AltWeeklies Wire
Revisiting W. Eugene Smith's Obsessive Archives from a Swinging Placenew
In the late '50s, world-famous (and drug-addicted) photographer W. Eugene Smith retreats to a Manhattan building at the artsy intersection of high-life and low-life, a building of artists' and musicians' lofts. Over eight years he shoots something like 1,500 rolls of film and records 1,700 reels of tape. A fascinating sampling of photos and tape transcripts is now available.
Metro Times |
W. Kim Heron |
11-25-2009 |
Books
The Romance of Decay in Photosnew
Cheer up and don't let this dust-to-dust business slow you down. That's something to keep in mind when confronting the work of Jerry Berndt and Eugene Richards, two photographers with Boston ties adept at making art from what a lot of people consider ugly, untouchable things.
Boston Phoenix |
Clif Garboden |
03-05-2009 |
Nonfiction
Two Photography Books Remember Punk's Growth Spurtsnew
Punk may roll a little in its grave now that it's been mythologized, but if it's going to get the coffee table treatment at least Skins & Punks and Radio Silence: A Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music offer it respect.
Baltimore City Paper |
Tony Ware |
12-30-2008 |
Nonfiction
Annie Leibovitz Has Learned to See the Forest for the Treesnew
Annie Leibovitz at Work takes a different route than its shiny coffee-table counterparts, digging deep and dropping knowledge.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Natalie Hope McDonald |
12-09-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'The Oxford Project' Uses Photography as a Kind of Time Machinenew
Ultimately, The Oxford Project is an homage to Americana, a photographic record of small-town America and the story of intertwined lives. It is about history, personal and collective, and that ubiquitous force: change. This book, like the facets of human features, is so intriguing, it is nearly impossible to put down.
San Antonio Current |
Lyle Rosdahl |
11-13-2008 |
Nonfiction
'Bordertown' Depicts True Life and History on the Mexican Bordernew
With Bordertown, Gusky and Johnson intend to provide a historical and cultural narrative that seems to be missing from contemporary conflicts.
Dallas Observer |
Megan Feldman |
10-20-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Unzipping the Mysteries of 'The Big Penis Book'new
Edited by Dian Hanson, the oversized, flesh-colored tome is a treasure trove of every big dick that ever worked the streets of smut, porn or anything that called for the services of someone with an unnatural growth between their legs.
Willamette Week |
Byron Beck |
10-01-2008 |
Original Work
Kip Fulbeck's New Book Tells Us All About the Writing on the Skinnew
His new book, Permanence, shows photographs of 115 people with tattoos, each photo paired with the person’s handwritten statement.
San Diego CityBeat |
Barbara Davenport |
08-13-2008 |
Nonfiction
'Life' Photographer Bill Eppridge Remembers the Bobby Kennedy Campaignnew
"My job was to see, not to hear," writes Eppridge in his recently released coffee-table book A Time It Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties, a crisp, informative collection of magnificent color and black-and-white photographs of perhaps one of the most exciting presidential campaigns in American history, up to this most recent season.
Baltimore City Paper |
Blaine Taylor |
07-29-2008 |
Nonfiction
Photographer Peter Beste on Black Metalnew
Partly for his love of metal and partly because he's fascinated by the violent history and extreme nature of the Norwegian black metal scene, Beste spent close to seven years hopping back and forth to Norway in order to shoot some of the scene's most influential and interesting personalities.
NOW Magazine |
Evan Davies |
06-23-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Looking for 400 Photos of Supersized Stiffies?new
The Big Penis Book, the follow-up to Taschen's 2006 hit The Big Book of Breasts, also edited by Dian Hanson, and boasts more than 400 photos of some startlingly major tent poles, including rare pics of "the 13-and-only" John Holmes.
Orlando Weekly |
Liz Langley |
06-12-2008 |
Nonfiction
Photo Tome Sheds Light on a Dark Scenenew
Photographer Peter Beste has compiled seven years of capturing fake blood and real shit, inverted crosses and mixed messages that reveal Norwegian black metal bands to be the Ramones of death metal: simple and conceptual, an expression of acceptance and rejection, cartoonish and dead serious.
Metro Times |
Tony Ware |
06-10-2008 |
Nonfiction
Christopher LaMarca's Camera Captures the Standoff Over Old-growth Forestsnew
Armed with only his Hasselblad camera, LaMarca followed the protesters as they set up roadblocks on logging roads and bridges and held continual "tree sits" to stop the Biscuit timber sale.
Willamette Week |
Joseph Watts |
05-28-2008 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
'Crossing the Waters' Offers a Peek into the Afro-Cuban Religionnew
The book's charismatic protagonist is Santiago Castaneda Vera, a spiritual practitioner who "works" the spirits of the dead and whose sacred oricha is Yemaya, the mother of the waters.
INDY Week |
Sylvia Pfeiffenberger |
04-10-2008 |
Nonfiction
Hail Maria, Full of Greasenew
Orange County Housecleaners tells the stories of Southern California maids.
OC Weekly |
Gustavo Arellano |
06-16-2006 |
Nonfiction
