Monday, March 1, 2010

Photography Books

I received a mysterious package from my aunt and uncle in the mail Sunday afternoon. Photo Idea Index: Things was put together by Jim Krause. It's full of random, colorful pictures intended to inspire photographers who use standard digital equipment.1267507755109_d8f8c Krause, as far as I can tell, often disregards typical photography "rules." His pictures are fun and quirky. What immediately endeared my to the book were all his photos of junkyards. He shoots busted up lightbulbs and seems to have an immensely fun time doing it. If you know me, you'll admit that is definitely something I would do:)
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I really love this book. It's lying on my desk right now. I don't want to shut it!

Another photo art book I like is Boston's North End: Images and Recollections of an Italian-American neighborhood. 1267508241929_dc41bAuthor Anthony Riccio interviewed countless Italians who live[d] in the northern district of Boston. This section of the city is quickly changing as the elderly immigrants die and the hip, urban culture encroaches on this rustic locale. After walking down the streets past the aging brick flats I was struck by the thought that someday soon this little society will be gone.

Riccio's book reminds one of the work of KayLynn Deveney- a photographer from New Mexico who moved to Wales and happened to meet 85-year-old Albert Hastings. With Hastings' permission, Deveney began photographing his daily activities. Her portraits are mellow and unobstrusive.

Deveney also befriended Edith and Len, an elderly couple who resided in a Welsh nursing home together. She tactfully photographed the couple who had been married for 7o years and told their story one frame at a time.
"It was clear that I could not come into Edith and Len's small room and be a fly on the wall. Nor did I wish to be. Nine months after my first visit with Edith and Len we had thoroughly and knowingly blurred the line between a conventional photographer-subject relationship and a friendship," Deveney writes.
The photos of people in the aforementioned books really aren't that glamorous. But in the end they are the ones that are remembered.
Anyway, I find them interesting.

2 comments:

Samantha said...

OH how cool, i love looking at photo books :)

piper said...

I was here.
xoxoxoxoxo
Auntie