[rollei_list] Re: BUY THESE BOOKS!! (and on-topic content)
- From: Sanders McNew <sanders@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:24:26 -0500
Marc, thank you for the compliments. I know the photographs
predominate but the written essays are integral to them -- I will
be curious to hear your further thoughts about the book once
you've had a chance to read it and to consider the portraits in
light of the essays.
I am hoping to find a proper publisher for it. In the meantime, I
have published a Blurb edition. If anyone wants to preview the
book online, or buy a copy, you can find it at
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/770769
[ALERT: on-topic content ahead!] I made all of the square portraits
in the book with Rolleiflexes. I made the close-ups with a Tele Rolleiflex,
using two Rolleinars in tandem (a standard Rolleinar I on top of a 0.35x
Tele Rolleinar) to focus closely. The others were shot through a 2.8C or
a 2.8E3. The Rolleiflex work accounts for about 2/3 of the portraits. The
remainder are in 5x7 and 4x5 large format, shot with a Sinar Norma.
I was unkind to Marc on the list last year. I've apologized to him offlist,
and Marc was gracious enough to accept the apology and to forgive
me. I'd like to apologize, also, to the list for having brought rancor to
it -- I regret that, very much, and I hope you all will forgive me as well.
Sanders
Marc James Small wrote:
I have, quite unexpectedly, but deservedly <he grins> been gifted two really
fine books recently from List members. I offered to pay for both but the
authors insisted on gifting me copies. I have often griped that I never get any
recompense for managing this List of argumentative misfits, but I will hold my
peace for a while: these books make quite a contribution to my understanding of
photography.
The first is Carlos Manuel Freaza's work on REGINALDO IGNACIO KRIEGER. "Pioneer
and Patriarch" it says. I can read Spanish, with some slowness -- my mind keeps
trying to rework every word into Late Latin and Old Celtic, I fear -- but the
book is just, well, fascinating. I have only read about a third of it, my
Spanish being as weak as it is, but the book itself includes a huge range of
photographs ranging over the past century and more. Buy this book just to enjoy
the photographs. Mark Rabiner is capable of speaking 27 languages, and so he
ought to produce a translation for the rest of us. Oh! I misunderstood: Mark
said he could not speak even English clearly, as we all know <he grins>
This is a serious book and I think that all of you ought to think seriously
about purchasing acopy. I am honored that my occasional opponent, Carlos, sent
me this work, and I promise to work my way through it, albeit the family
lineage issues are rather complex -- but none of you really want to know about
my own familiy.
Now, Carlos' work is a serious study of history. The other work is pure art.
This is Sanders McNew's DOUBLE EXPOSURES. This is a book of female nudes. Nudes
of all kinds and sorts and conditions. Almost all are just chest shots. I am
not a proper judge of photographic results: I know what I like, and I shoot and
print that and display it on my walls, but, I rarely go to photographic shows
or view offered photographs on the Web. So, I expected to meet this work with
thanks but some disdain. I was completely wrong. This is a really solid work. I
only received it late yesterday, and I have already leafed through the pictures
twice. They are stunning. I amespecially drawn to one series, but, then, all of
the pictures are excellent. As the Greeks noted,"even Aphrodite acknowledged
the beauty of the female form" and such is Sander's message. Wow!
(No, there are no shots of Senator Brown by Sanders, I fear. COSMO got that
exclusive on that one!)
I cannot say flatly that they all were shot with a Rolleiflex TLR, though the
shot of Sanders onthe back cover has him cradling such.
Buy both. Contact both guys to ask how to buy these books. If you are
cash-restricted, buy ... er, I cannot say. Both books changed my perception of
things, and that takes a lot: my perceptions were pretty well locked in when I
read the serial version of Heinlein's THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS in 1966.
Bear in mind that I do not go to photo expos and do not generally buy books of
photography. I know Capa and his cronies well only through the constant
pounding of List Member Mike Fletcher over two decades.
Marc
msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!
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