Customer Reviews

Herb Ritts: Work

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As an amateur photographer, I have always found Herb Ritts to be one of the greatest modern photographers living. Similiar to many celebrity photographers such as Richard Avedon, David LaChapelle, and Annie Liebowitz, Ritts captures the essence that is celebrity perfectly. Whether it is the photograph of Madonna and Sean Pean as a loving couple, or a gathering of today's top supermodels (all nude) Ritts has an eye for detail, as well as an approach few photographers nowadays don't utilize, direct communication with your subjects. In the past (and even in the present) celebrity photography can be a pain as many celebrities tend to want their agents around them whenever there is a shoot.

Many of Ritts photographs in this compilation happen to be of a homoerotic nature. Ritts, who is openly gay, captures the essence of male sexuality perfect, and the results can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of their orientation.

I hope in the future Ritts comes out with another huge compilation of his work. His recent work with such celebrities such as Monica Lewinsky and Janet Jackson should be published in a volume, but for the meanwhile, purchase this book for your coffee table or library. It will make an interesting topic of conversation with anyone. Ritts is pure genius!

Bello, imaginativo, innovador, sensual, versatil, ... son palabras apropiadas para describir el trabajo de Herb Ritts. Pero si un adjetivo debe ser aplicado a este último libro, ese es IMPRESCINDIBLE. Imprescindible no solo para todos los que seguimos la carrera de este fotógrafo americano, sino para todos los que piensan que la fotografia es también una forma de expresión artística. "Work" es el más completo recorrido posible por la obra de Ritts: desde sus audaces retratos de famosos para Vanity Fair o Rolling Stone hasta su inusual visión de Africa, desde la romántica sensualidad de "Duo" hasta sus cuasi arquitectónicas composiciones para los catalogos de Versace, sin dejar de lado, por supuesto, su siempre bello y sorprendente tratamiento del desnudo, tanto masculino como femenino. En definitiva: una autentica demostración de porqué Ritts es considerado uno de los mejores fotógrafos del mundo y una joya digna de figurar en cualquier biblioteca.

It realy honors the name of RITTS, a perfect book from a supreme photographer. It gives you a ride for almoust the best work of on his career. You need to have it.

I received this book as a gift. I can't tell you how many times at a party or get-together at our home someone has picked this up, and then it has become the topic of conversation. The book gets passed around the entire night because everyone wants to look at it, and once someone starts flipping through the pages they simply can't put it down because they want to look at every image. Several of the photos are of celebrities, but they are somewhat disguised. Example: Cindy Crawford made up as a man. It is fun to do a "double take" as you try to guess who some of the subjects are. As always, Herb Ritts' images are masterpieces. This was a wonderful gift.

This catalogue of the retrospective of Ritts' work in the mid 90's at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by its very nature has a lot of photographs that are included in previous volumes: many of the nudes, the African photos, the series called Duo and "celebrity portraits." Unlike many celebrity photographers, Ritts was able to create photographs that rarely if ever are duplicates of either his or other artists' work. You get a good sense of that from looking at all of the small copies of all the photos published at the end of this volume. That is no small accomplishment. Many of the nudes and/or erotic photographs have been around for so long and reproduced so often that they have almost become cliches. For example, the series of "Fred With Tires." These show up in calendars, refrigerator magnets, posters ad nauseam. The nine photographs of Bill T. Jones, one of which graces the cover of this hefty volume, should be called "Eunuch, I-IX." The poor man has been castrated by the stroke of an airbrush. I assume we are politically rather than anatomically correct here. This show was clearly no repetition of the Mapplethorpe Exhibit in Cincinnati!

Celebrity photographs are often just that. They are interesting only if you know the model. A fine portrait photographer can shoot someone we do not know and make that person interesting to us. Many though certainly not all of Ritts' photos rise to that level. For that reason, he will always be revered as an artist. I would put the photos of Whoopi Goldberg, William Burroughs and Mike Ovitz in that category, to name three. Even if we did not know who these people are, Ritts makes us want to know them. Proof of this, at least for me, is that I was mesmerized by the photo of Ovitz and didn't have the slightest idea initially of who he was. These photographs are intriguing and draw the viewer in. Finally, for my money, the three incomparable shots of Eunice Kennedy Shriver are simply the best portraits in the book. The first time I leafed through this volume, these fantastic shots jumped out at me.

I treasure my signed copy of another of Ritts' books. I'm sorry that he will never take another photograph.

"Herb Ritts is one of today's most sought-after and accomplished photographers--an artist whose eye for beauty, playful intelligence, and unerring sense of style pervade all his work, from elegant fashion tableaux and witty celebrity portraits to sultry nudes and stunning African panoramas. This landmark retrospective presents the full range of Ritts' work--240 signature images, including many which have never before been published."- from the Publisher

Herb Ritts has a very special gift when it comes to photography! Every photograph ranging from supermodels to movie stars to rock stars are elegent, sexy, and beautiful! Herb Ritts really knows what elegence is, and there is no doubt that he is THE fashion/celebrity photographer of the century. I'm so impressed by his work in both photography and music video! A must have!

It is excellent. Sensual, lyrical, erotic, powerful, sometimes whimsical and as hot as the Arizona sun. Ritts is America's Rennaisance photographer and his pictures and videos of Jan and Michael Jackson, Madonna, Cindy, Nicholson, etal, etal, are must-views in exhibit, too. His work is up there with contemporaries Leibowitz, Scavullo and helmut newton...you have got to see his work!

I'f you're a fan of the late Herb Ritts or simply a fan of photography, this book is a wonderful compilation of his work. I bought it as a gift for a good friend and wished I could keep it for myself.

This is a beautiful book on the iconic Ritts. I was lucky enough to be photographed by him and he was not only a huge talent, but he was a no air's, no b.s., really cool guy. This book really is the benchmark on books of his work, it is very comprehensive and gives you a real feel of what made Ritts a great photographer. I've looked through this book a million times and ive never tired of admiring his talent and his great eye for what makes an image pop. I lament the fact he died so young and that we are robbed of his talent and his humanity as a human being; he is missed.