Customer Reviews

A Maritime Album: 100 Photographs and Their Stories

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

 

 

There is no question that the photographs in this work are wonderful, bringing "old salts" back to their environment and leaving landlubbers in awe.

However, the text, as indicated by fellow reviewers, can be considered a bit obscure if you are looking for cut-and-dry captions. It should be noted that one of the most appealing aspects of the book is that it does not simply apply a caption to an associated photo but rather tells the story behind it, providing details you simply would not be privy to from viewing the picture alone.

This wonderful book has been given as a holiday gift time and again in our family and has provided many a pleasurable moment flipping through the pages.

"Tight Lines!"
~..~..~.. ><((((*>

I own a signed copy of this book, and it sits proudly on my coffee table. I have read it twice already, and each time I learn something more about a specific photograph which I had not realized before. A great collection of images, from the Civil War to imported VWs on the dock in Baltimore, MD.

This is a wonderful immersion into life on the lakes/rivers. Pictures and words beautifully describe what the world looked and felt like in years past. I had seen it on display at a maritime museum and knew I had to look for a way to purchase it.

I bought this book with great anticipation expecting a wonderful book on maritime photography. I am a fan of John Szarkowski and love his earlier work. While the choice of images is superb and the reproduction is wonderful, I was extremely disappointed by the text. Written by Richard Benson, it can only be characterized as bizarre, irrelavent and self indulgent. Opportunities to place the work in an historical or artistic context were often lost to flights of fantasy.

The great photographs cannot salvage the horrible text which rambles off into areas completely removed from the subject matter. Benson's commentary is... well... odd. At times you wonder exactly what it is he's talking about. And the few warship photographs exhibit a great deal of bias against all things military. This is particularly odd since the Mariner's Museum, which has attached its name to this drek, earned its reputation primarily on the preservation and salvage of warship artificats from the USS Monitor. Just plain weird, this book should be avoided at all costs expecially if you've ever been a sailor in uniform.