European Fields: EDITION ON1 [Hardcover]

Simon Kuper (Author), Michael Mack (Author), Hans van der Meer (Photographer)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 3865211917 | ISBN-13: 978-3865211910 | Publication Date: November 21, 2008

At the beginning of the 1995 soccer season, Hans van der Meer set out to take photographs of the game that dodged the clichÈd traditions of modern sports photography. In an attempt to record the sport in its original form--a field, two goals and 22 players--he sought matches at the bottom end of the amateur leagues. He avoided tight telescopic details and the hyperbole of action photography, pulled back from the central subject of the pitch, and set the playing field and its unfolding action in the context of local elements. Over the last 10 years, van der Meer has continued this project across the playing fields of Europe, traveling to every country with a significant history of the game.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Steidl (November 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3865211917
• ISBN-13: 978-3865211910
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 15.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,225,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, November 30, 2009

By 

Douglas Ljungkvist "douglasljungkvist" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: European Fields: The Landscape of Lower League Football (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book and a new favorite of mine. I'm interested in sports as part of our cultural landscape and growing up in Sweden this book is right up my alley. The images are so well composed and really shows the soccer fields and game action as foreground objects and how it fits into the environmental landscape.

The variety of landscapes, playing surfaces, time of year, light and mood is impressive while remaining consistent. If you appreciate really good landscape photography, and perhaps not soccer per se, I think you will still enjoy this book. I appreciate the photographers investment in time and to his vision as he could have easily and much faster photographed this project when the soccer fields were empty. Focusing on the lower division venues where players are non-professional is also so much more interesting in this era of sports stardom and reality/celebrity culture.