Customer Reviews

Life as a Night Porter

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

 

 

This young old fashioned photographer is typically english working class, hungry, cynical and posh. Chris Shaw follows his Weegee class to show up the eternity of trash in society.... A great book.

This is one of my favorite photo books of all time - Chris Shaw shows us the underbelly of 1 and 2 star hotel lobbies, staircases, and hallways during the darkest hours of the day - when unfortunate souls lock themselves out of their rooms nude, guests pass out in the lobby couches, and everything else you could ever imagine happens late at night. All photos are accompanied with Chris' handwriting scrawled around the border of the images. If you like Martin Parr's work, you'll love Chris Shaw's work - they share the same spirit. 3 thumbs up!

Photographer Chris Shaw spent ten years working in London hotels, using his camera to document the hotel's patrons and oddities and keeping himself awake on the late shift. LIFE AS A NIGHT PORTER offers a shelving challenge to libraries; but as an exhibit piece or addition to a serious college-level photography library holding, it can't be beat. Pictures capture the chance meeting and the finer world of hotel life, with large-size, often murky, black and white photos of employees and residents alike capturing and documenting another night world. It's a rich world of the underworld and comes to life in Shaw's presentation.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch