Leisure [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Bill Owens (Author), Sofia Coppola (Author), Gregory Crewdson (Author), Robert Harshorn Shimshak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 14, 2005

The fourth and final volume in Bill Owens' landmark Suburbia series [SUBURBIA (1973; revised edition 1999, Fotofolio), OUR KIND OF PEOPLE (1975), WORKING - I DO IT FOR THE MONEY (1977), and LEISURE (2004)]. In his introduction to LEISURE, photographer Gregory Crewdson writes: "Owens’ photographs belong to an American aesthetic tradition of art that explores the intersection of everyday life and theatricality. Like the paintings of Edward Hopper, the photographs of Walker Evans and Diane Arbus, and the short stories of John Cheever and Raymond Carver, Owens’ photographs find unexpected beauty and mystery within the American vernacular. This collision between normality and strangeness transforms the American landscape into a place of wonder and anxiety."

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"This project began in 1968 when I was working as a photojournalist. It was like being a National Geographic photographer with the assignment of photographing my own world. When I finished an assignment, I realized there was so much more that could be done. I was fascinated by how people lived – how they spent their time and money to bring happiness and fulfillment to their lives. I wanted to make a documentary so familiar that it might come from someone’s home photo album. I did what sociologists and anthropologists do – dissect a culture and put it back together to make a whole vision." —Bill Owens

Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Fotofolio (January 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584180749
• ISBN-13: 978-1584180746
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,160 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 Free time folk, July 17, 2005

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leisure (Hardcover)

I bought Bill Owens 'Suburbia' in 1973 and over the years it has come to be one of my favorite photobooks (I also bought the 1999 reprint for the extra photos) the clarity of both the images and the thoughts behind them just seemed perfect. His 'Working (I Do It For The Money)' was my next buy and the vision continued and now with 'Lesiure' I have three of the four Suburbia series.

Unfortunately I feel that this book lacks some of the clarity of the other two I have. It seems to me that the neg files have been scoured for any photos that show leisure and then tipped into these pages. Most of the images work but that only shows up the ones that I feel are out of place (though still showing leisure) for instance, the couple by their pool on page twenty-seven, another couple, not communicating, on page seventy-six or the lady riding a bike on page ninety-one, they just seem out of place and look as if they might have been taken by another photographer. Several other photos seem badly cropped or peripheral to the books concept of leisure. Another annoyance, admittedly minor, is that so many of the photos have no captions even though they show something that makes me ask "What's going on here?"

Despite this the production of the book is first-class, good paper and printing (175 dpi) and the same size as the 'Suburbia' reprint. Perhaps the publishers will re-issue 'Our Kind of People' and 'Working' in this format to complete Bill Owens celebration of American life from the recent past.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully amusing collection of images, October 28, 2005

By 

gnuist (Mount Vernon, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leisure (Hardcover)

I saw a collection of Bill Owens images from this book at the ICP a while back. All of the images were wonderfully amusing tales of what folk do for leisure. After seeing the collection, I had to purchase the book and was pleasantly suprised by the book's production quality and the wide range of images. It's fun to see what people would do with their free time and money. I also like the captions as many of them are witty and are helpful in explaining the purpose of the image. For some reason, there isn't a caption on every page, but many of the pages do have a caption.

5.0 out of 5 stars A very entertaining book. One of my favorites., January 31, 2009

By 

Eric Slay (Orange County, CA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Leisure (Hardcover)

This book is a lot of fun. Bill Owens takes the picture, you get to make up the story that goes with it. The photo on the cover is one of my favorites. I've got some time, so here's my story for it:

The guy making hamburgers is not very successful (although this fact has mostly escaped him). In fact, he still lives with his now-retired parents. Here they are again in Yosemite. (They go every September - after the crowds leave.) Once again he's making the burgers ("Tommy always has made the best burgers.") His parents look from behind with forced smiles. If he could only find a nice girl...