The End: Montauk, N.Y. [Hardcover]

Michael Dweck (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 2004

In the 1960s, the fishing village of Montauk became the surfer's paradise of the United States' East Coast. Located as the tip of Long Island's South Fork, the easternmost point of the Hamptons, this paradise existed primarily for locals - not surfers who migrated to the beach for the summer, but those who were out in the rocky reefs every day, year round. Today, a new tribe of surfers exists - a group of young locals who live by their own rules. Rule number 1: Never tell anyone where the good surf spots are. Rule number 2: See rule number 1. In the 1990s, photographer Michael Dweck rented a house on Ditch Plains beach (site of the best surf break) and struck up a friendship with one of the local surfers, eventually gaining uprecedented access to the insular local surf community. Dweck's photographic essay follows the surfers through their daily rituals, from early morning wave reports to evening bonfires on the beach, capturing their youthful hedonism. Through portraits, nudes, and photographs of the landscape, this book celebrates lives lived only to surf, and captures an endless summer of perfect weather and languorous beauty.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The dominant subject of this ode to Montauk’s surfer community is the cadre of surfer babes—so "beautiful and sexy and tribal," says Dweck in his intro—that apparently run the beaches topless. Playfully leaping, rolling in the sand or pouting on their beds sans their string bikini tops, they look like Victoria’s Secret models in training. If this attire, or lack of it, seems contrary to surfing, Dweck, who rented a house one summer at Ditch Plains beach expressly to infiltrate this hedonistic clan, rarely shoots anyone on a board. Nor does he choose to capture the quiet fishing village he hopes will remain unspoiled by the tourists who have overrun other Long Island spots like the Hamptons and Fire Island; instead, Montauk is reduced to a couple shots of fishermen and a beachside snack wagon. The rest is girls, girls, girls. B&w photos.
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About the Author

Michael Dweck grew up on Long Island. He earned his BFA from the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, where he studied photography and fine arts. He began his career in advertising, and received a Gold Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. Two of his long-form commercials are in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. His first solo photography exhibition was a Sotheby's, New York, in 2003. The End is his first book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; 2nd edition (May 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810950081
• ISBN-13: 978-0810950085
• Product Dimensions: 14.2 x 11.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #615,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Nature Travel > Adventure > Skiing

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The End: Montauk, N.Y., June 4, 2004

By 

John Sacco (Manhattan, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The End: Montauk, N.Y. (Hardcover)

Michael Dweck's The End is a successful first book. In it, the photographer tells, visually, of his love for Montauk - the most remote point of Long Island. Indeed, The End is far more closely akin to a graphical love ode to Montauk than to a piece of photojournalism; absent is the comprehensiveness one would associate with an exhaustive look at Montauk and in its place is repeated harping on what makes Montauk - in the author's words - like an edenic "lost world."

Throughout The End, pictures of Montauk - its personalities (mostly surfers) as well as its natural features (mostly beaches) - are juxtaposed with pictures of beautiful people, often against a background of Montauk, but quite frequently indoors; witness, for example, "Julian checking out the sets, 6 A.M., Ditch Plains," which faces a posed picture of "Lilla, Napeague." This practice is quite striking - initially it seems disorienting and out of place - but it ultimately proves an effective way of conveying the sexually-charged beauty that Dweck clearly finds evident in Montauk.

Dweck's photography is effective and moving, with frequent flashes of brilliance. At its best, The End evokes Toni Frissell and particularly Martin Munkacsi. Its most successful posed pictures - including "Sonya getting changed in Gilles's truck, Trailer Park," "Lilla Napeague" (the fourth and fifth of the five pictures with that title), "Neva, Poles" (2), and the final "Shannon, Shadmoor Cliffs" - reach Peter Lindbergh-like heights in their effective portrayals of vulnerable feminine beauty.

Perhaps the most striking feature of The End is its narrative flow, which is remarkably both coherent and subtle. The book begins with several sequential historical photographs of Montauk, and moves on to illustrate a sort of "day in the life of a town," beginning with a drive to the beach - "David and Pam in their Caddy, Trailer Park" - moving on to the parking lot with perhaps the novel's most successful pair of photographs - "Sonya getting changed in Gilles's truck, Ditch Plains," and "Gilles at the parking lot, Ditch Plains" - then to the beach at dawn ("Julian checking out the sets, 6 A.M., Ditch Plains") then midday, with an extensive series of surfing pictures. The narrative, as it is, moves indoors with several sexually-charged photographs and the book ends after some brilliant evening shots (notably the spectacular "Bonfire, Trailer Park" series). Indeed, it is obvious that much care was given to The End's sequencing; even within the narrative, there are numerous visual games being played, from a figure in "Lifeguards, 1997" glancing across the page at the nude Lilla in "Lilla, Napeague" (5) to the pairing of the genuine American iconographic "Postcard I found at Joni's" with the nostalgic "Lilla, Napeague" (3).

These two themes - "watching" and iconography - recur throughout The End, a book which is seemingly obsessed with voyeurism (a perhaps unsurprising obsession for a photographer) and whose frequently-iconic images seem ready-made to implant themselves on the American conscience (with any justice, "Sonya getting changed in Gilles's truck, Ditch Plains," "Noel at Bettina's House, Turtle Cove," and "Beach dog, Ditch Plains" will find their way onto postcards everywhere and into the photographic canon).

Finally, it must be said that The End the book is a spectacular object. The photographs are printed vividly on a paper stock that is of supreme quality, the book itself is beautiful, from its cover to its binding, and it is indeed an actual pleasure to hold.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Summary, June 26, 2006

By 

Hiro Kitozawa "Hiro" (Tokyo) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The End: Montauk, N.Y. (Hardcover)

I was very fortunate to see Michael Dweck's exhibition "The Surfers Life" here at the renown Blitz Gallery in Tokyo last week and I was very impressed. The show was an astonishingly beautiful collection of images by a very gifted photographer who presents his subject with great sensitivity and warmth. And, though many of these images have been seen before in his book The End:Montauk, NY", it was worth a trip to Blitz to see the show live.
The End is Michael Dweck's breakthrough debut collection of extraordinary work. The true first. I believe The End was published to accompany an exhibition at International Center for Photography New York in May 2004. With its handsome production designed by Jeremy Miller and oversize-volume format, the book is a virtual stand-alone mini-exhibition in its own right. It is not really a book, but an art object: one that transcends the notion of a mere "book." It is an object of intrinsic beauty and the mere holding of it in one's hands conveys the good taste, fine quality, and the superb craftmanship that were blended to create The End. Sand-colored silk cloth boards with titles embossed on spine. Photographs and texts by Michael Dweck. Poetic fragment, "From Montauk Point" (from "Leaves of Grass"), by Walt Whitman. List of Plates appended at the end. Printed on thick coated stock paper in Singapore to the highest standards. In pictorial dust jacket with very large flaps, black titles on the spine and elegant glassine vertical band. This book presents the photographer's nostalgic (and erotic) tribute to the legendary beach community. Montauk is one of America's best-kept secrets: The ultimate surfer's paradise, it has remained largely unchanged since it was discovered in the 1960's. It has miraculously been shielded from the crass commercialism and corrupt hedonism that have ruined the magic of the Hamptons. There is something almost mystical about the fact that it is located at the tip of Long Island. "This paradise has existed primarily for locals, not surfers who migrate to the beach for the summer but those who are out in the rocky reefs everyday. In the 1990's, Michael Dweck gained unprecedented access to this insular community. His book follows the surfers through their daily rituals from early morning wave reports to evening bonfires on the beach. Dweck has an eye for the women but it is misleading to label him a female-nude photographer, as many commentators have done. There are photographs of Sonya, Shannon, Katarina, Lilla, Genelle, Jessica and other beach beauties but Dweck is also fascinated by a teenager surfing phenomenon named Kurt, who has been surfing since he was a little boy. Kurt is the Bruce Weber ideal: All-American, blond, blue-eyed, beautiful. What sets him apart from the fashion or commercial model-type is his care-free attitude and complete lack of narcissism. He looks like the young Peter Beard, who stays in Montauk when he is in the United States. Dweck pays tribute to the great artist/photographer with a lovely full-page portrait. A gorgeous book. Lavishly illustrated with black-and-white and color plates and 2 stunning foldouts. In my opinion, one of the most accomplished living American photographers.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Youth, July 29, 2004

By 

W. J. Mikus "pitterrier" (Palm Beach, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The End: Montauk, N.Y. (Hardcover)

Naturally beautiful women so gorgeous my teeth hurt. Michael Dweck seems to capture his subjects in obvious poses that reflect not stiffness, but natural ease that only youth allows. The beautiful women featured along with real surfer-dudes and beachscapes allow one to visually experience a culture and lifestyle that is private and doesn't tolerate gawking.