Naked Los Angeles [Paperback]

Greg Friedler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 17, 1998

In this unique and startling collection of portraits following Naked New York, we see the "beautiful people" of Los Angeles first clothed, then completely naked.

The people of Los Angeles are men and women of all shapes, ages, colors, and professions living in a city famed for its Hollywood glamour and perpetual summer. Photographed outdoors we see a magician, screenwriter, trapeze artist, unemployed surfer, filmmaker, casting director, aerospace engineer, and many more. This serious and, at the same time, amusing group of portraits shows the surprising differences and not so surprising similarities we have to one another clothed and unclothed. Unlike traditional nude photography, these portraits don't have erotic or sexual overtones; they are simply real people who reveal both their clothed public selves and their naked private selves. Greg Friedler's work as a documentary photographer is a kind of anthropological survey of people. If clothing is a voluntary choice, unclothed we see people in an involuntary state—we see their bodies as we see their faces, unmasked. These images are at once deeply intimate and refreshingly matter of fact. 75 duotone photographs

Editorial Reviews

Review

Greg Friedler's photographs...go a long way toward explaining why the fashion industry has such a hold on us. The simple truth is--judging from this book anyway--most of us look better in clothes. And we're not all exactly supermodels. Friedler's ordinary Joes and Janes answered an ad to pose both fully dressed and buck-naked. The result--a follow-up to his "Naked New York"--is fascinating an altogether consoling. "Anatomically incorrect" has never looked so right. -- Time Out New York, 14 January 1999

About the Author

Greg Friedler is a commercial and fine-art photographer whose work has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies, including the Los Angeles Times Magazine, the Washington Post, Nerve, and The New Nude. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (December 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393318745
• ISBN-13: 978-0393318746
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,774,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What does the girl next door look like with her clothes off?, October 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Naked Los Angeles (Paperback)

This book taps into the deepest part of human curiosity, namely what does everybody around you look like with their clothes off. It's like ordering the x-ray glasses from the back of the comic book and having them really work! When I got this book I sat for hours with a couple of friends fighting over which page to look at, making comments on this photo or that one, engaged in discussions of whether tattooed people where more likely to want to take their clothes off, etc. It is a very honest and straightforward look at people's most intimate side and very well shot. Definitely worth buying.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Novel Idea, January 17, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Naked Los Angeles (Paperback)

Grab this book while you can. The NAKED LONDON book is out of print already.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NAKED IS NATURAL, January 9, 2003

By 

MONTGOMERY (WASHINGTON, DC - U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Naked Los Angeles (Paperback)

Besides what may be its voyeur value for some, "NAKED LOS ANGELES" also shows what it is to be real and unvarnished. The naked self that many of us see in the morning before we dress for the day, though many of us are at times loathe to embrace and accept it. Friedler, through this book, shows us people who are brave and honest enough to throw off pretense and bare themselves unabashedly. Well done! Take heart when reading this book and be proud of your naked self, too.