Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/03/24

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Books recommendation
From: "Kam" <kamm@netvigator.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 11:21:25 +0800

Hi, yesterday I discovered a great book at Page One Bookstore in Causeway
Bay, Hong Kong.  The title of it is: "The Photos of the Century : 100
Historic Moments".  I am sure you are already familiar with many of the
pictures - migrant mother, Mexico by HCB, Robert Capa's militiaman, the
defiant head of Che Guevara any many more.  The prints are large and in very
good quality.  Apart from the photos, there is more.  Every picture is
accompanied by a brief description of the photographer (not so brief in some
cases, HCB got 2 pages) and the story behind the story.  There are also
interviews of the people who were there when the photo was taken (the
Vietnamese girl, for an instance).  The price is amazingly inexpensive, just
HK$99.5 (about US$13, less than HK$1.00 for a photo!).  Someone must have
done something wrong in fixing the price.  The Amazon link is
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/3822865125/qid%3D953953413/002-174533
0-6241820

There was another book that I found... what should I say ... compelling,
interesting, confusing...  The title is Mein Kampf by David Levinthal.
Don't confuse it with the book by Hitler.  This one is a collection of
pictures of toy soldiers.  The photos are not photojournalistic at all but
they carry a very strong impact.  I had to hold my breath when looking at
some of the photos.  I took it down, put it back, took it down again but
finally did not buy it.  The price was no doubt a factor but the main reason
was that the work gave me an unpleasant feeling, sort of the same feeling
that I had when visiting Dachau (site of a concentration camp, near Munich)
some years ago.  Has anyone finished the book?  What is your view?

Have a nice weekend.

Regards,
Kam
Hong Kong.