I've been after this book for a while so when I won some money on a Photo competition I didn't give a second thought about buying it. Despite other comments to the contrary, my copy arrived in perfect condition and it's only protection was a small amount of brown paper around the sides and top. It was despatched through Hermes not Royal Mail so maybe that helped. I also don't see any problems with the page binding. It's not a book you can really look at properly unless you've got a flat surface to put it on but the binding seems to be quite strong to me, so they've either improved this or people were trying to read it while riding a bike or something ;)
I haven't had a chance to properly look at the book content yet, but first impressions are that it's a marvellous, beautiful book that I'm sure I'll keep returning to. It will take pride of place in my bookcase, although perhaps on a lower shelf as it's HUGE!
UPDATE 29/10/2012
I've now had a chance to flip through the content so I thought I'd update the review. The quality of this book is astounding. Despite the fact it's full of beautiful big photos on quality paper (150gsm matt art) many of which you will have seen before if you're serious about photography, I am a little disappointed with the selection of some of them. Given that each photo is accompanied by a narrative about how it came about, in some cases I would have preferred to see other, and in my opinion better, photos by the same photographers. Although that's not to cast the selection with any negativity. They are all superb in their own way and there is a vast array of subjects throughout making it an incredibly interesting read.
I've seen other reviews mentioning that you will learn from this book and it will improve your photography, but what you will not learn is anything about equipment used or exposure settings and the like. This is not a "how to" guide to taking photos. What you will learn is whatever you as an individual take from it by combining the narrative with careful examination of the contact sheets and the selected photo. To give you an example, one section, 1976, is a photo entitled "The Teds" by Chris Steele-Perkins showing a Teddy Boy about to comb his hair. The contact sheet shows a series of 5 or 6 photos on the same roll with the Teddy Boy at various stages of carrying out this action. So why did the shot get selected? The photographer writes:
"The first frame is the one that grabs you immediately, as it's quite decisive [The teddy boy is actually combing his hair], but I preferred the later one because it's of that moment when something is about to happen, yet is suspended, unresolved in time and that injects a little tension into the image"
This was one of the first narratives I read, and for me it was like an epiphany! I would have selected the first one myself, but the photographer is right, I'd never considered that the moment of something about to happen is more powerful than the event taking place. If I get nothing else from this book I have at least learnt that one thing.
Another thing you will learn is that there such a thing as a "decisive moment", but often in order to find it you have to work a scene, approach it from different angles, take multiple shots and above all don't be afraid to make mistakes.
It's a fascinating book for anyone with an interest in Photography and one I know I'll keep returning too.
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Populäraste recensionerna från andra länder
Darren
Beautiful book arrived in perfect condition
Recenserad i Storbritannien den 27 oktober 2012Mark J Bradshaw
Amazing value paperback.
Recenserad i Storbritannien den 13 januari 2023
Katey
A glimpse into the mind of the photographers
Recenserad i Storbritannien den 7 oktober 2019Pawell
If you are interested in photography a must.
Recenserad i Storbritannien den 21 oktober 2019