Documentary-Collection Books

Light in the Dark Room: Photography and Loss by Jay Prosser (University of Minnesota Press) (Hardcover) Photographs are not conduits for the return of memory, but memento mori: reminders of the fact of death itself. And in this, Jay Prosser tells us, we find the gift of photography.
Engaging the photographic reflections of figures as different as Roland Barthes and Claude Lévi-Strauss, Gordon Parks and Elizabeth Bishop, Light in the Dark Room offers a vision of photography as real¬ization of loss-and a revelation of how photographs can shed light on the dark rooms of our lives. The grief this book recalls is poignant yet universal: a son loses his mother; an anthropologist, his culture; a photographer, his youth; a poet, her lover. Among these losses and the remarkable photographs that accompany them, Prosser weaves his own meditations on photography, on the interdependence of loss and enlightenment, on the emergence of our technologized society-and the world we have lost in the process.
Excerpt: We treat photographs as if they had a kind of presence. Photography is the commonest way for us to record our own and our loved ones' lives. And we arrange photographs in our rooms of our beloved, often because they cannot be with us there-often (and eventually) because they are dead. Photography is the medium in which we unconsciously encounter the dead. Yet herein lies photography's hidden truth. Photographs are not signs of presence but evidence of absence. Or rather the presence of a photo-graph indicates its subject's absence. Photographs contain a realization of loss. This book on photography enters into that loss."

The wonderful pictures brought back great memories of Morocco. Great price, great transaction, quick shipping

This blends armchair travel with social examination as author Prior provides a photographic documentation of 15 of the world' most individual tribes and ethic groups. This offers more visuals than most, providing close-ups of the people and their culture and offering insights into how tourism has changed some local customs and habits - and economics. The beautiful color photos make this an engaging title for both students of ethnic cultures and more casual browsers.

This review is unique for me, in that it is possible that this review may have more words than the book I'm describing. Not surprising, really, given that this is a book of photographs. London Yesterday is a great collection of photographs showing life in London during the 1920s and 1930s.

During this time, London was still the centre of the empire upon which the sun never set; World War II was not really even a looming prospect, and while there were cracks in the edifice, London still displayed the centuries-old confidence of the ruler of the waves and impregnable power of a world capital. This was also a period of advancing technology and glorious construction not always peacefully coexisting with traditional ways and ancient monuments.

One thing is certain in the photographs - London was a busy place.

'London brought people and goods together from every corner of the earth, and fostered a worldly generosity that was visibly most predominant in its architecture and urban planning. In contrast to its cosmopolitan character, however, London had another side - the resolute world of native Londoners whose close knit circles were virtually impossible to penetrate.'

The photographs contained in this book are not `artistic' photographs, in that none of them were taken by photographers who were looking to make an artistic statement. These are primary press photographs and personal photographs. These are not `constructed' or posed, but rather candid. However, this is not to say that there is no artistic merit - 70 years after this period, the aesthetic character of the photographs is such that they are interesting, stimulating, and have meaning beyond their original photographers' intentions.

'Press photographers have always been aware of how important a strong visual impact is for the printed page. Most know through experience that the most unusual subject is worthless if it is inadequately or unconvincingly portrayed. Conversely, a perfect photographic execution can turn a banal, everyday subject into a work of art.'

The photos begin with an early glimpse of Fleet Street, looking up toward St. Paul's Cathedral. In this one sees ancient and modern, from the seventeenth century dome of the cathedral to the twentieth century storefronts; Advertising placards and storesigns advertise everything from rooms to let to 1,10 & 14 year old whisky. The street is a combination of trucks, early automobiles, double-decker buses, and horse-drawn delivery carts.

The splendour of London architecture, from the then-relatively-new Parliament building, to the bridges, to the churches, to palaces and elegant streets are highlighted in interesting and unusual angles. The congestion of London streets around these great structures parallels the congestion in the river of barges, tug-boats, smaller crafts and docks on the river Thames.

During this period of photographs, construction was widespread. There are photos of the foundations and various phases of Waterloo bridge, Lambeth Bridge, County Hall, Piccadilly Circus Underground Station and the BBC Radio building. Also during this period, some of the first aerial photographs were taken of London, and many of these are included. In 1931, the International Illumination Congress was held in London, celebrating the proliferation of electric lighting - for the first time, historic buildings such as Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace were illuminated at night, and this illumination continues to the delight of Londoners and tourists alike.

The photograph of a `traffic jam' in Ludgate Circus, with its 20 fairly wide-spaced vehicles looks like a gentle movement of traffic in comparison to traffic jams today. On the other hand, the large throng of people at Petticoat Lane Market a few days before Christmas 1936 is reminiscent of the crush of people at Harrods or any of the major shopping streets today - the crowd is so large that the street has been closed off to traffic in this view.

Perhaps the best photograph of this collection is the one of a herd of pigs crossing Camden Road on their way to market. A stoic London bobby holds his hands up for traffic as he would for any passing vehicle, and the pigs, a few dozen of them, pass in from of what would now be antique cars and crossing the bricked streets with streetcar rails. Nice row houses in the background are obscured by a light mist.

Concluding with a photo of the coronation procession in 1937, George VI's coronation inaugurated a very changed Britain. Little did anyone know what changes would occur in the next decade, that would change everything in London, and in the world, for ever. The last glimpse of imperial confidence in what may be the greatest imperial pageant shows the light that we now know was flickering and dimming. It is a bittersweet recollection to look back. It is a wonderful thing to see.

Organized by the American Federation of the Arts, Lorna Simpson is a 20-year gallery and retrospective of contemporary artist Lorna Simpson's photographic and text works. Unafraid to delve into themes of race, sexuality, and loss, Simpson's striking imagery of the human figure, often cropped, speaks directly to the viewer. Black-and- white and color photographs give the reader the next best thing to a tour of a gallery of Simpson's art, and the brief text passages include commentary on Simpson's creations and a conversation with the artist. Lorna Simpson is an excellent contribution to personal, academic, and community library photographic and artbook collections.

An excellent photographic history of fire apparatus that served The Los Angeles City Fire Department from 1953 to 1999.Chuck Madderom has done a great job in photographing some of LA City's most memorable pieces of equipment. The photos are clear and the captions concise. It would be a great addition to any fire buff's bookshelf. Especially those with a sincere interest in fire apparatus from the City of Angels.

This book not only met my expectations, but exceeded them. The author took me to places i will never get to see, as well as provide me amazing pictures of these sites for my artistic reference library. as well as explaining about the sites themselves. Most saddeinig is the state of dissrepair of these historical sites, and the lack of funding to keep them up.

This book held many a haunting image, weither you buy this to learn about architecture of a past Russian time, or photographic reference, or the state of these amazing landmarks fallen into disrepair... or if you have an explorer's streak within.. you will not be dissapointed. Worth every penny.

Mere verbal accounts simply do not hold the impact of photographs in visualizing the changes that time wroughts upon the creations of men. "Lost Waterfront: The Decline And Rebirth Of Manhattan's Western Shore" is an 80-page catalog of full-color photographs taken by Shelley Seccombe between 1972 and 1982 that showcase what a decade has seen transpire among the buildings and shorelines of Manhattan's Hudson River shoreline. The transformation from a booming commercial trade, to its decline, to the reclamation of a devastated area as an impressive and valued public space as a waterfront esplanade with four miles of renovated piers and grassy upland areas is a visual tour-de-force that not only serves as a memorial to what has been accomplished, but also as a template that other similarly blighted areas of other cities can accomplish. "Lost Waterfront" is highly recommended and ultimately inspirational reading.

This book is really a visual poetry on New York, mostly working with areas on or near the Hudson river. I am partial in looking at this book as I know the area well and have also experienced a lot of the incredible early evening light along the Manhattan's West border. And the character of the Hudson fjord/river, retaining a rich history of maritime and urbanity, dissappearing under redevelopment schemes of various qualities.
The book is divided into several sections under their own heading. Each of these would be sufficient for a smaller photgraphy exhibition. I particularly like Blood moon and the distorted electric instrument like works.
There are also dark images, as if the twilight moment so strong at the river makes objects and spaces barely visible. The dark is an interesting photographic subject.
I also like the chapter with this beautiful title:

Sunrise Sunset
Don't you ever go to rest
The moon forever circling
A ring on the finger of a God.

It starts relating words with the images and gets away from the plain photographic imagery.
There is a side in his photograpic works where things are looked at intently, up close, experiences from a possibly shaky hand, overlays, interpretations and experimenting with the medium.
This is not your normal photographers book, it contains the works of a word-man.
Anyway, from this book I get the sense that Manhattan is the center of Lou's universe, in a larger cosmic sense to a plain almost in your face reality check.
There are a number of references in this book worthy of some discussion, I'll only mention here the Empire State building at the end. I read it as a subtle recognition of Drella's old movie. New York is rich in history and Lou's images contain more than meets the eye. Not knowing what to expect I have to say this book was surprising to me, the quality and thought and effort to experiment.


(I bought my copy at his exhibition opening. It has a kind of a fabric cover. I don't know if the edition sold here is exactly the same format.)

Madagascar is bigger than Texas. This fourth biggest island in the world, also known as the "Eighth Continent", is located 200 miles off Southeast Africa. It's as remote from the United States as you can get.

In an absolutely scintillating, evocative photo essay, prominent wildlife and nature photographer Frans Lanting explores the essence of this little-known land. Lanting's four-color photographs, in large format, are almost surrealistic at times, ever exciting, and never repetitive. From the cover onward, the show chameleons, lemurs, bottle-shaped baobab trees, needlepoint karst landscapes, eroded fields, and matchless vistas in an unending procession of the strange, eerie, and beautiful. You will be amazed as each page turns to the next. An excellent written narrative compliments the effort well.

The title is double-edged for, as well as being a fascinating anachronism, Madagascar is running out of time in our generation. Human encroachment is rapidly destroying the habitat of numerous creatures found nowhere else. The Elephant Bird, Aepyornis, whose giant egg is being held in a man's arms in the book's cover photo is gone. So is the giant lemur. Others may soon go, as well. This was, and would be, an unspeakable tragedy.

So read the book and enjoy. Then see what you can do to save at least some of this fascinating paradise.

I rate this book very highly.