Customer Reviews

Michel Comte: Kontraste/Contrasts (Stern Portfolio Library of Photography)

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This has select pics from Michel Comte of his celebrity photography work,his photojournalism,his fashion work...something for everyone.I enjoyed the section on his fashion work the best.He has a pure,ethereal,stripped-down style I love.You have Jenny Shimizu,Karen Elson,(magnificent shot of her,can't describe it you just have to see it...),Erin O'Connor au naturel,and a number of unknown but GORGEOUS women,from all walks of life,from your waif-type to your neon-haired raver type to your ethereal amazonian blonde type(most of them nude,by the by...)...this is a really beautiful portfolio.I assume it's merely a prelude to Michel Comte's Faces,which I'm salivating to get my hands on(WHEN is it going to come out already? ).If you want to be sure you want to spring for that more expensive book,check this out.You won't be disappointed.

Kontraste/Contrasts is a full-size, paperback magazine style portfolio of Michel Comte (yes, there are a few advertisements in there). I was expecting a lot of wonderful fashion style images, and rightfully so. However, Comte did not only choose to include his masterful fashion images, which, in my opinion, carry less weight than the rest, he also included many of his photojournalistic work in a few war torn locations. Those images can be devastatingly haunting, and some of them gave me nightmares. It stops me for a while pondering how fortunate I am, to be able to view these images in a comfortable setting, even writing a little review about it. I think I am fortunate not having to be in the images. He succeeded in capturing and conveying the hopelessness, the helplessness and the tragedy behind wars. Maybe we should show these images to the politicians all over the world, especially those power-craze dictators.

If Fashion means only beautiful new clothing, this genre of photography may be too narrow-minded. To be, fashion means fashionable. And fashionable means anything, both good and bad, recent. Comte redefines the usual Fashion in the sense that these tragic events are also as recent and as fashionable as the models on the runways in Paris. It leaves me with a second thought about life.