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PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS

Posted in Photography (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)

Written by Mark Bando. By Zenith Press. The regular list price is $40.00. Sells new for $24.95. There are some available for $15.10.
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5 comments about 101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles in World War II.
  1. Based on a previous purchase American Soldier, I have taken a chance and bought 101st Airborne as a gift for the same person (Teenage Grandson)it was very well received.
    On another note I disscussed with familiy and churchmembers the excellent selections from Amazon and the excellent custumer service, personally I no longer belong to a booklub and will not set foot in a bookstore.
    Go Amazon, we appreciate you and expecting the same customer service in
    2008
    Sincerely, a satisfied customer


  2. The book is the very complete history of the 101st Airborne Division in World War II. It contains many life stories of WW II veterans and many pictures in black and white, some of them have not been published before.
    Mark Bando in this new book has done an excellent work of relating the war actions of the 101st Airborne Division in Normandy, Holland, Belgium and Germany. I can strongly recommend this book to all those who are interested in the history of the Second World War in Europe.


  3. I think we are all lucky Mark Bando started interviewing World War II 101st Airborne veterans many years ago or most of these wonderful stories would have been lost forever. Several people have written great reviews to tell folks all about this book. I'm not a good writter so my review will be brief. Mark has more one on one interviews with WWII paratroopers from the 101st than anyone. I have 2 of every book he has written because the information is first hand from the veterans and can't be found anywhere else. Mark has inserted overviews of each battle so the average reader will still know where the action happened with out getting lost in each campaign. I can't recommend this book enough, there are great photographs, most have never been published. If you enjoy WWII actual accounts and history of the 101st Division, do yourself a favor and order this, you can even get it for free shipping from Amazon. What a great deal.


  4. This is a fantastic book to be able to read and look at images never seen before in other WWII historical books. It is very interesting to read and be able to share with friends or family memebers who are interested in WWII history as well. Truly a beautiful book.


  5. This book did not disappoint. It is filled with photos, personal accounts, and historical details that bring to life an amazing piece of heroism. I would have liked a list of all of the members of the company in an appendix.


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Posted in Photography (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)

Written by Calvey Taylor-Haw. By Rotovision. The regular list price is $29.95. Sells new for $12.85. There are some available for $12.85.
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5 comments about The Studio Photographer's Lighting Bible.
  1. This book does not live up to it's title. If you are looking for a technical reference book to all aspects of studio lighting, lighting equipment, technology and techniques then you will be disappointed.
    This book gives simple examples of different subjects and genres with nice photo's and a basic description of the lighting setup involved.
    I'm only an amateur and found this book disappointing as I thought I'd find all my answers and learning in one book. I'm going to have to purchase individual books on studio lighting get the technical help I was looking for.


  2. I thought this book was very helpful it gave many tips that will be useful. I would recommend this book to a friend.




  3. At the middle of last year I opened a photo studio. So, I can say, I'm still beginner int this topic. So, this book was very helpful for me to gt advance knowledge about art of making great photos.


  4. Good book. But I just have a home studio (Hasselblad, Novarton 3 head set up) seemed like everything had 2 BIG soft boxes plus 3 to 5 more strobes, geared towards a much larger studio. Lots of thing I think I can glean out, A good book!!! Not what I wanted, But a real good book, Goes into lighting of People, still lives, Pets, Food Lots of Cool Information


  5. This book is definitely not what I expected. Too brief lighting information for every setup, not supporting the book title. Hardly any discussion of the lighting, just a description how to arrange it (with little explanation how and why it works). A lot of extra discussions which one would not expect looking at the title (for example, how the author arranged a stylist for a model shoot). I would prefer fewer arrangements with more discussion of the lighting, or at least a change of the title.

    At the same time I bought "Creative Lighting Techniques for Studio Photographers" by Dave Montizambert. That I consider a much better choice to understand how studio lighting works and get creative ideas.


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Posted in Photography (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)

Written by Peter Galassi. By The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The regular list price is $39.95. Sells new for $24.94. There are some available for $19.95.
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5 comments about Cindy Sherman: The Complete Untitled Film Stills.
  1. This is a GREAT book. The pages are large and sturdy and show off her artwork well. A huge plus is the introduction written by Sherman...it gives you an inside look at some of the stories behind and the inspirations to some of the photographs. The book features a variety of her work through time. It is arranged very well.


  2. This book along with the "Centerfolds" hardcover exhibition book provide the essential Cindy Sherman images. The film stills presented here are all in black and white, and her next project "Centerfolds" were all in color. Taken together you get the complete picture on Cindy Sherman.


  3. At first glance, you might see ordinary, banal photos that resemble out takes from studio stills. Look deeper and you will see works of genius that expose a new way of seeing and exploring the inner self that have been highly influential in the art world. This book has the images that started it all for Cindy Sherman and for that reason, you should start with this book if you want to learn about this artist.

    Who will like this book? I think just about anyone with an interest in art or photography would consider this a "must have" book for their personal library. Nothing in this book would embarrass you if you gave it as a gift; it is edgy, but not to the point of weirdness. I just gave a copy to my 10-year-old daughter for inspiration and she really enjoyed it (though probably not at the level of an adult). If you are willing to look, this book will reward you.

    Like any great artist, she makes it look easy. Her singular vision is apparent in the location selection, "set" design, makeup and costuming. If you have ever tried to do this yourself, you will respect what she has accomplished. The end result is that Ms. Sherman reveals what she wants us to believe are her innermost thoughts and emotions. Like great cinema, these photos achieve true suspension of disbelief and challenge the viewer's own framework of emotional identity. In the end, we believe.

    Arguably, these are the best work ever done by Ms. Sherman. One complaint about her newer work is that it seems to continue to retread the same themes and variations. Sure, her newest works are bigger and colorful in keeping with the latest trends in photography -- personally, my favorites are the images in this book. There is a freshness I don't find in her later work. But this human story, like her imagery, will always continue to be explored by artists as long as there are humans to explore.



  4. Cindy Sherman has been called the most important female photographer of the 20th century. You'd never know it if you should happen to run into her on her bicycle in New York. If you've seen her recently, you might have found her riding around with an avid bicyclist and gray haired fellow who used to be in a band....can't remember "the name of this band".

    Both Sherman and her beau, David something or another, have been at the forefront of the post or modern avant garde movement. What's striking about Sherman aside from the fact she looks at least a decade younger than she is, is how she blends in, and looks much like a "regular" handsome thirty or forty something (as opposed to my, at least, definition of a "performance artist").

    The series of photos in this book are from her early days. In them, I guees she's portraying all the different characters who live in her mind. The range of personas she embodies is bewildering. If you didn't know it was her, you'd think they were photos of a series of different women, and if you didn't know they were staged, or that she's an artist, you'd think they were actresses from a bunch of different 60s movies. The photos are alternately mysterious, profoundly strange and beautiful, always emotionless, and at times hints at hidden eroticism.

    She's been riding bikes and opening a more complete retrospective of her work in Europe this spring and early summer, a 300+ page book of which was published in March.

    This book is a great introduction to Cindy Sherman. If you like it, go see her show, and buy the new book.


  5. Photography has been a hobby of mine since my college days well over ten years ago. So when I stumbled across Cindy Sherman last year I was really excited. I read her name mentioned in a book that was discussing the idea of post modern art. Without going into a diatribe about post modern art, Cindy Sherman's photography (at least "The Complete Untitled Film Stills) would be considered post modern art.

    In this book is a collection of black and white photographs taken between 1977 and 1980. The subject in all of the photos is Cindy Sherman, however these aren't self-portraits. As a matter of fact, Cindy Sherman morphs into different types of women and/or characters in dissimilar locations and/or environments. Which leads one to believe "Who is the real Cindy Sherman"?

    These photographs display a level of duplicity towards human emotion, mainly because the images are the expression of minimalism. In contrast, if the photos are studied long enough certain themes can be summoned: aloofness, conservativeness, sexuality, isolation, liberation, ghastliness, claustrophobia, jovialness, and multiple aspects of feminism. I've only listed some themes presented in Cindy Sherman's photos; I know that any art is open to interpretation and depending on one's mood; the images might produce a varied analysis.

    I really enjoyed the introduction to this book, by Cindy Sherman herself. She provides a bit of history about herself, how she became an artist, where the idea of this body of work came from and what it means to her. I found this book to be real pleasure and look forward to viewing more of Cindy Sherman's work.


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Posted in Photography (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)

Written by Damien Lovegrove. By Focal Press. The regular list price is $34.95. Sells new for $22.91. There are some available for $24.74.
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5 comments about The Complete Guide to Professional Wedding Photography: Creating a more profitable and fulfilling business.
  1. This book is great!! Everything a photographer needs, to learn more about his/her photography business. The examples are also fantastic (they even give all the details about the picture) which I love!!


  2. The book is well written, with good images, so why not 5 stars?

    I read the book cover to cover and that is the problem it's not an easy read. They didn't know what this book was when they did the layout. It's set up as a coffee table book with lots of good images and lots of information on how the images were taken. This causes bad breaks in the text, they break in the middle of paragraphs, and even worse sentences. One sentence cuts in the middle for multiple pages of images then picks back up with the end of the sentence.

    As for the information provided in the book, it's good but not really new. One issue I have is that some of the chapters feel forced. This book covers the business of wedding photography so it has a chapter on bookkeeping that can be summed up as find good software and a good accountant. I get it, he doesn't do his own bookwork, fine, skip the chapter and write about what you do.

    The images are great, the text is nothing new but it is motivational and gives a good blueprint to follow for the business of wedding photography. Overall this is a good book and would have been 5 stars if they had shown the attention to detail in the layout of the book that they put into the images.


  3. When I heard and read that Damien Lovegrove was to release a book I smiled and thought YES.A portfolio and notes of advice all rolled into one from one of the UK's most sought after Photographer and Speaker is certainly worth a second look. Knowing Damien and his work like I do, it was no surprise that I would be ordering one as soon as the chance presented itself. Having being on one of Damien's Location Lighting Courses, I was in receipt of a set of notes at the end of the course which are kept on a safe location in my bookshelf. These aforementioned notes are still an important reference document. Shelved alogside this is my new investment (Damien' Book, The Complete Guide to Professional Wedding Photography) It is up ther with Bambi Cantrell and Julie Oswin.
    The book itself is well presented and feels good tothe touch, like a wedding album which is to be cherished. It is full of well lit and well composed images with metadata attached so that you the reader can get an insight into the creation and the story of the image. The text is carefully worded and easy to read and anyone who knows Damien's voice you could be forgiven for thinking he was reading it to you.
    I refer to it for both ideas and reference so that I am not outdone by the challenges that the present day photographer has to face.
    Get your copy, it is well worth twice what you would pay, you will be sure to get several ideas from it, if you only get one it will still be worth it.
    I hope you will enjoy the book as my as I have done,


    Tim Collins.


  4. As an emerging wedding photographer, I was seeking a definitive resource that provided good compositional examples, ideas for running the scheduling of a wedding day, advice about business management and customer service, and workflow. I found all this and much more in Damien Lovegrove's superb book.

    Where other wedding photography books failed for me, this one stood out heads and shoulders above the rest. I found that this book (while demonstrating a distinct British flavour, given the high formality of many of the weddings photographed) still transcended international barriers, where everything became relevant for me even as an Australian photographer.

    Damien Lovegrove has a clear, succinct and easy-to-read narrative style of writing. He offers solid examples of his fine work, technical information and the environmental context relating to how they were achieved, together with detailed information about how to manage a wedding day, post-wedding workflow, and developing your business for profit.

    Mr Lovegrove doesn't bog the book down with explanations of basic photographic theory, nor does he spend too much time discussing the type of camera or flash you should be using. He jumps straight into the nitty-gritty of the issue, and assumes that the reader already has at least some experience with cameras and photography. If he ever produced a book with detailed lighting concepts and theory, photographers would have the perfect library for their career in just two books.

    Mr Lovegrove is genuinely inspirational and explains that he too worked from the ground up, and that only through hard work and dedication was his ambition realised.

    This book was absolutely fantastic and I know that I will be buying any of his future books, his DVDs and attending his seminars. Damien Lovegrove is truly a master in his field. This book, above any other non-technical resource you may be considering, is vital for any photographer serious about becoming great.


  5. Ok first of all english is not my first language, sorry if theres grammer errors...
    Great book...
    very visual...
    it did help me to get more inspired, it open my mind for been more creative, organize....
    2 bad point were that the author was more focus in his point of view of why he do things, and why he works the way he does.... so that this keep you with some doubts of how many ways of creating an organize wedding companie are?? and how many pro's agree of his opinions... opinions are opinions but there will always be good and bad desisions of starting a wedding...

    2nd point is that the author is from england or europe and he focus on prices with different money npt dollars.... plus am from Puerto Rico.... his prices are way up (starting at 3,000 dollars if im not mistaken) the normal salary in PR is not evan close to what he talks so, it kept me with doubts and for that reason i will give this book 4 stars....

    but its a 100% visual and inspiren for the one who always have problems with comeing up with good ideas...


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Posted in Photography (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)

By University of Illinois Press. The regular list price is $34.95. Sells new for $23.06.
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1 comments about Life along the Illinois River.
  1. David Zalaznik, a photgrapher for the Peoria Journal Star, has created a book of photographs of life on and around the Illinois River. The photgraphs are artfully done and are printed on high quality paper. The book is oversize. Most photographs come with a short commentary from David Zalaznik. Besides the Illinois River, bald eagles, blue herons, and Asian carp are heavily featured in this book. Many of his photographs are quite amazing. The photograph of the great blue heron standing motionless searching for fish in thewaters below the Marseilles Lock and Dam is so outstanding that it deserves to be in a museum. I enjoyed all of the photgraphs and found his photographs of the bald eagles outstanding.

    Pat Quinn wrote the forward to the book. Pat Quinn is the Lt. Governor of Illinois and is very involved in conservation of the Illinois River. He gives a short and interesting history of the Illiois River.

    I highly recommend this book for people who enjoy nature photograohy and/or are interested in the Illinois River.


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Posted in Photography (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)

Written by Gustav W. Verderber. By Countryman Press. The regular list price is $9.95. Sells new for $5.60. There are some available for $5.81.
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3 comments about Photographing Yellowstone National Park: Where to Find Perfect Shots and How to Take Them.
  1. Gustav Verderber was right on the money about everything in this book. If you only have a week to explore, save yourself some time and follow his instructions. He has mapped out when the rainbows appear on the falls, gives advice on where to photograph wildlife. Some of the trails he mentions in his book have since been closed due to erosion or wildlife management but if you talk with the Park Ranger Service (not Xanterra!) you should be able to find a comparable walk to capture the images.

    The book may be beneath the experienced photographer but for an amateur who just wants better vacation photos and does not have the luxury to spend a year in the park getting them, this is the perfect guide!


  2. I bought three books to prepare for two days photographing Yellowstone National Park and this was the best. It was very helpful for planning times of day to be in various locations and prioritizing stops. My favorite photo was the rainbow on Lower Falls that occured exactly when the author said it would. If you love photography and don't have a lot of time in the park, this book is a must have!


  3. not only for photographers.
    But if you do like making more interesting pictures there is plenty of precise and useful information about where and when and how make a nice picture of animals or geisers!


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Posted in Photography (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)

Written by Robert Altman. By Santa Monica Press. The regular list price is $39.95. Sells new for $24.84. There are some available for $24.78.
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5 comments about The Sixties: Photographs by Robert Altman.
  1. I was immediately taken back through time to the Sixties, The Bronx, the music, the bell-bottoms, and the long hair....Altman's photos are able to capture the spirit that was the 60's and makes you yearn for a return to that time....I love the book and would highly recommend it to anyone under the age of 90......or maybe under 100....a worthy book.


  2. Thank you Robert for bringing it all back in your wonder filled photographs. In a flash, I was back in Central Park, the Bronx, and the Bay Area remembering and sharing your pilgrimage. In a moment when so many attempt to recall that conversion of love and spirit your works shine with rich personality and a perceptive eye.
    Shine On,
    Alan Binstock


  3. Great pictures. Altman's chronicle is a good choice fora couple hours of leisure. I'd have liked a little text.


  4. When I look at The Sixties: Photographs by Robert Altman, I see exactly where I come from and feel full of hippie heritage pride. I'm not just speaking figuratively -- I'm talking literally, turn to page 23, and there I am, in utero - front and center. Maybe you won't see me without your ultrasound spectacles, but I see me immediately, because I've carried around a framed original print of this photo since I was a kid. I zero in on the beautiful, bare, slightly rounded, 6-month pregnant belly of my mother Rhea - but the true focus of the picture is on Mom belly dancing for a smiling outdoor crowd at the fiddler's convention, my sister Piper sitting astride her shoulders with arms outstretched. You don't see him in the picture but my dad, musician Phil Marsh, is playing the song "Little Egypt" for my mom with his band, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Without knowing it, Altman took my first family portrait. And that is only one of the many incredible & moving photographs in this book.

    Robert Altman's electric, beautiful book is a gift to our current slickly-packaged, relatively disengaged, corporate, consumerist era. I don't just look at Robert Altman's photographs, I feel them, I am immersed in them -- hippies making music, dancing, thumbing their noses at authority, thinking outside the box, living authentically and according to their personal beliefs -- I see myself not just on page 23 but spiritually-speaking on every page: I was conceived in this era on a beach in a freethinking cloud of love, acid, pot and creative and political engagement. I managed to emerge from it all clear-headed and with wonderful hippie humanist values. Still, in many ways I've always felt out of place - a psychodelic flowerchild-bohemian-creative-artistic-expressive refugee soul - more a citizen of the swirling 60s cosmos than any nation. But in Robert Altman's world I feel completely at home. Buy the book: I think it will blow your mind.


  5. I've heard that if you lived through the 60's, you probably can't remember it. If you did live through it, I heartily recommend, The Sixties: Photographs by Robert Altman as a way to send those memories floating back like the smoke surrounding a Lava-Lamp.

    In essence, this is a magnificent collection of photographs that capture the essence of an era. Don't miss out on those memories a second time -- buy this book!


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Posted in Photography (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)

Written by Shoichi Aoki. By Phaidon Press. The regular list price is $29.95. Sells new for $18.63. There are some available for $15.77.
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5 comments about Fresh Fruits.
  1. Great book, made my girlfriend quite happy. She is very into Japanese street fashion and this book just captivated her, she looked through it about 20 times the day i gave it to her. I enjoyed it too, but it was mainly for her.


  2. Though it's pretty much the same as the previous Fruits book, I guess it's best if you keep it the way it is.
    It's a great quality book, completely filled with photos which are not only unique and beautiful, but also makes you question yourself about what is fashion, and what is acceptable or not on everyday life clothing.

    There should be more places around the world like Harajuku.


  3. i saw that book when i was in Germany and wanted it ever since. Now i finally have it and i'm very happy about it. I like all the series of the Phaidon books and already have Fruits. The idea of this book is really great and i hope Phaidon will have some more books like this in the future!


  4. Every time I go to Japan, I buy a copy of the magazine "Fruits". I sometimes detour through otaku-town in Osaka to see what's new on the videogame front, and to see what some of the kids are wearing. Aoki's magazine and books (which are best-of collections from the magazines) are immensely interesting and enjoyable when we divorce ourselves of our American mainstream prejudices and see these young people defining their own fashion and developing their own aesthetics, appropriating high and low and non fashion to express themselves. What happened that American youth are generally so homogeonized, everyone essentially wearing the uniform of their declared social group? It's no fun, really, not compared to these kids.

    Sadly, the 'Fruits' in Japan are also slowly disappearing, being choked out by conformity and a changing local landscape. A sign of the times, for sure, and not an encouraging one.

    Well, borderline expat digression aside, this is a wonderful book. It's a semi-hardcover, real cloth binding, so with care it should last for a long time. There is no text to speak of (aside from some of the kids' names and what they're wearing) so it's an accessible book for - well, literally for anyone. I gave a copy to my eight year old niece last Christmas and she loved it, as did her parents. I have both "Fruits" and "Fresh Fruits" (as well as about ten different copies of the magazine) and they are equally good. If you have lots of books, the bright colors on the spine stand out nicely when these books are shelved, if that matters.

    'Bright colors standing out nicely' just about sums up the spirit of these books.

    By the way, a few years ago I showed the magazine to a professional fashion-designer friend of mine in New York and he fell in love with it immediately. You'd have to be pretty stodgy not to enjoy this book, highlights of the magazine, and document of a gradually fading, colorful and inventive subculture.


  5. I received 'Fresh Fruits' as a gift from my best friend, and even she is shocked by how in LOVE I am with this book and the photos in it. I am an artist and a fashion designer (among other things), and this book provides so much inspiration--not only for clothing and personal style, but for self-confidence as well.

    The true message from this book: For those who really want to rock this world, wear your spirit on your sleeves, and your stockings, and in your hair and on your shoes!!!!


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Posted in Photography (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)

By Steidl. The regular list price is $75.00. Sells new for $47.25. There are some available for $28.00.
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5 comments about Robert Polidori: Havana.
  1. These photos are breathtakingly spectacular. As soon as I saw this book, I had to buy it. It was the first time I'd ever seen anything that captures exactly what being in Cuba feels like: as if you were witnessing the beautiful ruins of a decaying Roman empire. It's the most spectacular, cinematic misery you could ever experience. And I'm glad that someone like Robert Polidori has captured it so faithfully before it all crumbles to the ground (or gets built over with hideous concrete Spanish hotels).


  2. Visceral images of a unique city, in which splendor and squalor are juxtaposed, and the past is suspended within the present, decaying yet enduring. Robert Polidori has captured the beauty and melancholy of Havana, gazing unflinchingly at the ruins and the people who inhabit them. When the boycott is finally lifted, all this will be swept away by a tide of new development, so try to see it now and use this wonderful book as an introduction and a lasting memento. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)


  3. Being Cuban American and having visited Havana numerous times as well as having the opportunity to actually see firsthand, many of these grand interiors Polidori so eloquently displays for all to page through and imagine the events that have transpired in these interiors. The joys, the struggles, the rise and fall of a culture with all it's social graces. This book captures what I captured with my own eyes passing through those marvelous mansions of Cuba's golden age. Havana is truly a Paris of the Caribbean, although decayed and damaged, she is still beautiful, graceful and inspirational to all who visit her. Thus the term "Havana-itis", a disease thought to befall visitors who fall instantly in love with the grand ole dame. I believe there is still hope for her to be restored to her rightful brilliance one day, If only the current government would allow it.


  4. Polidori's work is not just about the places he photographs. This book is something to recommend to people with no understanding of Havana or it's history as well as those that do know the city. He has captured an eerie world, ghostly and abandoned, yet clinging to life. It's a dark tropical dream. If you find peeling paint and dark hallways strangely inspiring, you will treasure this collection of work from a masterful photographer with a great appreciation for decay and its warmth as well as sadness. Look at these photographs and enjoy their mysteries.


  5. There are two principal cities in the world where time seems to stand still. One is Pripyat' Ukraine which was abandoned following the Chernobyl disaster in April, 198. In that unfortunate time literally all the people left within 24 hours. The other is Havana whose middle and upper classes departed over several decades following the Cuban Revolution mainly to live in the United States.

    Unlike Pripyat' where vegetation and wildlife replaced human inhabitants, the City of Havana lives on despite its painful decay.

    Robert Polidori's Havana depicts several days in the life of the city in the early years of the new century. Probably by chance, the period he photographed represented simultaneously the zenith and nadir of the Revolution. His camera details the architectural heritage of the colonial era set among the blockish facades of Socialist reality. Even as neglect defaces these urban jewels, a certain spirit shines through recalling a city whose exiles in Florida still yearn to return.

    As we enter the last days of the Cuban experiment in our hemisphere, the Havana so lovingly pictured here will not endure. Buildings and homes will be restored naturally enough. But the spirit of the urban caretakers of this legacy might have been lost forever if not for Polidori's lens. This is an amazing and dreamy work that belongs to a city and people whose heritage stayed behind.


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Posted in Photography (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)

By Steidl. The regular list price is $65.00. Sells new for $51.95. There are some available for $87.82.
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5 comments about Sleeping by the Mississippi.
  1. Alec Soth builds on the tradition established by William Eggleston, Stephen Shore and Joel Sternfeld. But Soth dramatically moves beyond these masters by presenting a more eccentric cast of characters, a stronger thematic melody and a more personal insight.

    Soth's photographic journey down the Mississippi evokes a boyish sense of adventure. Dreams, flight, religion, race, sex and unusual personalities appear repeatedly in the work, often in subtle allusion. The young photographer captures a rainbow of quirky characters defining a life filled with rich personal meaning outside the mainstream of cultural or artistic norms, locations, institutions and without significant financial expense.

    The book's forty-six pictures reflect a richness of detail possible with Soth's 8 x 10 inch camera. Each page offers a title on the left and the work on the right. Photographers Notes at the end of the book hint at the depth within Soth's work. Essays by Patricia Hampl and Anne Wilkes Tucker complete this wonderful Steidl publication.

    The Whitney Bienniel 2004 prominently featured Soth's work, which has been acclaimed by the critics and will be embraced by the broader public as this young photographer becomes better known. A spectacular body of work, Sleeping by the Mississippi places Soth squarely at the front of young American photographers continuing to move art forward.


  2. this work is solid, beautiful, and thoughtful, but if you are interested in this kind of work you should first get Eggleston's Guide, Stephen Shore's "Uncommon Places," and especially Joel Sternfeld's "American Prospects" which this book seems to pick up from. but in all honesty, those books are not only better, groundbreaking (this is not groundbreaking work), and significant in an art/photo history context, they did so 30 years ago at a time when color photography was still seen as nothing to be taken seriously.

    so, buy this book, but only after the others. this is 'friends', go buy seinfeld first.


  3. While this MAY not stand up to JOEL STERNFELD, STEPHEN SHORE, RICHARD MISRACH, ETC. (the people SOTH has been compared to by OTHERS) it is about as good as anything contemporary that's going around. 8x10 COLOR may not be unique at this point, but soth's work is a nice addition to the genre.


  4. The Mississippi is as american as it gets, and has never been explored photographically in quite this intimate a way. The book is good, but not as good as some other books out there in this genre of large format color american road pictures. Seek deeper.


  5. I'm glad to finally own an Alec Soth book. I can study these photographs many times and never get bored of them. All I can say is that I wish I could shoot as well as he does.


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101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles in World War II
The Studio Photographer's Lighting Bible
Cindy Sherman: The Complete Untitled Film Stills
The Complete Guide to Professional Wedding Photography: Creating a more profitable and fulfilling business
Life along the Illinois River
Photographing Yellowstone National Park: Where to Find Perfect Shots and How to Take Them
The Sixties: Photographs by Robert Altman
Fresh Fruits
Robert Polidori: Havana
Sleeping by the Mississippi

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Last updated: Wed Nov 19 10:13:42 EST 2008