Documentary-Collection

The pictures were beautiful but I guess I wanted something that was going to give me the same feelings I had when I first saw the Amalfi Coast, I wanted the book to take my breath away. I enjoyed the book but I wanted something with more landscape views of Positano and of the surrounding areas.

There is nothing like the Amalfi coast. Hidden from most of the world, the only accessible route is one road that travels high in the jagged cliffs. Amalfi is unique unto itself. Much like Provence, France, only different. Both are special. My sister and I love flying over Amalfi, in fact, we are the only identical twins to ever do so. I have been flying for nearly 15 years, so don't worry, we're safe! Of course, if you do go to the Amalfi Coast, stay in Sorrento, and then come see our beautiful Isle of Capri. Almafi is gorgeous; Capri is magical, but not quite our Provence, which we always retreat to, because we are French. -------------------------Presented by Summer!

In my opinion, Italy's Amalfi coast is one of the best kept travel secrets in the world. This gorgeous region rivals any in the world with its blue sky, crystalline water and beautiful backdrop of mountains. The region has its own unique character and charm, well captured in this book. Amalfi is someplace truly special, reserved only for those who appreciate beauty in its most full-blown form. If you're one of those who loves a treat, you simply can't go wrong with this book.

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...

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. ....

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.....

Many photo books in my collection demand full concentration on every image, turning the pages oh, so slowly. Armando's "Body Builder", on the other hand, comes at me like a subway station full of porn stars racing to get up the escalator. The images are jammed 4 together on some pages, with in-your-face solo closeups filling other pages. There are actually foldouts in this book -- FACING foldouts that when deployed make a 3-foot wide display. BB is a panic of sensational, dynamic, sexy photos, extremely intense and shot in an action-packed confrontational style. I race through this book every time I pick it up, just for the speed thrill. Wow. And every time different pictures grab my attention. All the pictures are terrific, some are really frantic, all are black and white and Edition Stemmle did another terrific job with the reproduction, paper stock and binding. Armando's technical command of the medium is every bit as formidable as his riveting erotic content. BB is one of the top 5 photo books I've ever owned. (I now have more than 100 hardbound books by serious photographers of the nude.) I may buy another copy just in case I wear this one out.

Davide Armando is an incredible photographer. He captures such incredible beauty in every one of his photographs. The book is of the utmost quality. The printing is flawless, an overall excellant purchase. I couldn't have been more happy. Worth every penny. I would recommend this book to any lover of erotic photography. I will be setting this one out on the coffee table so that everyone can enjoy it!

A gorgeous undertaking into the sensuality of the human body. Lavishly reproduced images that convey a sense of arousal but hold to the aesthetic of nude photography as an art form. This is unlike any other book in its category, due to Armando's keen sense of camera angles, the unique and uninhibited posing of his models, and printing that captures the richness of skin tone. In essence, 'Body Builder' not only explores sensuality and the human form, it defines it.

If you are a serious collector of early photos,this is not the book for you.Besides the terrible organization of photo subject and type reference,some of wich have no reference at all,some of the photos would probably be already quite familliar to you,and are all done over in this sepia like tone instead of their true colors.As well,some of them are not quite so early.The text is taken from books of other people who have done great works on crime photogrphy,(Eugenia Parry),and so are the photos.if you want artsy,you might appreciate it.If you want a serious book on early photos of crime or the like,don't waste your money

While the photographs here were shocking, they were also exploitative. Just because they are old does not lessen the impact of photos of murdered children and freaks of nature. I am not sure what this book wanted to do, but it did not do it well. It is like reading a book version of the trashy Faces of Death video series.

Joel Peter Witkin is long established as a master of the visually bizarre, creating studio photographs that push the envelope of believability to the precipice and then encourage the viewer to accompany the descent. They are manufactured by the artist. But here Witkin has gathered bits of real life that far exceed the contrivances of his own photography. Distorted and leaning toward nauseating as some of these real life photographs from history may be, they are all the more strange because they are Documentation instead of Creation. And who better to compile this odyssey into the dark realm but the man who spends his creative energies devising fabricated scenarios that parallel these photographs? A fascinating survey of just how untameable is this planet we call home........

Graphis has long been a showcase of commercial work in a variety of media. Graphis, via its editiors, drops off the map with this issue as mediocrity, at the very most, is established.

Graphis Nudes is surpassed by the cheesecake of the Pirelli Calendar; at least there are only twelve slices on the calendar.

Graphis has always struggled with its main invention; itself. Setting one's self up as an 'authority' usually takes a little more than Graphis currently brings to the mill.

The problem with Graphis is its appeal to 'collectors'. Advertisers have never really used, or considered, Graphis as an 'index' of talent;

As this edition affirms, there's not a lot of talent out there being shown which should be good news for anyone in art school at the moment: There's a lot of room at the top. But, do we need Graphis to demonstrate it at a cost to us? After all, isn't buying a book of 'commercial' images a validation of the lowered bar?

That leaves Graphis Nudes as a lacking, uneventful, unprovocative, sterile collection of inked images we've all seen somewhere before

Skip this edition in favor of something from Aperture's press.

This book covers a big gamma of nude photography from old to new and from b&w to color. It is not specific in it nature, except for the nudity. If your are looking for a book that cover every topic of nude photography, this is for you. If you are refined to a specific type of photography, pass on this one.

A superb selection of light sculpted nude images from some of the world's best photographers. A must for a quality collection.

Herb Ritts, in Men/Women, 1989, enthralled us with images of women against a stark white wall -- women whose skin Ritts rendered profoundly dark regardless of race. Dennis Manarchy did some amazing pictures in 1990-1991 of a wonderfully muscular black man dressed only in a coat of baby oil, also against a pure white backdrop. Albert Watson, ca. 1989, gave us murky, sexy images of white women rendered so dark as to be indistinguishable from the gloom that enveloped them. Andreas Bitesnich synthesizes these and other similar influences in "Nudes", a series of pictures from about 1993-1998 in a luxuriously produced volume from Edition Stemmle. The images are mostly dark, very simple nudes, male and female, all rendered with very dark skin oiled in varying amounts from just a drop to slathered. The poses are from graceful modern dance with plenty of bulging muscle and extension, and all aloof personae. They are spectacularly beautiful and about as inviting as a pit bull. The pleasure here, for the most part, is a nearly abstract indulgence in sculptured nude humans.

this is an amazing book, if you love black and white photos. there'a a perfect light balance in every photo and a real dynamic erotic tension. wonderful!

I was so lucky to finally find this book, as all the bookstores I asked had already sold out. Andreas H. Bitesnich must really be the undisputed master of black & white nude photography. This large-format book contains his work through the last decade, and is from start to finish an ode to the human form. Bitesnich avoids all use of props and styling to create mood. Instead he creates human sculputres, using the form itself, and his wonderful sense of lightning. His nudes are highly charged and sexual without borrowing any clichés. Even the most abstract retain this quality through the gorgeous textrues of skin, simultaneously soft and vulnerable, hard and unobtainable. It is precisely with these contrasts that Bitesnich comes into his own. Simply Beautiful!

This book does not really have many stories, it has lots of pictures! I think that the title is misleading.

And as some of his books, this book has lots of random pictures. Some are good, some are not. Quite a few are homoerotic. Among all the pictures, there are about two male frontal nudities.

This is just like a typical abercrombie and fitch magazine, and it has stories instead of clothes that they want to sell to you.

Having seen the Branded Youth exhibition a few years ago in England, I rushed out to buy this book. There are so many different subjects photographed - it's not one type of photo. Sure, many are portraits, but they are of varied people of groups of people ie. wrestling, boy scouts, celebrities, the "branded youth" boys, so Weber demonstrates his talents in documenting life in today's world.

Black & white and a few color plates covering a broad range of material, from hollywood celebs to midwest farmers, from Soweto township to the youth of Vietnam, from a montage of clips from Court TV to Weber's trademark look at the All-American boy. Don't miss this one.

Unfortunately, I can't write a detailed review...I returned the magazine shortly after ordering it. I just recall being overly disappointed with it.

This is not a "social history" of mid-20th century nudist magazines, but is instead a sampler: the book contains reprints of actual articles that appeared in the various magazines of this type. Strange as it may seem to anyone under 40, there was a time when photos of full frontal nudity were equated with the vilest pornography. For the first 15 years or so of its existence (until about 1970), neither Playboy magazine nor any of its imitators printed photos containing visible pubic hair. Though never attaining the social acceptability of National Geographic (or even coming close), the nudist magazines of this era filled much the same niche: providing male readers with photos of nude females in a non-sexual, non-pornographic context, that, for the most part, successfully thwarted the efforts of vice squads and the plethora of self-appointed censors.

Generally, these magazines accurately portrayed nudist life. Again, the under-40 crowd may not be aware that traditional nudist/naturist establishments were NOT similar to the clothing-optional resorts which abound now, which in many cases are little more than "swingers' clubs." Rather, they were (and are) self-styled health resorts where overt sexuality was forbidden.

On the other hand, the magazines understandably were designed more to promote the lifestyle then to portray it accurately. "Exhibit A" in support of my statement has to be the preponderance of females in the photos. Those who have engaged in any sort of "clothing optional" activity are aware that males constitute about 55-60% of the participants (while in the Bible Belt and other less-enlightened areas, the disparity is even higher). Yet, the overwhelming number of photos in these magazines are of women, typically under 40. There are of course photos of nude men, though typically depicted with women---often the men being in the background. But, understandable, since the target audience was heterosexual men.

But, every era has its witches to hunt---and to burn---and our "enlightened" era is no different. Let the buyer beware: this book contains photos of nude children. The same under-40 crowd should know that in years past, it was not considered shocking for pre-pubescent children (especially boys) to be nude in a family context, in full view of adults and older siblings. Pictures taken with the family Brownie camera of the kids skinny-dipping could be taken to the local drugstore for developing with little fear even of a negative comment. Nowadays, dad would be arrested as a pedophile! Obviously, the photos of nude teens and pre-teens were published at the time to further illustrate the "family" aspect of nudism. Pedophilia was the furthest from the publishers' minds. But, times change.

It was the changing times that caused their demise. With the advent of commercially-available pornographic magazines and movies in the 1970s, there was no longer a market for these magazines. Too bad.

This is not a "social history" of mid-20th century nudist magazines, but is instead a sampler: the book contains reprints of actual articles that appeared in the various magazines of this type. Strange as it may seem to anyone under 40, there was a time when photos of full frontal nudity were equated with the vilest pornography. For the first 15 years or so of its existence (until about 1970), neither Playboy magazine nor any of its imitators printed photos containing visible pubic hair. Though never attaining the social acceptability of National Geographic (or even coming close), the nudist magazines of this era filled much the same niche: providing male readers with photos of nude females in a non-sexual, non-pornographic context, that, for the most part, successfully thwarted the efforts of vice squads and the plethora of self-appointed censors.

Generally, these magazines accurately portrayed nudist life. Again, the under-40 crowd may not be aware that traditional nudist/naturist establishments were NOT similar to the clothing-optional resorts which abound now, which in many cases are little more than "swingers' clubs." Rather, they were (and are) self-styled health resorts where overt sexuality was forbidden.

On the other hand, the magazines understandably were designed more to promote the lifestyle than to portray it accurately. "Exhibit A" in support of my statement has to be the preponderance of females in the photos. Those who have engaged in any sort of "clothing optional" activity are aware that males constitute about 55-60% of the participants (while in the Bible Belt and other less-enlightened areas, the disparity is even higher). Yet, the overwhelming number of photos in these magazines are of women, typically under 40. There are of course photos of nude men, though typically depicted with women---often the men being in the background. But, understandable, since the target audience was heterosexual men.

But, every era has its witches to hunt---and to burn---and our "enlightened" era is no different. Let the buyer beware: this book contains photos of nude children. The same under-40 crowd should know that in years past, it was not considered shocking for pre-pubescent children (especially boys) to be nude in a family context, in full view of adults and older siblings. Pictures taken with the family Brownie camera of the kids skinny-dipping could be brought to the local drugstore for developing with little fear even of a negative comment. Nowadays, dad would be arrested as a pedophile! Obviously, the photos of nude teens and pre-teens were published at the time to further illustrate the "family" aspect of nudism. Pedophilia was the furthest from the publishers' minds. But, times change.

It was the changing times that caused their demise. With the advent of commercially-available pornographic magazines and movies in the 1970s, there was to no longer a market for these magazines. Too bad.

Photographs of the abandoned America seem very appropriate for the world's leading throwaway society and whereas photographers elsewhere might concentrate on abandoned historical ruins it does seem that many American photographers seek out the discarded that is just left and forgotten. Maybe this is because there is so much of it around, and in a huge country it seems all too easy to walk away from a building, a vehicle, a sign that has become redundant. To remove it becomes someone else's problem but before that happens a lot of photographers can show their creativity by capturing it on film.

Steve Gottlieb has travelled the country looking for, as the chapters show, houses and barns, factories and equipment, vehicles, signs and facades and finally a kaleidoscope of odds and ends. Another reviewer has mentioned the color and this is what I noticed first, it is very garish and uneven and there are very few true blacks anywhere. The technical notes mention that the images have been color corrected where needed and although the plates are printed in a very fine screen (over 200 dpi I think) the lack of solid blacks give most of the photos a pastel feel and detracts from the raw grittiness of the subject.

It is also a book of unfortunate technical contrasts, page twelve shows an old wooden house surrounded by bright (color corrected?) green trees making the photo look rather artificial yet turn over the page and there is a stunning black and white (using the four color black printing process) photo of three abandoned houses with a dead tree in the middle of the composition. Page 136 shows a deserted amusement park with very washed out color, over the page a super image of an abandoned hospital in New York with Manhattan in the background looking just like someone has made a collage of various skyscrapers and created a city skyline.

It is the uneven color that spoils the book for me. I have some books that cover the (almost) same subject better and they are in black and white, this seems much more appropriate for this material, 'Meadowlands' by Ray Mortenson, covering the industrial landscape of New Jersey, 'The Hand of Man on America' by David Plowden and 'Dead Tech' with photos by Manfred Hamm. This is a quite extraordinary book of photos (and text) of abandoned technology in Europe and America. For very controlled color work have a look at 'The Democratic Forest' by William Eggleston and 'Written in the West' by film director Wim Wenders, photos of abandoned bric-a-brac from southewest USA.

I won't bother to describe the nature of this book, the other reviews take care of that. So I'll just give my opinion. I've always been interested in photography of abandoned or damaged objects, and was drawn to this book and very satisfied with the results. Yes, Gottlieb is a good technician, using the rule of thirds, pumping up the color a bit here and there, and (admittedly) doing a little Photoshopping to remove unwanted objects. He's a pro, and that's what they do. He's not just documenting these things for posterity, he's trying to create memorable images with them as well, and mostly succeeds. I also have some minor quibbles with his occasional choice of fisheye lenses and deliberately placing his shadow in a picture, but for the most part, he impressed me with his style and keen eye. The photos made me want to quit my job and travel around the country, looking for similar places off the beaten path.

I really appreciated the vibrant colors and the generally high production values of the photographs in this beautiful book. Typically, photographs of abandoned, worn out and discarded items are done in a style that highlights the "used up" aspect of the subject. Most of the photographs in Abandoned America, on the other hand, give their subjects one last opportunity to "shine" in the conventional sense; to, perhaps, get one last chance at life.

If you came here looking for something erotic, look elsewhere. Amazingly, Veronique Vial takes an inherently sexy idea and manages to neuter it. And I don't think it shows undue prurient interest on my part to have expected something sexy from these photographs of (sometimes) gorgeous men going about their morning business. We get them looking tired, cranky, disheveled and ponderous, but not sexy. We get them making coffee and brushing their teeth and eating their eggs, but damnit, we don't get them sexy. We even get some of them still in bed and awaking from sleep, but ... well, you guessed it. (True--one of Dial's subjects greeted her at the door nude and with a full erection; the ensuing shot of him in bed -- presumably still aroused -- with a comforter covering his excitement is one of this book's tackiest, most gratuitous entries. The photographer thinks it's "funny now.")

So even if I'm a victim of my own salacious expectations, a better title for this book would have been "Fully Clothed Men Eating Their Breakfast With Wet Hair" or "Middle-Aged and Old Men in Their Bathrobes and Boxers Jonesing for Coffee." A celebration of the male body this is not. One gets the sense that the subjects -- young and older -- would have been willing to play, willing to expose more of themselves both spiritually and corporeally, but that there was an overall failure of nerve on the photographer's part. One gets the sense that she is the prude, not her subjects. And that prudishness or reserve or de-eroticization is all that comes through in the finished work. It's like you're looking for something that should be there and just isn't.

The book is more reminiscent of a Life magazine photo essay than anything by Bruce Weber -- and that's a major deficit for this subject matter. Maybe a male photographer -- straight or gay -- would have been more up to the task. That these women -- who had access to Brendan Fraser and Edward Burns with their guards down -- could so botch the job is a real shame.

Editorially, the book's a disaster. Pam Houston, who wrote the Introduction, gives a me-centric account of her own involvement in the project -- as if anyone cares. Whoever wrote the text accompanying the photos expresses awe when anyone -- including Frenchmen! -- speak to her in "perfect French." The subjects are described one too many times as being "warm." Unknown artists or movie producers or even gardeners are barely identified along with famous movie stars and aged potentates like Bill Blass and Robert Altman.

All in all, a technically accomplished waste that I myself probably won't even flip through again. Do I sound bitter? I am. I feel cheated.

I bought this book looking for more of the wisdom I had found in other Pam Houston novels, accompanied with pictures. Instead, I found a wonderfully pretty book of black and white photos of men, with a little narritive to accompany them. The men in these pictures are mostly people who I haven't heard of: not-yet-famous actors, designers, etc. The few "famous" men are indeed charming in their morning faces. The photographs are well done and very candid. However...

I wanted words. I wanted text. In this book I enjoyed very much what amounted to a short story by Houston and the dialogue between Houston and Vial. I also enjoyed the asides by Vial in describing the situations in which she phographed some of the men. It was typical Houston storytelling and candid thoughts by Vial.

In short, this pictorial is a very good coffee table book. It is beautiful. However, if you are searching for another "Cowboys Are My Weakness" you should look to something by Melissa Banks or another Houston novel. The pictures are very good, but how long can you observe another disheveled man?

These are wonderful pictures taken by a French female photographer of famous men before 10 am in the morning. These are not just actors but men famous for other reasons as well. She doesn't date the pictures and I believe some of them are from quite a few years back but that is not a detraction. Some of the men are wide awake and already working but many are not. They are all informal, to say the least! I don't like the companion book, Women Before Ten A.M., nearly as well but a man might prefer that one. The binding on this large paperback hasn't held up well but, even knowing that, I would still get it for the contents.