Maine: The Home Place [Hardcover]

Murad Sayen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

A dazzling photographic tribute to the land, people, and sheer beauty of the other Maine.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sayen selects images from his 24 years of living in Maine to offer a portrait of the state's landscape and residents. The full-color photographs, all of which float on the pages surrounded by white borders, depict Maine's splendor, from an Atlantic summer sunrise to hanging icicles on a 22-degrees-below-zero day. Sayen's photos emphasize color and form, which isn't surprising, given that Saÿen was a painter "long before" he became fascinated with photography. Indeed, the shot of King Hill in South Paris, on an October day, looks just like a painting-red and orange trees dot the green knoll while the sun sets in lavender tones. Although his strength lies in capturing outdoor scenes, Sayen shares a few portraits, including one of war veteran Otto Brandes sitting in uniform and another of a little league baseball player in Locke Mills getting ready to bat. This is a lovely collection.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Sayen selects images from his 24 years of living in Maine to offer a portrait of the state's landscape and residents. The full-color photographs, all of which float on the pages surrounded by white borders, depict Maine's splendor, from an Atlantic summer sunrise to hanging icicles on a 22-degrees-below-zero day. Sayen's photos emphasize color and form, which isn't surprising, given that Sayeen was a painter 'long before' he became fascinated with photography. Indeed, the shot of King Hill in South Paris, on an October day, looks just like a painting-red and orange trees dot the green knoll while the sun sets in lavender tones. Although his strength lies in capturing outdoor scenes, Sayen shares a few portraits, including one of war veteran Otto Brandes sitting in uniform and another of a little league baseball player in Locke Mills getting ready to bat. This is a lovely collection."--Publisher's Weekly

It is refreshing to see such provocative photos of Maine people in a book of this quality...Maine shows new perspective on a storied land, and reaches deeper into the places and lives that make this state so mysteriously beautiful.--Maine Times

"... the book is lively, and the images, taken over a 24-year span, celebrate the physical beauty that makes Maine such a singular place."--Yankee Magazine

"An absolutely gorgeous book...[in which the still lifes...arouse one's sense of wonder, from frost lined maple leaves to hunks of granite jutting out of reddened blueberry fields."--York County Coast Star

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: UPNE (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584652934
• ISBN-13: 978-1584652939
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 11 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,815,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maine: The Home Place, December 4, 2003

By 

Byron Hoot (Wexford, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maine: The Home Place (Hardcover)

When I opened Maine: The Home Place, I didn't know how much I was opening up. I looked through it, then I realized I needed to look into it: I did so at two pages a day until I went through the book. I especially love two of the pictures (although each page and picture looked more like a composition in a painting than a camera capturing a scene): The Androscoggin at Bethel, November and North Pond, Greenwood, October. There is a disarming directness in the simple presentation that drew me into the pictures, and into myself. The captions reminded me these places are here, in this world. What I found myself doing since I opened Maine: The Home Place is seeing myself and the world around me differently. Cezanne says that "Art is a harmony parallel to nature." I am wonderfully confused by Murad's presentation of nature and art that has gotten into my heart through my eyes. What more can you ask from a book than to make the world and yourself more alive? Maine: The Home Place is a book that will do that year after year, picture after picture. Great job, Murad Sayen.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maine: The Home Place, November 19, 2003

By 

MJ Alexander (Oxford, ME) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maine: The Home Place (Hardcover)

Murad Sayen shows us in his amazing pictoral that Maine is more than a magnificent coastline dotted with harbors and lighthouses. His photographs and essays capture the essence and beauty of Maine that those of us who are fortunate to live here can now share with the rest of the world.

He is masterful in his use of lighting. The effect is mystical and invokes a strong emotional response to his work. For all those who want an unlimited opportunity to escape to Maine, whenever the spirit moves you, I highly recommend Maine: The Home Place.....the way life is!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Energy in Tranquility, November 25, 2003

By 

David Daniel (Westford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Maine: The Home Place (Hardcover)

The thing that strikes you as you turn the lush pages--the land and seascapes, the faces--is the surface sense of calm. And yet, below those surfaces there is always a suggestion of great energy, of processes being carried out. In the cover photo, for instance: a country church, maple trees in their October regalia, a cemetery, the cornstubble foreground--lies the hint that things are in motion, even there below the ground. The world is moving toward a new incarnation.

This dualism--or energy and calm--kept me turning pages, forward and back, over a period of many days, looking closely at colors, faces, cloud formations, ice crystals on a pond, dawn sunlight on a lighthouse.

At first I quibbled that Sayen has confined his camera to so few regions of the state; and yet, in truth, this only reminds us that art, in order to be universal, must be local. To develop the kind of intimacy that Sayen (a confessed "outsider") obviously has with his subject, it is necessary to keep it focused.

With "Maine: The Home Place", Murad Sayen has created a masterful book, far more than another of the garishly colored "coffee table" books that publishers seem to crank out each year. This is a book that bears repeated readings, and which, for me, continues to offer fresh discoveries. In addition to the photographs, there is a series of elegantly written essays and photographer's notes. For anyone looking to be delighted and deeply moved by the complexity within simplicity, "Maine: The Home Place" is a volume that will do that.