Documentary-Collection

What a gem this book is! This is certainly an area of photography unexplored by most. Though I've loved photography for decades, until I found this book I hadn't given much thought to women of color who photographed. When I think of difficulty that women such as Gilpin and Cunningham had in simply supporting themselves in the early days, how must it have been for these women, seemingly doubly handicapped!

One must respect the difficulty Mrs. Ashe encountered trying to uncover so many of the more obscure figures. My favorites were the women who operated commercial photographic studios, taking all types of 'hack' photography. Of course, we have now come to respect that type of photography as a form of documentary work, and some of these women did it beautifully. 'Tex', the military photographer, was another favorite.

Regardless of who you may find as a favorite of yours, as a work en toto this is a superb addition to any fan of photography.

My extensive search for a book on Black women photographers led me to this gem of a book. "Viewfinders" presents an historical perspective of the amazing Black women who were pioneers in photography. I learned about Eslanda Robeson, Elizabeth "Tex" Williams, Adine Williams, etc.-- women who inspired me (a Black woman) to become a professional photographer in a field dominated ny men. The book's bio-bibliography is an added "plus" because it lists the cities where the Black women photographers resided. "Viewfinders" is a great "coffee table" centerpiece and a "must read" for amateur and professional photographers. Kudos to Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe!!

If you are interested in photography and want to see a good introduction on an excellent photographer, buy this book. The Aperture edition has most of Smith's important pictures and discusses his personal/professional dilemma, which generally should be read very critically in art books, which informs us of the tension in the photographer, which is the important element of good photojournalism. In photojournalism, the tension should be the informing pointer as to what is going on in the picture.

Smith is one of the most important photographers from the 20th century. His influence was great and his work on the photo-essay is defining (e.g. his Life magazine essay on Dr. Ceriani in 1948). His most memorable photo was of Tomoko Uemura with her son in 1972).

Other 20th century photographers you may want to discover or learn from are: Eugene Atget (late-19th/early 20th C), who documented Paris for artists, but whose work influenced the existential air of 20th century photography; Alfred Eisenstadt (mid-late 20th C), who, in my opinion, was the father of modern photo-journalism; and Mary Ellen Mark (late-20th C), who captured the zeitgeist of late-20th century better than most photographers, who tended to project meaning onto their subjects, rather than receive them as Mark was and is so adept at doing.

Of the many photo books on the shelves, this one is worth your time and money.

This is a great introduction to one of the most outstanding photographers of all time. The author obviously understands Smith's genious!!

I stumbled upon this book in New York a few years back and was immediately stunned by its beauty and quality. The Gilman Paper Company apparently started their collection well before the current photography craze and amassed one of the most outstanding collections that you can imagine. Most of these photos are from the very earliest days of the medium and many are in the sepia tone that I personally love. The quality of reproduction is so good that you can actually frame some of the photos! It's astounding...well worth obtaining for any art book collector.

I purchased this book in conjunction with The Metropolitan Museum exhibit of the same name. I spent hours in the exhibit, and I spent hours pouring over the lush, and beautifully reproduced images in this book. I've always been fascinated with the photographic process, and this book explores it down to the roots. I've walked away amazed that someone figured out how to look at something, and through a chemical process tranfer ones vision onto paper. (Not to mention concocting the chemical formula) A stunning book, well worth the price.

This is a near perfect, and very moving book. As the editor says in his introduction, Walker Evans was an ailing, elderly statesman whose best photographs were seemingly behind him when he decided to use a Polaroid SX-70 camera. The results obtained over the year or so that he photographed are startling. Here are examples of "seeing" in their purest form....the small intense prints are fading away as polaroids are apt to do, but they are exquisite and are simply the final amazing burst of creative activity of a master. The presentation here is great....one print per page, actual size and no text. Beautiful!
Please note...the book contains about 170 photos, and is 184 pages.
Recommended very highly, and "less is more".

Superficially, this book of over 120 colour plates of Walker Evans' Polaroids could be categorised as a 'novelty' piece, much like the recent 'Ansel Adams in Color,' (Harry Callaghan, ed). Adams' colour work, however, never represented much more than a curious footnote in the master craftsman's career; Adams' overwhelming importance is in how he brought breathtaking drama to his prints through his use of the zone system, and a refined, exacting, approach to the printing process.

Walker Evans, on the other hand, was almost the opposite of Adams in his approach to the finished photograph: His approach centered more on a refinement of composition, and of excising the non-essential and extraneous from his final prints. Yet, along with Adams, he shared a disdain for colour photography -- both found it to be 'garish,' 'vulgar.'

However, this work -- which represents the final chapter in Evans' artistic life -- is a radical departure from his stated aversion to colour photography. The story is equally intriguing.

As Walker Evans approached 70, divorced and in failing health, it seemed that his creative days were behind him. He had produced some images since the mid 1960s, but it became increasingly difficult for him to have to schlep around his cumbersome view camera and tripod. Quite fortuitously, though, the Polaroid corporation sent Evans its SX-70 auto-focus camera and an unlimited supply of film, hoping that the prestige of Evans' name would have help market its latest camera. Suddenly, Evans found his artistic 'second wind,' and began manically snapping up instant photographs with this simple camera he referred to affectionately as 'the toy.'

In the last two and-a-half years of his life, Evans would eventually take more than 2500 pictures with this camera. The photographs contained within are pure Walker Evans: Sometimes simple, sometimes complex, but always perfect compositions, always ruthlessly cropped within the camera. Evans commented about this camera "that nobody should touch a Polaroid until he's over sixty." Yet, viewing Evans' prints, which combines a colourful joy de vivre within the context of refined taste, it becomes obvious that anyone aspiring to the title of 'artist' or 'serious photographer' should not be permitted to advance to medium format or large format view cameras until he's mastered the art of composition with this seemingly innocuous 'toy.' Keep in mind that the photographs within are in the shape of a perfect square, a much more difficult canvas on which to let the compositional elements coalesce than the easy rectangle offered by 35mm cameras.

Many of the plates in 'Polaroids' were first published in earlier volumes, such as 'Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye' (1993) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2000 retrospective, which along with this volume, was also edited by Jeff Rosenheim. The only drawback to this book, is that the photographs are printed 1:1 to the actual prints (just 3-1/8" sqaure) and are somewhat darker than in the two previous volumes, obscuring some detail. Also, the colours have also faded since the two previous volumes' release, showing just how fragile the Polaroid medium is.

Nonetheless, this volume was worth every penny I paid for it: There is such a serendipitous element of wry humour, even whimsy, that is both intimate and charming, and relate to the viewer Evans' essentially benevolent outlook on life, much of which had been brought back by this 'toy.'

Many of the photographs are purely abstract, but some are also literal in nature: Breaking down lettering in signage and from traffic markings, Evans attempted to collect a series of all the letters of the alphabet in idealised form. There are also some photos of signs that are witty puns (such as the 'IQ' isolated from a 'LIQUOR' sign) or double-entendre, such as the railway placard 'DO NOT HUMP.'

But best of all are his simple compositions of ordinary objects, such as a garden spade, a half-eaten blueberry pie, kitchen utensils, a mailbox, a dress-makers manequin and -- of course -- signs. Evans took deceptively prosaic objects, photographing them in an almost 'objective,' documentary manner, yet endowed them with his intelligent sense of selective observation. In his introduction, Rosenheim noted Evans' 1971 comment in relating Evans' aesthetic method: 'The secret of photography is, the camera takes on the character and the personality of the handler. The mind works on the machine -- through it, rather.'

In his adolesence, Walker Evans dreamed of becoming an author, a literary man of letters. He found out, however, early-on that he was better-suited to photography. But in the twilight of his years, he left the world his final chapter in the story of his life, this collection of Polaroids. These delicate, sardonic and bittersweet images more than fulfill his early aspirations, for all their visual prose and poetry.

For those of you who already know Eggleston, there is something in particular to note about this book. I also purchased Eggleston's "The Hasselblad Award 1998," which features a handful of the same shots in Guide. This provided me an opportunity to compare the same shots in two different publications. There is absolutely no comparison to the superior quality of the prints in William Eggleston's Guide. In fact, shots that I loved in Guide I would not have even really noticed in Hasselblad (very poor color separation, blue tints, etc.). This is the book to get.

William Eggleston's photos grow on you. Look through this book for the first time and the contents seem a bit like ordinary snapshots but look again and then again and with each viewing the images become more familiar (still with something fresh to discover each time) but now they start to blend together seamlessly. One reason for this, I think, is that the photos capture the everyday and the ordinary. Taken around Eggleston's hometown of Memphis and in the Deep South, they show some of his relations, street scenes, interiors, buildings and more, though the captions only state the locations. John Szarkowski says in the books introduction "..today's most radical and suggestive color photography derives much of its vigor from commonplace models" This capturing of the everyday and in color divided the critics in 1976 when the Museum of Modern Art used seventy-five of Egglestons's images for their first exhibition of color photography. The 'Guide' unfortunately only shows forty-eight from the show.

Art photography until this exhibition was in black and white and had been for years, color photos were mostly for ads, commercial print and snapshots. Thankfully the Museum's curator of photography, Szarkowski, had the good sense to allow the public to see something new and fresh. I think the 'Guide' is a good introduction to Eggleston and if you like his creative vision, as I do, have a look at these two books of his work, 'The Democratic Forest' and 'Ancient and Modern'. Both are full of wonderful color photos of the American everyday.

I too grew up in Wyo. and this book features one of the most interesting cross-sections of the rugged individuals that live there. I purchased it because my brother is featured in it (horseshoer, p. 130), but my friends and family are fascinated by it. It is a featured "coffee-table" book in our home.

The pictures were excellent and the stories, for the most part were quite interesting. If you've ever wondered what life in Wyoming is REALLY like, you must read this book.

Women and Warriors of the Plains features the pioneer photography of Julia E. Tuell, whose black and white photos documented Native American women's lives and times. The Tuells lived among the Sioux from 1912 to 1929, with Julia using her photography to document their rapidly-changing way of life. Her photos are both artistic and historically important documents of early Sioux women's lives.

An excellent pick, Dan Aadland's Women And Warriors Of The Plains provides a review of the early photography of Julia Tuell, whose black and white portraits of Native American women are accompanied by fine accounts of life with the Northern Cheyenne and others.

The pictures are great -- a collection of the best pictures from the portfolios of some the world's best photographers.

But photographers need to buy this book for the sake of reading the wonderful essays by Cathy Newman.

Newman talks about the dilemma particular to professional women of all kinds -- trying to balance your work with your private life. She opens with a description of a group picture of NGS photogs back in the 20's. Every one in the picture was a man. Then she profiles a few of the first women to work for the Society. She showcases the experiences of five women who've worked extensively for the Geographic.

I enjoyed this book. I hope that it gets put into some curriculums at journalism school. I had never considered how photojournalism might mix with a home life. The short answer is, not very well. The long answer is that the problematic issues become very central to planning a career and a marriage. This book focuses on that very question. It would have been very prescient back in school.

This book succeeds on several levels. As a book of photographs it follows the National Geographic tradition of high quality photographs printed in the best possible way. As a book on what it takes to be a National Geographic photographer it presents many stories behind the pictures shown. But above all that it presents to young women thinking about this as a career choice, the facts about what these women face day-to-day. It pulls no punches as it discusses how some have faced the choices of how to have a family and this as a career or to leave behind one or the other. I will certainly recommend this to the girls I work with as an up front view of this remarkable group of photographers.

An unusual, beautiful little book for the shelves of Francis Bacon fans. The photographs are beautiful, exhaustively document this legendary, but little known space, and have a haunting quality that complements other Bacon monographs. One senses the vibrancy of the artist's life, and only then the realization that, but for the fact he is deceased, the reader would not be holding this book and having this "privileged" view. Very strange!

I first saw this book at my mother-in-law's house and just loved it. I grew up in San Diego and it was fascinating to see the before and after photographs of places where I grew up. The book is full of great photographs and interesting historical text to go with it.