Formula One Through the Lens: Three Decades of Motorsport Photography [Hardcover]

Nigel Snowdon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1998

This is a special limited version of this book, produced for The Klemantaski Collection, one of the principle archives of the Snowdons' photography. This version is signed on a bookplate by Nigel Snowdon and Diana Burnett and is limited to only 200 copies.With a subtitle of Four Decades of Motor Sport Photography, this book provides a wonderful pictorial review of the Formula 1 circus, as presented to the cameras of this world-famous husband and wife photographic team.

As well as a portfolio of stunning action shots, this book provides an intimate glimpse behind the scenes, showing the human side of the sport. There are reminders of the tragedy that has so often overshadowed the glamor and excitement of Formula 1 racing, together with glimpses of the humorous moments that relieve the tension of a Grand Prix weekend. A gallery of outstanding portraits is complemented by a collection of moody photos of the leading drivers preparing for action. Accompanied by authoritative captions by Steve Small incorporating Nigel's own reflections on his work, and luxuriously reproduced in duotone, the photographs offer a rich distillation of motor sport history that will delight enthusiasts whatever their generation.

Formula One Through the Lens brings together a wide selection of Nigel's superb black and white photographs to create an evocative album, reflecting the momentous changes that have transformed Grand Prix racing during the last four decades.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nigel Snowdon was born in England in 1934. Educated in England and Kenya, he subsequently trained as an aircraft engineer and in 1955 he emigrated to Australia, where he worked for Quantas. It was not until 1959, when he developed an interest in motor sport and taught himself photography, that his future career started to take shape. Returning to England, he began covering Grands Prix as a freelance in 1963. From 1968 to 1975 he worked for Phipps Photographic, a motor sport photographic agency, moving to Motoring News in 1976.

In 1978 Nigel and his wife, fellow photographer Diana Burnett, formed their own motor sport photographic agency, Snowdon & Associates, which has supplied photographs to magazines, newspapers and books throughout the world.. From 1972 to 1987 Nigel was chief photographer for the respected motor sport annual Autocourse. His previous books include The Ultimate Excitement (1967) and Nigel Mansell: The Making of a Champion (1992).

Nigel has also worked for companies such as Goodyear, Unipart, Ford and Marlboro and has had exhibitions in London and New York. He is one of the longest-serving photographers currently working in Formula 1.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Hazelton Publishing (UK) (July 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1874557187
• ISBN-13: 978-1874557180
• Product Dimensions: 12.5 x 9.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,430,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of black and white photos, February 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Formula One Through the Lens: Three Decades of Motorsport Photography (Hardcover)

A nicely presented book from the publishers of the excellent yearly Autocourse annual. Lots of pictures to look at covering 4 decades of motorsport photography from Nigel Snowdon and Diana Burnett. However all the pictures in the book are black and white, which is a bit of a shame. There is a bonus in that there are comments from the photographers regarding particular pictures (where, why, when and how etc..) redeem this somewhat. A nice addition to the motorsport and formula 1 collection.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb but in small quantity back/white F-1 photographs., August 28, 1999

By 

LOUIS JACQUES DUBOIS - See all my reviews

This review is from: Formula One Through the Lens: Three Decades of Motorsport Photography (Hardcover)

A great piece for F-1 book collector.Almost all of the N.Snowdon and D.Burnett photos are superb, especially from the 60's and 70's. The text for each photo is very accurate. Some photos are very rare and even sensational. This is a book that really could be the double or even the triple of the 160 pages with +/- 250 photos. The some confuse layout of contents and the lack of some years of the 4 decades are the weak points of this fascinating book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Formula One Through the Lens, December 5, 2002

By 

Darrell Nungester (Floyds Knobs, Indiana United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Formula One Through the Lens: Three Decades of Motorsport Photography (Hardcover)

This was a Christmas gift and I found this book to be a good book on the history of Formula 1. Some of the other reviewers made comments about the amount of black and white photos in this book but you have to remember that those were state-of-art. Although color photography has been around for a while, it wasn't until the mid 1960s that the average joe could afford 35 mm color cameras. This book is a good reference book and a welcome addition to my autoracing memorabilia collection.