In Life's Evening Hour, photographer John Dugdale invites us to explore liminal territory - the real between sight and blindness, between day and night, between physical and emotional. Celebrated for his imaginative use of the 19th century cyanotype process, Dugdale's blue images are distinct for their subtle and lyrical quality as well as their emotional resonance. In 1993 Dugdale lost 80 percent of his sight to an HIV-related illness, but has continued to pursue his art, as his creative vision has only grown stronger. This book bears witness to the photographs he created from the onset of his blindness to the present through Dugdale's photographs and words. The design of Life's Evening Hour complements the thoughtful nature of the photographs, and making reference to personal journals and common prayer books, the slipcase, clothbound binding, fine printing and papers as well as ribbon to mark pages distinguish this book as a high-quality collection of a unique photographer's work.
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
John Dugdale was born in Connecticut in 1960, and attended New York's School of Visual Arts. A successful commercial photographer, Dugdale began pursuing his personal work with more focus after he was diagnosed HIV-positive over ten years ago. His work has been exhibited internationally and is in many notable private collections. He currently resides and works in New York City and in his farmhouse upstate.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Beautiful World,
This review is from: Life's Evening Hour (Hardcover)
John Dugdale's latest book of cyanotype photographs portrays both the beauty that surrounds the photographer, and the hope that can be found through love, friendship, and prayer. In fact, Life's Evening Hour isn't simply a book of photographs. Using photography and narration, Dugdale lets the viewer into his world, showing what matters most in a personal, reflective, and oftentimes heartbreaking way. Poems by Emily Dickinson and passages from the Bible are woven throughout Dugdale's journey, as we follow his story. The pages reveal Dugdale's battle with AIDS and how he relied not only on the unending support of family and friends, but on the power of faith to heal. His affliction rendered him eighty-percent blind, although this only made his photographic vision stronger; he quotes Emerson, "You see through your eyes, not with them." Dugdale's photographs portray those who stood by in good times and bad. Bible passages and poems by Dickinson appear on several pages paralleling metaphorically, the images on opposite pages. Dugdale's own explanations of his photographs are written in diary-like form, in which he comments on the people in his photographs - all those who have touched his life in some way. Whether photographing a still life or people, subject matter is more important to Dugdale than it would be for other photographers, simply because Dugdale is literally in love with what he photographs. The emotional attachment Dugdale has with his subjects only makes his images stronger, and the viewer is rewarded with photographs that go beyond the boundaries of photography. Life's Evening Hour is a beautiful world comprised of fifty-two photographs, and one can only feel honored to experience John Dugdale's world of imagery.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
VISION FROM TRUE DEPTHS,
This review is from: Life's Evening Hour (Hardcover)
John Dugdale's annealing experiences of AIDS, a stroke, and near-total blindness would immobilize most photographers to the point of permanent incapacity. In "Life's Evening Hour," we see the results of an artist rising above the situations life has dealt, and the blue-tinted cyanotype photographs are remarkable for their subject matter and compositional strength. They face appropriate texts from such sources as Dugdale's own expressive and spiritual writings, Emily Dickinson, or the Psalms, which he asserts were literal life-savers. Many nude images feature Dugdale's own body and his striking, appealing face and deep eyes. This subject matter is less-skilled hands could become maudlin; but here, we see an artist near the height of his considerable creative powers using devastating experiences to inform the rest of us, who often see our circumstances considerably less well than John Dugdale. Additional work by text editor Shields Remine contribute to the beauty of the texts; the production standards by publisher August Press are high and reflect the craftsmanship of the book's content (particularly the touches of a bookmark ribbon, and the front-cover cyanotype inset of the artist). This is altogether a work of the first water, without a misstep.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Beautiful World,
This review is from: Life's Evening Hour (Hardcover)
John Dugdale's latest book of cyanotype photographs portrays both the beauty that surrounds the photographer, and the hope that can be found through love, friendship, and prayer. In fact, Life's Evening Hour isn't simply a book of photographs. Using photography and narration, Dugdale lets the viewer into his world, showing what matters most in a personal, reflective, and oftentimes heartbreaking way. Poems by Emily Dickinson and passages from the Bible are woven throughout Dugdale's journey, as we follow his story. The pages reveal Dugdale's battle with AIDS and how he relied not only on the unending support of family and friends, but on the power of faith to heal. His affliction rendered him eighty-percent blind, although this only made his photographic vision stronger; he quotes Emerson, "You see through your eyes, not with them." Dugdale's photographs portray those who stood by in good times and bad. Bible passages and poems by Dickinson appear on several pages paralleling metaphorically, the images on opposite pages. Dugdale's own explanations of his photographs are written in diary-like form, in which he comments on the people in his photographs - all those who have touched his life in some way. Whether photographing a still life or people, subject matter is more important to Dugdale than it would be for other photographers, simply because Dugdale is literally in love with what he photographs. The emotional attachment Dugdale has with his subjects only makes his images stronger, and the viewer is rewarded with photographs that go beyond the boundaries of photography. Life's Evening Hour is a beautiful world comprised of fifty-two photographs, and one can only feel honored to experience John Dugdale's world of imagery.
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