Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/03/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 30 Mar 2006 at 9:51, B. D. Colen wrote: > I know that's why he did it; I just happen to think that it was a mistake. > That collection of photos would have a physical presence, and be hard to > look at, if they were 4x6s. I think this was a case of Nachtwey - for whom > I > have the greatest respect - succumbing to the the belief of many > photographers that "if it's not good enough if it's not big enough." ;-) I don't think it was so much about the size of the PICTURES. (About which I agree with you, the size doesn't matter; his contacts are probably hard to look at for long...) I think it's more about making the book itself attention-getting... because it doesn't matter HOW strong the images inside the book are if no one ever opens the cover. And that huge stark TOME of a book... closed, sitting on the shelf with a coterie of other books around it, most of them of conventional size and much more colorfully/attractively clad... by itself it dominates the entire shelf, visually. You can make the decision to ignore it, or to look elsewhere, but it's the one book there that demands you at least NOTICE it. It works, too. I've seen it happen any number of times. I'll have visitors over and if I step out of the front room for some reason, if I stay gone for more than a couple of minutes (say I'm making a print for them or checking on dinner or changing clothes) when I come back, guess which book they've got off the shelf paging through? I don't think the size is a statement about the quality of the photographs, I think it's a statement about the importance the people who put it out attach to the subject. (BTW, for anyone interested there's a copy of Nachtwey's STERN portfolio on the auction site for another few days; it's also well worth looking at and a great deal lighter in weight...) -- R. Clayton McKee http://www.rcmckee.com Photojournalist rcmckee@rcmckee.com P O Box 571900 voice/fax 713/783-3502 Houston, TX 77257-1900 cell phone # on request