Documentary-Collection

The Order of Things is a good book all around, right down to the unique binding. it's easy to flip through pages if you take out the foamcore in the center of the book, and it doesn't damage the spine, either.
It's a great book if you are really interested in Schoerner. If you just kind of like the Prada/Miu Miu campaigns that he did, then this book is overdoing it a bit. It does however reveal some inspiration for how he uses his images and turns photographs into great art by computer modification. I would recommend this to any person looking for inspiration in photography/art. a source book of sorts.

The full and rich diversity of New York City is on display here in the carefully selected, organized, and documented photographs. In addition, the authors' introduction provides a very helpful context and explanation of the "culture of solidarity" among working people from different industries, unions, and ethnic backgrounds. It's a wonderful window into the lives of ordinary working New Yorkers, their trials and tribulations, protests and passions, successes and strikes!

I just picked this book up today and was amazed at its sensitivity and beauty. Not everyone will enjoy it or understand this book but it has a feeling of Diane Arbus and the easiness of early Mary Ellen Mark with a kick of Ralph Eugene Meatyard. The compositions are beautiful and the inclusion of the animals are perfect.

Partial to Home represents the culmination of a ten year period in which the photographer, Mississippi's Birney Imes, records timeless vestiges of Southern, African-American culture throughout Mississippi. These first photographs, many of which were taken during research and photography for Juke Joints, acutely pick out specific instances that are rich in drama and heritage and smack of rural ingenuity and pragmatism as a way of life in the South.

Photographs in the book range from back porch gambling to Sunday baptisms in the river, and combines the photographers knowledge with powerful subjects to make for thoughtful, provoking, and equally joyous imagery, while chronicling and preserving a way of life that resists change but is rich in history and in its sense of familiarity.

Imes has a way of surprising the viewer with his adept visual storytelling, and, even though obviously physically present in the environment of the photography, resides as the instrument by which the often barely visible is fully seen.

I highly recommend this book.

First of all, this is a sumptuously illustrated book. It is already worth what you pay for it in the illustrations. This is no wonder though because as the rest of the subtitle states, the book represents seven days in the Philippines with 35 of the world's finest photographers. Add to that well written text and you have truly excellent value in this book. My favourite section is the short Philippine history written by James Hamilton-Patterson. A thinking person's coffee table book.

This book is a must have. At the Texas Book Festival (2002) this book caught my eye. Never heard of the photographer before but the book was exquisite: filled with stunning black and white pictures. Pictures of everyday things. Of people laughing, of streets and events - capturing the magic moments without a pose. It was a simple concept: One camera. One lens. One year. The results are photos that also capture the routine, sometimes humorous and often extraordinary moments of everyday life.

A wonderful book of eighty-five, beautifully printed, Dorothea Lange photos. I think the best ones are forty-seven from the thirties when Lange was part of a small group of photographers employed by the Government to record the plight of the rural poor. Their output (now in the Library of Congress and accessible to all) was the most complete photographic record of a nation ever undertaken. Lange and Walker Evans were, depending on your point of view, the most talented of this group and you can see why by looking at her photos in this book. Keith Davis says in the introduction... "Her photographs are at once bluntly factual and deeply sympathetic. While Lange recorded innumerable scenes of destitution, she consistently evoked the resilience, faith and determination of her subjects". I think her point-of-view comes across in all the work shown in this book. After the thirties the remaining photos cover her work up to 1958.

All the photos have dated captions and many have background information about what is being shown plus the thoughts of Lange and her subjects. The back of the book has a chronology, bibliography and print source. This is a lovely record of her photographic work but if you want to know more, these two books take a comprehensive look at her life, 'Dorothea Lange: American Photographs' by Therese Heyman, Sandra Phillips and John Szakowski and 'Dorothea Lange: Photographs of a Lifetime' by Robert Coles.

BTW, this is the second book of American images I have reviewed in the last few days, the other one was a selection of photos taken over a number of years by British photographer Nick Waplington of a small town in New Mexico called Truth or Consequences (also the books title) but what a contrast, the Lange book has captions and other information, the photographer's thoughts, chronology, bibliography, sources while Waplington's book has none of this, not even page numbers! It raises questions (least to me) about how publishers regard their readers.

Photography Past Forward is a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of "Aperture" magazine enhanced with the kind of visual imagery (excerpted from issues of Aperture ranging from 1952 to 2002) that Aperture is so closely identified with, and enhanced with a informative history of this world-class publisher by R. H. Cravens. The essence and mission of Aperture was to be a forum where serious photographers could communicate about the nature of their art. Visual and textual highlights from fifty years of sharing fill Photography Past Forward, which numerous select photographs - some in color, most in black and white - as well as quotes and articles offering timeless wisdom and advice to aspiring photographers everywhere. Photography Past Forward is a strongly recommended and memorable visual treat for all dedicated students and practitioners of the photographic arts.

If you are interested in Photography and like to see other people's work, then this book is a must for you!

Published every year, the Photography Yearbook builds annually into a superb representation of the trends and fashions of photography through time, covering photographers from all over the world.

As with previous editions, the content concentrates mainly on human interest, however other images are represented where the editor has felt the picture is of merit to be published.

All photographers are invited by the publishers to submit images for inclusion in the next edition making this book truely representative of contemporary photography and not just covering the work of a few individuals.

The best way to enjoy these annuals is to collect several editions covering a period of time and look at them collectively to see how some images are timeless and how fashions move on.

If you want to spend hours of joyful admiration to photography and to nature, this book is a must.