This book explores the 'photo story' through 61 master classes by some of the world's greatest photographers, all members of the international photographic agency Magnum. Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold, Elliott Erwitt and their colleagues use the photo story as a vehicle to explain their approach to taking and editing photographs. It is about the Magnum photographers, their subjects and their approaches to photography in general and to the particular form of the photo story. The book will also comprise a history of Magnum practice and photojournalism over a 70-year period. Magnum Stories is a collection of photo stories produced by the photographers of Magnum. Through the work of key Magnum photographers, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Eugene Richards, Martin Parr, Inge Morath and Leonard Freed, this book covers a wide range of subjects including the Vietnam War, student protests in Tiananmen Square, Fidel Castro overthrows Cuban dictator in 1959, Picasso, Malcolm X, the French theatre group Theatre du Soleil, the US invasion of Grenada in the early 1980s, the New York police, Apartheid and Buddhism. The photographic genres covered include war photography, documentary, photojournalism, social realism, portraits of people and places, fashion and news. There are 61 Magnum photographers featured in the book. Each photographer is represented across 8 pages by a photo story of their choice, which is fully illustrated, and a text which is written in the photographer's own voice based on new interviews with the author. The texts are intelligent, idiosyncratic, each with their own voice and style. Accessible and engaging to read, they reveal different perceptions and approaches to photography and each photographer's unique and varied takes on the photo story and their practice - what is the photo story?, what does it mean?, how did they come across it? what key decisions are made when taking the story, etc. As well as featuring the work of individual photographers, this book functions as a history and interrogation of the form of the photo story - the key vehicle for photography in the twentieth century, from its earliest developments in the 30s, through the death of 'photojournalism', to contemporary manifestations, all of which is explored by the author in the introduction. The book explores the influences that have affected the photo story, such as key twentieth century events and the life of photographic magazines such as Newsweek, Time, and Paris Match, all of which have helped to define the genre. It provides a unique reflection on the course of photojournalism in the second half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, from the common purpose of the post-WWII years to the individualistic range of practices and interests that constitute documentary photography today.
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Imagine having 61 widely published photographers from around the world candidly discuss their careers and beliefs while showing you key images from their portfolios. That is the engaging concept of Magnum Stories. From Iran-born Abbas (whose career began with a series about the Vietcong in the 1970s) to Patrick Zachmann (who has documented the lives of Malian immigrants in his native France), each photographer is given ample space to talk about his or her work. Editor Chris Boot accompanies the interviews with a brief explanation of the cultural or political background of each suite of images. The one thing the interviewees have in common is past or current membership in Magnum, a photographers' cooperative founded in 1947 by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson and David Seymour as a means of breaking free from the editorial tyranny of Life and other photo-based magazines. Boot's introduction deftly summarizes Magnum's history and the practicalities of postwar photography. The presence of vintage "Magnum stories" by such photographers as Erich Hartmann ("Our Daily Bread") and W. Eugene Smith ("Country Doctor") adds a welcome historical dimension. While the founding generation were mostly photo-journalists who organized their images into visual "stories," today's members often pursue topics of personal interest with photographs that do not relate a straightforward narrative. These topics range from outlaw biker gangs in the U.S. (Dennis Stock) to the mountain peoples of Laos, Guatemala and Georgia (John Vink), from the tacky seaside resort of New Brighton in Liverpool, England (Martin Parr) to Siberian prison camps (Carl De Keyzer). With nearly 800 illustrations, this distinctive, square-format book offers a kaleidoscopic survey of the many faces of documentary photography. —-Cathy Curtis
About the Author
Chris Boot, the editor of the book and author of the introduction, is an independent photography writer and editor of both books and exhibitions. In 1990 he joined Magnum Photos where he worked for eight years, eventually becoming Director of Magnum London in 1993, and subsequently Director of Magnum New York in 1996. In 1998 he joined Phaidon Press as Editorial Director of Photography. As well as writing and curating on photography, he is now an independent publisher/editor and his recent projects include Gideon Mendel, A Broken Landscape (2001), Here is New York - A Democracy of Photographs (2002), Our True Intent Is All For Your Delight - the John Hinde Butlin's Photographs (2002) and Collecting Photography (2003).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stories -- get to know them better,
By
This review is from: Magnum Stories (Hardcover)
This book is not your usual photo book -- it's real value and what makes it different is the stories inside. Inside, 61 Magnum photographers have written 2-page story about themselves, about why they take pictures, how they work etc. As the book also features photos and/or photo story from each photographer, they also share "inside" information about presented pictures and their background.
I truly recommend this book to all people who have serious interest in documentary photography and like reading/seeing interviews with photographers. If you just want to see pictures and not interested in personalities, then perhaps you should take a look at Magnum Degrees or other similar books.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant Anthology Of Decisive Moments,
By Thomas Edwards (Singapore) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Magnum Stories (Hardcover)
This is a brilliant anthology of the "decisive moments" of the collective individuals who made up the legendary photo agency, Magnum.
Magnum Stories allows one to peer into the mind's eye of the most influential photojournalists of the 20th Century; part history book (as Rodger would have intended), part art book (as HCB would have intended), part photographic teaching book (as Capa would have intended), part autobiography(ies) book, and all at a price that Chim would have appreciated. One is encouraged to read (simultaneously, if possible) Russell Miller's "Magnum - Fifty Years At The Front Line Of History" to complete the "Big Picture" of the individual Decisive Moments to fully understand the impact of the brilliant artifice constructed by Capa, Chim, HCB and Rodger in that noteworthy spring of 1947. That said, one would have wished that the other significant actors in the House of Magnum, such as Ernest Haas, Sebastiao Salgado and Mary-Ellen Mark, would have been included in Magnum Stories. Otherwise - Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Unreadable,
This review is from: Magnum Stories (Hardcover)
I was looking forward to this book, to read it and add it to my large photo book collection. Many of the greatest photographers of the 20th century belonged to Magnum, but they have been failed by this poorly designed book. The type is too small and stretches into the gutters. Shame on the designers and the publisher for producing what should have been a great book. I returned mine!
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