Portraits

When I saw this book for the first time I fell in love with it, I just had to have it! I use this book to practice portrait drawing and it has just the perfect size for this.
The pictures are from all over the world and there are some truly inspiring ones amongst them!

To me it works just fine without much text and in this shape, but I could understand how that might not be for everyone. I also like the quality of it, but then again, I am not a photographer.

It's just your typical coffee table picture book, but in a handy size. His work is amazing and it is rare to find a book entirely devoted to close up portraits, which I really enjoy. Definitely a book I will always come back to and have never regretted buying!

4 for content, 1 for presentation! (14/14 people found this helpful)

As a huge fan of Steve McCurry's work, I feel its a real shame that this book cannot do him justice. Far too small, it is "pocket book" sized, and as such it impossible to get a proper look at the pictures. Twice the size and half the content with more narrative would have done him a lot more justice I feel. As such a small book, the photos are shamelessly cropped and resized to fit the little book, and this does them no justice. Although most of his finest are among this book, there are a lot of his more mediocre shots as well, providing this book with unnecessary filler, I feel. The book is small and flimsy, and because of the binding it is not possible to leave the book fully open on any particular page, which is a real shame. The book has the feel of a glorified postcard book rather than a coffee table art book.

Despite this, the book contains some of his his most beautiful works. These include, of course, the famous Afghan Girl who is our cover star, and a less famous but also very beautiful (if in a less haunting way) picture of her graces the back cover, one of her holding her garment over her mouth with her scared, striking eyes peering out over the top. Other personal favourites of mine include the boy from Bombay covered in red, with his dark eyes looking black as night, the old man from Kashmir with his hennaed beard, another little girl in Afghanistan, from Ghazni, and one or two portraits from his Monsoon collection. There are one or two in here which certainly dont fit the feel of this collection and are rather out of place, however all in all the content is good.

Unfortunately the book is so badly laid out that it really doesnt do its beautiful content justice. A little more thought put into this would have resulted in a much better book.

Portraits (5/5 people found this helpful)

The vast collection of photographs in this small format book is a very good value introduction to the breathtakingly beautiful photography of Steve McCurry, one of the World's best photographers of people.

McCurry takes photographs for National Geographic and is a member of the legendary Magnum photo agency (see some of the outstanding work of Magnum photographers in various books on or by the agency - the best is "In Our Time" by William Manchester - or on the individual members such as Cartier-Bresson). The cover shot is the famous one McCurry took in 1985 of a young Afgan girl with strikingly beautiful green eyes, which appeared on the cover of National Geographic and then became well known all over the World - except to the girl herself (whom McCurry managed to trace recently and learnt of the terrible hardship she had endured under the Taliban).

McCurry achieves highly saturated colour in the finished prints, either in the photographic (polarising filter?) or printing processes (die-transfer?), which produces amazingly vivid pictures as if shot in the magic golden light of sunset or dawn when the sun is low on the horizon. The subjects have a hauntingly vivid effect on the viewer, whether bright children or wrinkled old people, although the initial charm is sometimes offset by the squalor and poverty of their surroundings. It's a book to dip into, rather than work your way through in a single session, as the similar style of each shot becomes monotonous after a while. It's a pity there's no background information (other than a place and date) about how each shot came about or a little technical data on how each was taken (camera, film, settings etc) which interests all keen photographers among us. Still, it's great value and highly recommended (now have a look at "In Our Time"!)

Stunning (2/2 people found this helpful)

This book is amazing. Every new page captivates the viewer. The pictures speak for themselves. One to look at over and over again.

Portraits (3/4 people found this helpful)

An utterly stunning book. Steve McCurry's photography is vivid and thought-provoking, and although some reviews may make negative comments about lack of narrative, he is a photographer and not a writer. His pictures speak for themselves.
For those not familiar with his work, look him up on the internet, and I am sure you will end up buying one of his books.......

Steve McCurry

Reader Reviews:

Incredible collection of portraits from all over the world! (0/0 people found this helpful)

4 for content, 1 for presentation! (14/14 people found this helpful)

Portraits (5/5 people found this helpful)

Stunning (2/2 people found this helpful)

Portraits (3/4 people found this helpful)

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