Customer Reviews

Any Objections?

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Testino's photographs combine sexuality and whimsy in blatant and subtle ways. The more you look at the photographs and their titles, the more you are aware of his slyness and ambisexuality. As he roams the world, he finds amusement in this sexuality, and captures it with a wily smile.

In fashion photographer Mario Testino's first published book of photographs (1999) he shows over and over that he has a wicked sense of humor, a priceless asset for anyone and certainly for a photographer. Who else would shot an aroused elephant ("Jumbo")? Or Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss seated facing each other on toilet seats? (One of these women is buck naked but you'll have to purchase the book to see which one.) There is also a series of four photos that are entitled "Roving Fingers." Check out what I call the mad-hatter carrying a sign that reads "Gays in the Millinery." There is lots of skin here since several of the photographs are of scantily clad folks at the beach in Rio de Janiero. Many of these images are far more erotic than the much posed models currently published in so many photography books. (I would put the photo entitled "Dreamer" in this category.) Many of the people are so real that you can almost smell them. the two-page foldout of a painter in Lima ("Exhibitionist") comes to mind. There is much cleavage, both fore and aft and just as many crotch shots as well.



A word about the layout: there are several pages that fold out with photographs that mirror each other. Although the pages are not numbered, the photographs are reproduced in smaller size in the back of the book, complete with titles and the places where they were shot: Rio de Janiero, Paris, Naples, Moscow, Miami, New York, Moscow, etc.



Almost everyone in this hooty volume appears to be having a good time. You will too if you pick up this book that several books published later imitate but do not surpass.

This book was a disappointment, and I felt the purchase was money wasted. There was no wit, no humor and precious little eroticism. What it does have in abundance are images of uninteresting and (mostly) ugly people. Only the photo of Elton John and David Furnish giddily jumping on a bed shows any idea that the photographer was having fun. Hey Amazon, can I have my money back? You're welcome to this book.

If the title of the book is begging for an answer, the most obvious objection would be that the photographs are at best mediocre, but typically poor. The photos are poorly composed, poorly exposed, and poorly lit. A less obvious objection is to the attempt to pass off poor photography as art.

i must admit that i was expecting the Mario's work in fashion like the gucci campaign or some editorials,but im pleased to see an natural expression with a touch of sexiness and a lot of humor that makes this man one of the best fashion photographer, who with a differenet point of view changes our perspective to see the world.Also im pleased because he's peruvian like me and means a real inspiration of hard work and creativity.no Mario i don't have any objections.

As expected, the shots are warm, sexy, exuberant and posh. Not to speak the graphic elements of balance, proportion, light, colours, volume, curves and all the subtle and at the same time drastic-fantastic looks of Mario Testino.

The Art is spectacular, but the book could be a little bit more noble to reach the majesty of the images.

O.K. so I'm not a photographer. I've no expertise to offer save as one who likes photographs. This having been said, this book is so much fun! I love it! What others may have justly criticized as poor lighting, poor composition, or poor exposure, has, for me, an entirely different effect--I'm left feeling as if I were present, drinking it all in, flowing with the chaotic, glamorous moment, of sometimes beautiful people in their not necessarily beautiful lives. The characteristics which others find a detraction make it, for me, a lived experience--which is not to say that the people become more likeable but they at least become more understandable.

Mario has a way of making you feel like -- GOD I WISH I WAS THERE in this book ... if you like him you'll love this book

I enjoyed the book. To me it seemed very refreshing and colorful. the settings were and subjects were very intresting and captured with the soul of the artist. I have been waiting for Mario Testino to publish his work in a book. He now has and I am very pleased with the results.

If you're expecting to see some of the great photographs that Testino takes for the major fashion magazines, you're in for a disappointment. This is the kind of photography book that makes you think 'I could do that', and you probably could, except perhaps a little more interestingly. This book has been hyped and it doesn't, in my opinion, deserve it. The most disappointing photography book I have bought in some time.