In My Stairwell [Hardcover]

Mark Seliger (Photographer), Lou Reed (Contributor), Matthew Barney (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2005

The stairwell of New York photographer Mark Seliger may be unadorned, decidedly offstage, and very small, but the creativity of so many talented people jammed into one space is enormous. Each artist, dancer, and writer brings a different personality to the room, and Seliger captures that spirit in each photograph. From Paul McCartney to Susan Sarandon, from Tom Wolfe to Lou Reed, all of the participants in this project demonstrate the greatest integrity and highest creativity in their crafts. Other memorable portraits include those of Tony Hawk, Richard Serra, Bill Irwin, Laurie Anderson, and Lenny Kravitz. All 75 photographs were printed with a turn-of-the-century platinum palladium photographic process, a procedure that results in a highly detailed, rich texture. The images are printed in tritone. Fred Woodward, the prominent New York designer of Rolling Stone and such ground-breaking books as Crazy, Sexy, Cool, is the mastermind behind the book's cutting-edge design.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Ah, the beautiful people! Their faces and circumstances change, individually and historically, but they seem always to be with us.Today's beautiful people are performers, not aristocrats and plutocrats. They exist to be seen, and, incapable of relaxing, they are always "on." Because few are classically good-looking, they are best photographed elaborately prepared, artificially lit, and in severely controlled settings. Seliger obliges them almost completely. He shoots every one of them in the skylighted elevator shaft--"three brick walls and a crown of sun"--he uncovered when renovating his studio in Manhattan's downtown. The first two subjects are those shar-peis of rock, Jagger and Richards, guaranteeing that beauty in any normative, let alone ideal, sense is banished immediately. Each subject is expressively posed and accoutered, many are nude (fortunately, most of these thereby put on their best faces, so to speak), and if you haven't heard of some of them, you're not a New Yorker. In black and white on 11-by-14-inch pages, they look marvelous, gorgeous, fantastic. But beautiful? Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Until recently, Mark Seliger was the Chief Photographer of Rolling Stone, Us, and Men's Journal for more than ten years. Born in Amarillo, Texas, Mark Seliger now lives and works in New York for Condé Nast Publications, including GQ and Vanity Fair. His previous publications include Tattoo Nation: Portraits of Celebrity Body Art (2002), Hip Hop Immortals (2002), Lenny Kravitz (2001), Physiognomy: The Mark Seliger Photographs (1999), and Crazy, Sexy, Cool (1996).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli (October 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847827607
• ISBN-13: 978-0847827602
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 1.3 x 15.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,304,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good idea - well executed, March 2, 2007

By 

Mark Douglas (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In My Stairwell (Hardcover)

The concept is simple... Mark Seliger found an abandoned stairwell attached to his studio which had a huge skylight above it. He took some shots with his subjects in the room and then it became his new favourite place to shoot.

It's 170 pages or so and the photogaphs are easily as entertaining as those in his portfolio showcase book, 'Physiognomy'. Mick Jagger, Jerry Seinfeld, Susan Sarandon.... The staircase is the same in every shot, but it's what the celebrity can do with the space that is interesting. The stairwell really does provide a mechanism to make the shot look great and also shift complete focus to the subject.

The book is massive in height which is great because the prints of the images are HUGE! Almost A3 size I think. And from an educational point-of-view I love this book because it shows that while shooting celebrities, and using film, you can still get that point of focus off and still call the image acceptable.

Its expensive, but is also beautiful and highly collectable.

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book, August 20, 2011

By 

Steve Azzara (Bronx, NY, US) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In My Stairwell (Hardcover)

I really love this book. Seliger is always great but to fill a whole book of images all shot in the same spot like this and hold the viewers attention to the very end isn't an easy task but he has done that. I own 3 copies. One is signed and put away. One is just for me to look at and the 3rd is in my studio for anyone to look at.