Customer Reviews

The Horse Is Good

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

 

 

Artist Viggo Mortensen has rapidly gained a reputation for befriending his equine costars in movies like "Hildago" and "Lord of the Rings," even buying some of them once the movies were done. Now he takes his love of horses one step further. In "The Horse is Good," Mortensen presents his unique vision of horses from across the world, from a perspective that isn't entirely human.

Mortensen presents a sort of ethereal photographic exercise, showing all sorts of horse photographs. Some are sharp black-and-white shots, and some are colorful. Some are blurred, and some take awhile to figure out where the horse is in the photo. And some are distant and obscured by weather conditions, like a the final shot in a depressing movie finale.

Mortensen took his photographs all across the world, presenting us with photos from Morocco, South Dakota, Montana, New Zealand, Denmark, Brazil, Iceland, California, and Argentina. Surprisingly, he keeps the perspective fresh -- you don't get sick of page after page of horses. You're more likely to be struck by the quiet, earthy beauty captured in each image, all different.

And Mortensen's photography itself is pretty varied -- there's color and stark black-and-white photos, with some bright and blurry and some sharply focused. The shots themselves vary in a technical sense. Mortensen took some photographs from the rider's point of view (never has the back of a horse's ears looked so interesting), and others from the horse's point of view, down below where photographs are usually shot. That unusual technique makes the photos seem less like a simple photo, and more like a split second through a horse or lonely rider's own eyes.

Viggo Mortensen's love of horses shines through brightly in "The Horse is Good," a simple, beautiful study of one of mankind's oldest companions. Quiet and very lovely.

You can definitely feel Viggo's love for horses. He captures man's relationship with them. The photographs are shot mostly on location during his time filming Hidalgo. The first photographs are noteworthy. At first I thought what was he thinking, but now I appreciate the hidden beauty. In these first photos he uses a layering effect much like his paintings. They look as though he superimposed the photographs. The results are an abstract outline of figures.

Viggo shoots from many perspectives-seated atop, from below, straight on; he focuses on an eye, a mouth, the hairs on the body, the sweat, and hands on the reigns.

He captures the desert sun and shadows at noon as well as shadows at night. I can't help but wonder-how did he do that without getting a shadow of the camera in the picture?

I like his technique. The photographs are skillful and artistic. They show the human side of Viggo. The horses speak for themselves. It leaves me respecting both of them.

The final picture is taken by Viggo's son Henry, who also has talent. We get a glimpse of Viggo with a horse nuzzling his camera.

Very well done.

This is an exceptional book of photography with the noted surprises by Mr. Mortensen. It is a book entirely of photographs*; the subject is exclusively of horses; all of the photos were taken on or near the movie set for Hidalgo*. The only writings in the book are the index page (but no page numbers) and a dedication page "For Hidalgo and Frank T. Hopkins."
It is a grand study of THE HORSE with full page photos. Included are photos of some of the supporting actors and their horses in the "Oceans of Fire" 3000 mile race.
What is intriguing are the self photographs of Mr. Mortensen as Frank T. Hospkins and Hidalgo. How he mastered those photos and shots of his shadow without revealing that he was the photographer* is amazing. The numerous photos of shadows are very imaginative and creative.
The movie Hidalgo is a must see and will certainly put this photo album in proper perspective. Happy Trails!
***Exceptions 1) One painting on opening page; 2)Two Mortensen family photos; 3) One photo of Dad by Henry.***

This is a spectacular book and stands as my favourite Viggo Mortensen book, the range and quality of photos and written words in this book are breath taking and thought provoking. A must read.

Horses are my passion, and Mr. Mortensen--painter, photographer, poet, songwriter, horseman, actor and polyglot--has my deep esteem and respect. However, I found this book, overall, a disappointment. While there are definitely intriguing, creative approaches to photographing the horse--the horse peeking his head out the door of a tepee, the mane and ears a rider sees from atop the horse, a view of a boot in a stirrup and a horse's leg upon sun-baked ground, a close-up of the horse's mouth with a bit, and close-ups of the eye, the winter hair--overall I did not get a sense of a celebration of the horse, nor of the connectedness I believe Mr. Mortensen has with horses. Furthermore, the book is more appropriately titled by its dedication: For Hidalgo & Frank T. Hopkins. For me, lacks the content for the title THE HORSE IS GOOD. There are definitely some interesting pictures taken from ingenious perspectives. Mr. Mortensen has taken an original approach to a "well-worked" subject (the horse) but, for me, it did not depict the goodness, beauty and happy freedom of the horses I know and love in my 5 beautiful horses. This book was a disappointment, probably due to a difference in artistic taste. I do not doubt his talent or love for the horse, I only disagree with this particular presentation and title. Reading the other reviews, I am a lone voice in the wilderness.

I was disappointed with the book. I thought that maybe there would be some written words with the photos. In the Table of Contents, there really was like a legend, to know what picture you were lookingat but it didn't seem to match up to the photos that I was looking at and was confusin. It was essentially a strange concoction of photos, somewhat related to the horse. What it looks like to see a view between horses ears. Unless someone is a midget that is looking down, the scene wasn't awe inspiring. When I ride, what I see lies ahead of me and beckons me to go explore. This scene is beautiful! A picture of the thigh and leg of a rider on the horse. Another with a horse with a close up of his bit. The picture on the cover, is obscure. Frankly, I throw pictures away with the head and ears cut off. I throw away photos like these all the time. I think that Viggo is a very talented person and maybe he was making a statement. I just didn't get it. There were a couple of photos that I would have rated as good! The rest, is garbage. Maybe I don't have the intellect to understand this artistic adventure. So, not everyone will like this book. If you know someone that already has The Horse is Good, look at it first and see if you might want to add it to your library. I was very disappointed that my first purchase on his line of books, since he is one of my favorite celebrities. I don't know if I want to see any of his other stuff.