographers. ... Read more

Book Description

Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Stills, a series of 69 black-and-white photographs created between 1977 and 1980, is widely seen as one of the most original and influential achievements in recent art. Witty, provocative and searching, this lively catalogue of female roles inspired by the movies crystallizes widespread concerns in our culture, examining the ways we shape our personal identities and the role of the mass media in our lives. ~Sherman began making these pictures in 1977 when she was 23 years old. The first six were an experiment: fan-magazine glimpses into the life (or roles) of an imaginary blond actress, played by Sherman herself. The photographs look like movie stills--or perhaps publicity pix--purporting to catch the blond bombshell in unguarded moments at home. The protagonist is shown preening in the kitchen and lounging in the bedroom. Onto something big, Sherman tried other characters in other roles: the chic starlet at her seaside hideaway, the luscious librarian, the domesticated sex kitten, the hot-blooded woman of the people, the ice-cold sophisticate and a can-can line of other stereotypes. She eventually completed the series in 1980. She stopped, she has explained, when she ran out of clichés.~Other artists had drawn upon popular culture but Sherman's strategy was new. For her the pop-culture image was not a subject (as it had been for Walker Evans) or raw material (as it had been for Andy Warhol) but a whole artistic vocabulary, ready-made. Her film stills look and function just like the real ones--those 8 x 10 glossies designed to lure us into a drama we find all the more compelling because we know it isn't real. In the Untitled Film Stills there are no Cleopatras, no ladies on trains, no women of a certain age. There are, of course, no men. The 69 solitary heroines map a particular constellation of fictional femininity that took hold in postwar America--the period of Sherman's youth and the starting point for our contemporary mythology. In finding a form for her own sensibility, Sherman touched a sensitive nerve in the culture at large. Although most of the characters are invented, we sense right away that we already know them. That twinge of instant recognition is what makes the series tick and it arises from Cindy Sherman's uncanny poise. There is no wink at the viewer, no open irony, no camp.~In 1995, The Museum of Modern Art purchased the series from the artist, preserving the work in its entirety. This book marks the first time that the complete series will be published as a unified work, with Sherman herself arranging the pictures in sequence. She's good enough to be a real actress.--Andy Warhol~The still must tease with the promise of a story the viewer of it itches to be told.--Arthur Danto Essays by Peter Galassi and Cindy Sherman. Hardcover, 9.5 x 11.25 in./164 pgs / 0 color 0 BW69 duotone 0 ~ Item D20150 ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Cindy Sherman: Film Stills
Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Stills, a series of 69 black-and-white photographs created between 1977 and 1980, is widely seen as one of the most original and influential achievements in recent art. ... Read more

Book Description

Of special note, "Lee Friedlander" is a limited edition of 600 copies. Only 350 are available for sale. Each copy is signed and numbered by the artist. In 1970, Lee Friedlander published a slim volume of photographs entitled simply Self Portraits. In the decades since its original release, the book has become, in the words of critic A.D.Coleman, "a cornerstone in the tradition of photographic self portraiture." In the 1990's, Friedlander returned to the project of self portraiture. "I started again after I did a couple and realized that I'd metamorphosed into something else," he has said "I wasn't the same person any more, and I wanted to document that."When seen in contrast to earlier work, these images offer us a reflection on maturity, on a self become less mutable and now with age more stubbornly real and individual, the self that is Lee Friedlander. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Peculiar Joy
I picked up this book not knowing what to expect.What I found was a collection of surprisingly moving and amusing self-portraits.General themes: Lee pretending to be asleep, taking his own picture; Lee, standingbehind tree branches or bushes.This is my new favorite coffee table book. A few quotes, from Jazz musicians, artists and poets, make up the onlytext in this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (11)

A Beautiful Book, Highly Recommended
I found this book to be a wonderful experience. Sally Mann has shown so many different 12-year-olds in her hometown of Lexington, Va, and she has captured their stories and what makes each girl so unique. I loved this book and found that some of the photographs, especially "Doll House" reminded me of myself "At Twelve".

Wonderful
I give Sally Mann a thumbs up for capturing her beautiful children when they were young, being what they are: beloved children. How fast we grow and turn into adults!
As I studied each page my memory was jogged several times of my childhood in southern Georgia. Humid sunny days and muggy rainy evenings; I couldn't wait to strip what little bit of cloths I wore and play outside in the rain or in the woods. I never gave it a second thought being nude. And apparently neither did my parents. Needless to say Sally Mann and her beloved childern are dear to my heart. Thanks for bring back so many innocent fond memories.
I recommend this book if you have an open mind and love children for what they are.

At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women
At Twelve is Sally Mann's revealing, collective portrait of twelve-year-old girls on the verge of adulthood. The way many of these reviews are written (i.e. like revealing) you think your getting something for the money but you're not. There is no nudity in this book (except for one picture of a 2 or 3 year old). I strongly recommend you stay away from this trash and stick with the David Hamiltion books.

Solidly beautiful pictures
Maybe I missed something. The pictures are beautiful, and they are supposed to be an attempt to capture the essence of young women on the cusp of becoming adults. What I got was pictures of young women-- missed the whole "becoming" thing. I could just be thick, but this one just passed me by devoid of any emotion.

Exploitative!!
This is not new ground. Mann is better than this. She could be a "contender," by taking a different route than she has - the exploitation of her own children in the nude. Not recommended!!! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A beautiful book
The photography and the text of this book has been described in other reviews, but I want to add that this is now one of the most beautiful books that I own. The typesetting is flawless, the paper is of a much higher weight than I have seen in other monographs, and, of course, the reproductions are class. These points are magnified by the sheer size of the book-- check the dimensions given in the details above. The book is a work of art.

"The Meaning of the Idea Photography" -- Alfred Stieglitz
This book clearly deserves many more than five stars. It is one of the most remarkable expressions about and by an artist in any genre that I have ever seen.

Before going further, let me caution those who are offended by all forms of nudity that this book contains many female nudes. These are all tastefully done, and will not offend those who look with a desire to see the essence of beauty.

Alfred Stieglitz was a seminal figure in 20th century art. One of the foremost photographers in the century, he also helped other photographers define what the aesthetic means in photography. He also was a champion for many of the best known photographers, and seriously boosted their careers. In painting, he was an early advocate of important 20th century artists like Arthur Dove and Georgia O'Keeffe. In addition, he published two influential journals about photography, and exhibited art in his famous gallery in New York. Clearly, though, photography was his first love. "I have all but killed myself for Photography."

This book focuses on his central vision of photography ("search for objective truth and pure form") which increasingly was about "antiphotographs" or images that move beyond simple representation. This concept is examined both in 73 of his best images and through numerous excerpts from his voluminous writings on the subject (over 200 essays).

This book is based on the famous 1983 show of Stieglitz's work, and has been reproduced with amazing care and quality. The images are produced in tritone to give more texture and detail. The paper is of archival quality. Most people's diplomas are not on paper this good or this thick. There is a luxurious feeling to just hold the pages.

The 73 images were selected by Ms. O'Keeffe, Juan Hamilton (her friend and assistant), and curator Sarah Grenough from approximately 1600 images in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. Ms. Grenough selected the writings to be used, and wrote the wonderful introduction.

From looking at these remarkable images, I came away with the impression that Stieglitz was at his best (for my taste) when he was doing portraits, abstractions, and cityscapes. Those subjects seemed to allow him to strip away the unessential better than the others he used. My favorite images in the book are:

Sun Rays -- Paula, Berlin, 1889

From the Back-Window -- 291, 1915 Self-Portrait, 1907

Marie Rapp, 1916

Arthur G. Dove, 1911-1912

Charles Demuth, 1915

Hodge Kirnon, 1917

Marcel Duchamp, 1923

Georgia O'Keeffe, 1918 (3)

Margaret Treadwell, 1921

Waldo Frank, 1920

Dancing Trees, 1922

Music -- A Sequence of Ten Cloud Photographs, VIII, 1922

Equivalent, 1931

His writings are as rewarding as his photographs. I was particularly interested in his ideas about how humans make progress. "Progress has been accomplished only by reason of the fanatical enthusiasm of the revolutionist . . . ." "Experts . . . are the result of hard work."

After you have finished enjoying this astonishingly revealing volume, I suggest that you think about how you like to express truth and beauty in your life. How can you be more direct and simple in this expression?

Be sure to live a life of "constant experimenting" like Stieglitz did!

Wonderful collection of his writing and photographs
This is far more than a picture book; it contains 73 high-quality plates and its real treasures can be found is the twenty page introduction and the fifty pages of selections from his writings about his work and views on photography. As a full time artist, I found this book to be both rich and inspiring. If you have lost sight of why you shoot pictures, try this as a reminder of clearer moments. ... Read more

Book Description

Love-ins and sit-ins, the "back to the earth" movement, nude beaches, the "New Age" quest for spirituality, reggae culture and The Grateful Dead, the New York Mets, and life on Martha's Vineyard-from an early age Peter Simon has delighted in documenting the world around him through photography. Here is his life's work thus far, an astonishing record of the far-ranging experiences of his generation, featuring many of the major figures, both in the mainstream and counter-culture, of the past 40 years. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

If You Remember the '60's...
It's been said that if you remember the '60's you probably weren't really there. It's a good thing Peter had a camera because he probably would have been wondering himself what those days were like. Parts of his world, beautifully recorded, jar our memories. Whether these memories are painful or delightful, they are part of our collective story. Many '60's communes didn't allow photographs, so these may be rarer than one assumes. The book is worth looking at and reading.

Uninspired photographs and more boomer self aggrandizement
I wanted to like this book, I really did, but I couldn't get past the amateurish tone as Simon retreads that well trod path that amounts to the sixties generation stations of the cross--wealthy childhood, discovering drugs and sex at college, dropping out and living off your parents on a commune, plugging into Eastern philosophies and, finally, capitalizing on "the good old days". I found the photographs mundane and the essays almost unbearable as Simon chronicles his constant drug taking and drifting from place to place. As another reviewer wrote, I don't think we would have seen this book printed if not for his name and his celebrity sister.

Makes me wish I was born a few years earlier
Peter Simon is a talented photojournalist, and this book is the story of his life, with a definite emphasis on the 60's and early 70's counterculture years, which he lived to the fullest. It's all here: the protests, living on a commune, the eastern spiritual gurus, flirtations with nudism, the (impressive) series of hippy girlfriends, the rock stars (he's Carly Simon's brother).

I'm sure other members of his generation will find the book very nostalgic. As for me, it's almost enough to make we wish I'd been born 10 or 15 years sooner. I went to college during the early years of the Reagan administration. The 60's obviously weren't a very happy time, but it would be hard to imagine someone of my generation putting out a book like this: who would care?

The later chapters of the book are an odd lot of whatever