Customer Reviews

Jim Marshall: Proof

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After the stunning achievement of Not Fade Away Jim Marshall has equaled that effort with this important book. If you care about music or photography this is a MUST HAVE book. Period! Buy the book - pour yourself a single malt, put Jimi Hendrix on a (good) stereo system and enjoy!!!

Photographer Jim Marshall captured some of the most notable musicians in historic candid shots still remembered today: Janis Joplin with whiskey bottle and the Beatles racing across Candlestick Park at the end of their final public performance: but what about some of his other shots. Proof shares his contact sheets from the concerts, sessions and sittings of his more famous shots. These contact sheets, nicely accompanied by background history and explanations of the photographic methods and shot settings, are outstanding representations and when viewed here as a unit and package, explain the origins of the famous works. Highly recommended.

Love the book!!!...very dissapointed with Amazon. I bought this and the price dropped more than 40% the following day. No price guarantee (even within Amazon's own store) and the doorman already accepted the delivery in my absence. Going to purchase books from other vendors wherever possible.

I really appreciated seeing proof sheets created from Marshall's rolls of film. For every pair of pages in this book, a black-and-white positive proof sheet is on the left-hand page, and the chosen (usually quite famous) print from that roll of film is on the right-hand page, along with a short paragraph describing the occasion of the shoot. The individual frames of the proof sheet are quite viewable: there are usually 35 frames printed on each sheet, and each sheet is printed in the book at about 8x10". As a photographer, I envy other photographers' final products, and many times I like to see their rejected frames to catch a glimpse of their decision-making and their ad hoc/candid photos. The proof sheet serves as a documentary on how Marshall worked that day: how many repetitive frames he takes for well-prepared money shots, how he shoots horizontal portraits with the rule-of-thirds, and how many candids he takes. The only thing missing is that the short paragraphs describing each shot do not delve into how Marshall selected the one shot from each roll. Looking through the proofs, it's clear that many good frames were left behind. Finally, there is also a very nice picture evidently of Marshall's gear bag, containing several Leicas, rolls of film, and other stuff.

As a photographer myself I have always been attracted to the idea of seeing the original contact sheets from which a finished print is first judged.

One of the greatest photo shows I have ever seen of Gary Winogrand included large scale preproduction's of some of his contact sheets and it has always stayed with me.

In Jim Marshalls "Proof" that is exactly what you get. A contact sheet with all of his markings and foot notes and then the print that was pulled from that process. Side by side.

It is a great learning tool and a great visual look into the mind of a Photographer that has taken an inordinate amount of iconoclastic images, particularly from within the music world.

i purchased this book for my 17 year old son as a christmas gift. he's a fan of music in general, no specific genre. and he absolutely loved it. pictures and the quick stories are fascinating.