> I agree. I used to have 'Looking at Photographs', but it disappeared > somewhere along the way. Since it's been reprinted I keep meaning to > buy it again, but have yet to do so.
Oh, man, don't miss it. I did a series of articles called "Building a Basic Photography Library" for the old _Camera & Darkroom_ magazine and I named this as the single book I'd want to have if I could have only one. Of his recent books, _A Maritime Album_ is fascinating if you like ships and the sea, and his _Atget_ is the best single-volume book to have on Atget. Wonderful book. The little mini-essays, a literary form of which Szarkowski is a master, are like little prose-poems. > He's not terribly well known, but his work is world class. I will > quote from the blurbs on his books: "Born in 1939, the son of Eric > Ravilious, the water-colourist and wood-engraver, and artist Tirzah > Garwood, Cool! Tirzah was the name of Ben-Hur's sister, I think. I grew up sailing a beautiful 29-foot wooden sloop named Tirzah. My great-grandfather bought it from General Lew Wallace, who wrote _Ben-Hur_. > James Ravilious first studied, and taught, painting in London > before taking up photography and moving to North Devon to work for the > Beaford Arts Centre. For the next 17 years he [...made...] his own > in-depth record of a rural tradition that is inevitably fading." > > This means he spent 17 years photographing in and around a small, > remote farming community in a forgotten backwater of England. The > photos are a soft, subtle and warm evocation of a life that was often > hard and grim. He used a Leica M3 with old uncoated threadmount > lenses, and shot contre-jour as much as he could because he liked the > soft tonal gradation it produces. He also monkeyed around with his > chemicals (compensating development, as per Ansel Adams. This is described > in 'An English Eye') to increase the effect. The results seem to me exactly > right for the subject. > > Many of the photographs are iconic in rather the same way that some of > say Brassai's Hungarian rural photographs are iconic: once you've seen > them it feels as though you've always know them. Alan Bennett > describes his work well: "the picture he presents is harsh, > unflinching and never picturesque. He photographs hard, ill-paid work, > work that has gnarled and twisted the bodies of those who had to do > it, and while it is Edward Thomas who is the poet quoted in the text, > it is the plain speaking of Thomas Hardy that they recall for me". > > I think this contrast between Edward Thomas and Thomas Hardy is > exactly right. Other people I've spoken to who know his work tend to > be rather fanatical about it! Sounds like something I would like. Thank you for the excellent introduction--I will definitely check him out. --Mike
