Customer Reviews

I Am Rich Potosi: The Mountain That Eats Men

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You can open to any page at random in I Am Rich Potosí and be struck dumb by how much life Ferry captures in the color and light of his pictures. But only by working through the whole extraordinary sequence of photographs -- as they take you through the mines, the town, the ritual life, the homes, and even the mortality of Potosí's miners - can you appreciate the intimacy with which Ferry approaches his subjects. His pictures manage to portray the depth of the miners' culture in Potosí and at the same time unsentimentally depict the grim social conditions which make Potosí "a giant monument to the conquest of the Americas." The result is a beautiful and terrifying book.

Miners live in a world that almost defies description, except by the miners themselves. And the Potosi miners live in an exceptional world in itself, because the altitude of Potosi and the consequent thinning of the atmosphere at that height confer mining work, and even merely being there, with a permanent feeling of irreality in all your actions and thoughts. And that is what Stephen Ferry's images have captured in this outstanding book, the work of a real adventurer of the printed image. And Galeano's text is a fitting companion to such singular and excellent photographic work.

First off, I had the opportunity to sit in on 3 of Mr. Ferry's Photographic lectures on Latin America, with one of them dealing with Potosi. At first sight of these photos I thougth they were good, but after he explained the particulars behind each and every picture, the book comes to life. It is now one of my favorite photographic books of all time. Eduardo Galeano fills in the historical aspect of the book and Ferry satiates the contemporary features of Potosi, Bolivia. In response to an earlier review(the only really negative review of Ferr'y book) I respect the fact that you are a native born Bolivian, but if you look at Latin American History as a whole, there really in not much that is good about it. I am sure there are small subtle lifestyles that are interesting, but people want to read and learn about historical mishaps and atrocities, such as the the colonial raping of Potosi and the current poverty of the same region.

Beautiful photographs and intriguing commentary capture the poignant story of Potosi, an ancient and fraught silver mine in Bolivia. It is truly a mine that eats the men who work it, the beauty of the photographs is surprising considering their content and the disturbing information they display. Mr. Ferry's interaction with the miners and their community lends insight into the people who give their lives to this mine. His journal entries and the historical introduction to the pictures are a good read.

I AM RICH POTOSI presents a stirring portrayal of a courageous, determined people. Stephen Ferry's work is a major contribution to understanding the colonization of the America's and the ongoing struggle of indigenous people's. The photographs and text capture Potosi's vibrant culture, and enormous historical significance. This is journalism at its best.

I thought Stephen Ferry's look at the miners in the context of the 500th year anniversary of the Spanish conquest was insightful. By looking at the effect the conquest had on this mountain's past and the current lives of the descendants as opposed to the usual anniversay scenes he summons a well balanced idea of cause and effect. He obviously has passion for this story and tenderness toward the conditions that yeild the people towards their daily work. Although this book is a general look at the people living there, the spirit of their sensiblity transcends with beautiful color and light in each photograph. The book is beutifully printed the quality is a superb 10.

Wonderful! This book which richly documents an unknown drama of history is one of the finest examples of using top quality photojournalism to enhance and enrich our knowledge of other cultures and events beyond the mundane. The photographer is one of the few who pushes himself beyond the common causing the reader to think and wonder how someone can see the world with such color and texture. I highly recommend it.

This is an beautiful book. It fulfills the promise of documentary photography by bringing us into intimate contact with people whose lives seem far removed from ours. As we look at these pictures, and read the text, we see how their history has been a central but forgotten part of ours. Remarkably, it accomplishes this without demeaning either its subjects through sentimentalizing them, or us, the readers through patronizing or ideologizing. These photographs, themselves richly interpretive, still invite the reader into interpretation.

I'll try to make a constructive critique as a Bolivian born and raised in Potosi. As some of the books published in the US, this book portrays foreign life styles with an "american" mentality that is narrow in concept visualization as a whole. Yes, those pictures show a very harsh reality among "mineros" in Potosi. However, the pictures do not show, in any form, the subtle aspects of their lives that make them really unique and respectable. The photographer would have to live a reasonable time with them to really understand the situation and I'm sure he would take pictures with a different approach. By the way, I'm also a photographer.

I got the book months ago and often look at it. I was a student at ICP in New York and had the great fortune to have Stephen Ferry as an instructor. I found it a very important topic captured in a beautiful way. I can recommend his book to everyone, especially for those who have travelled in this area.