Documentary-Collection

If a photo is worth a thousand words then surely this large volume is priceless, constituting the finest and best organized collection of historical photos that I have ever seen.

Marie-Monique Robin went to great lengths to track down sources, she sifted through volumes of historical photographs and she did an extraordinary job of organizing the material.

This outstanding journalist made the best choice of words, as well. Besides the briefest of introductions, she augmented each photograph with narrative in three short sections: A paragraph of historical context entitled "Timeline"; a concise description of the image; and a few words from the photographer or other person closely associated with the photo.

Glancing through the pages one can appreciate the easy and pleasurable arrangement of the photos and text. Each photo and accompanied text are placed on large, well balanced, two-page spreads. There are one hundred of these, starting with a 1898 photo of the Turin Shroud and ending with a 1997 "mosaic of pixels" of the Mars Pathfinder.

The collection is one hundred photos short, but very rich. From Texas to South Africa, ayatollahs to lesbian lovers and from Buchenwald to the Moon, the photographs are beautiful, moving, telling, compelling and all the superlatives one associates with the rarest moments of photojournalism. There is a combination of history and poetry in images of people, places and events that we all recognize, and also those that we do not but want to. They convey the things that please, annoy, educate, repulse and move us, so, they make a superb pictorial account of twentieth century history.

One can see the author's own aesthetic sensitivity in the layout of the book and in her choice of large-format black and white photos in combination with small color photos of photographers or other relevant images. While avoiding the Technicolor look of glossy magazines, she succeeds in presenting a subdued phantasmagoria that moves and informs her audience.

This is a book any one can enjoy. It is loaded with wonderful black and white photographs of a unique way of life in Iowa in the early 20th century. These are beautifully detailed photos reprinted from old glass plate negatives that you will pour over and come back to time and again. Schambaugh was a talented artist and a pioneer in early photography.
Foerstner has not only presented us with a book of unique photos, but has included a well-written documentary of Shambaugh and the life of photographers of her day. I think readers will also enjoy her insight into the Amana Colonies and their history. Most people only know the Amanas as a tourist mecca of shops and confuse them with the Amish. Just as Shambaugh was allowed a unique opportunity to enter and share an almost closed society - now readers can also share in the lives of a group of people that leave you reevaluating your life.

a year or two ago, i asked myself how i would explain to my kids what being at a rave was like. what the people were like, and what they felt. how could i explain the eye candy, and even harder, how could i explain "a vibe"? is there something written, something visual, that could explain it? i have searched, and found such a book. it is Portrait of a Generation : The Love Parade Family Book. a snapshot, with timestamp, and a short quote giving a peek into what that person was feeling at that moment, at the greatest outdoor event in Germany! i really enjoyed this book. while this book is mostly of europeans, the style and comments of these Love Paraders feel familiar. this is definately a portrait of a segment of our generation that might have otherwise been forgotten. rave on.

This is a sumptuous portfolio on Islam based on the principle of a picture being worth a thousand words. The book captures the complexity of Islam by looking at the world of Islam in four geographic chapters: North & West Africa, Near & Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

The photographer has a great eye for color and character. He captures color in backgrounds to set off the rich detail of his pictures. The character is revealed in his portraits of the Islamic people. From children to the elderly, and even in the eyes of the women behind their veils, his camera searches for and finds the character of the people he photographs. Some of the landscapes have a graininess that detracts from their composition, but this does not detract form the overall work.

There is a five page Introduction by Robin Ostle that provides a general background on Islam. Also each chapter starts with a brief half-page discussion of the particular aspects of Islam in the region. Sadly, the author doesn't have a chapter on Islam in the West.

The book will be a welcome addition to any Islamic cultural collection. It is a visual treat for any Westerners wanting a good book that goes beyond the simple stereotypes of Islam.

ive had this book for several years and used to skim the photo pages. the photos alon give it a 5 rating. reading the text increases my rating to a 7 if it were permitted. charles moore discusses his background as a white man growing up int he south and his early days as a photojournalist. a great book.

The story of how Arne Svenson found the glass negatives used to produce the images in his book Prisoners is wonderfully told. He discovered a few in an antigue store and was able, over the next few years, to track down hundreds more of these compelling images. The faces of the prisoners pictured so haunted him that he set out to discover who each man was, even though the photographs had been taken nearly 100 years previous. The information he discovered is extensive; through newspaper and legal records of the day he was able to reconstruct the crimes of each of these men. The stories are riveting; a boy of 14 accused and convicted of murder, a one-armed drifter jailed for stealing a blanket, an elderly opium fiend run out of town. But what I found even more moving than the sad stories of these men were the photographs of them. They look more like portraits than mug shots, I find myself going back to look at these faces over and over again. A thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking book. Hopefully Svenson will stumble across another cache of fascinating images soon!

Quizzical Eye is a book we didn?t know we?d been waiting for until it showed up.

We?ve all seen Rondal Partridge?s pictures, but since he scorned publicity, little has been written about him. The noted photographic historian Sally Stein puts his story?and 100 terrific pictures--in their high rightful place.

Partridge, now in his 80s, grew up in the center of the California photography scene. His mother was the great photographer Imogene Cunningham, and he learned photography from Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange.

Over the last 60 plus years, Partridge photographed everything. He gives us hobos, W.W.II war protesters, New Delhi brickyard workers, undulating hills, bays filled with garbage, and a packed parking lot in Yosemite (with Half Dome towering behind). His fine portraits of Adams, Lange, and the folksinger Odetta are balanced by intimate nudes, and lovely studio work. We see, for example, photographer Judy Dater taking his portrait with her 8x10 view camera?its open lens leaving a shimmering white disk, a little sun, where her face would be.

Partridge is the kind of guy who will take a picture of himself with a chicken on his head and relish its place as the final photograph in the book. His family pictures are among the endearing ever taken. You want to go over to his house, pull up a chair in the kitchen, and hear him tell the stories of how these lovely pictures came to be. This will surely be one of the best photo books of the year.

Ralph Meatyard is surely not one of the great names of photographic history, but he does deserve a place as far as originality is concerned. He is truly an American original, a poet, a visionary artist of the highest caliber. Using family and friends, Meatyard created a gothic world worthy of Poe and Faulkner. A modest man, rasing a family and working as an optometrist, Meatyard managed to create a world straddling dream and reality. He wasn't afraid to experiment and, using a minimum amount of equipment, but a maximum amount of creativity and experimentation, he snapped a record of both beauty and weirdness. It's surprising that he lived on the border of North and South, in that his work seems so southern in feeling. One has only to create a book of photos by Meatyard, coupled with the poetry of the Arkansas poet Frank Stanford, to create a true work of gothic beauty. All one can say is that he's a true original who deserves to be appreciated. James Hoffman

This book started as a commission from the Los Angeles Public Library for Marissa Roth to take photographs of Los Angeles' downtown. In this completed form, it combines her photographs with D.J. Waldie's words in a clear-eyed and/yet loving paean to the city.

Roth presents startlingly beautiful, stark black and white photographs of underground parking garages and murals, freeway underpasses and Chinatown neon, barbershops and street scenes. Waldie's passages are elegant and sparely poetic, from explanations of why downtown streets are 36 degrees off the true grid which rules most US cities (including much of the rest of this one) to the legend of La Llorona, with detours into the Church of Our City of The Angels and musings on the nature of downtown(s).

Throughout the book, there is an awareness in both images and text of the special quality of the light that shines over Los Angeles and the shadows it casts. It's an aspect of life here that I have not seen addressed elsewhere, which I find surprising as it ensures that L.A. can not be mistaken for any other city, especially on an autumn afternoon when the sun is low.

Altogether, the combination of beauty and information makes this book a wonderful addition to any collection of books on Los Angeles, American cities, or photography.

John Rosenthal's photographs are breathtaking. While the photograph pictured on the cover is incredible, there are countless photos inside featuring people. John has a knack for catching the most extraordinary facial expressions, truly capturing the energy and essence of a moment. I highly reccommend this book for any black and white photography buff.