Customer Reviews

Nightswimming

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

 

 

This book is a great idea. Steven Barker went into the sex clubs of NYC and documented what happens there. Using only avalible light, the long shutter speeds transform human figures into shadow creatures and smoke shapes. Grainy, impressionistic photos are hobbled by a heavy handed design layout. It seems that some pictures were picked not on their strength but on the ability to fill empty space. I waited a long time for this book to come out and was disappointed with the product. I wouldn't buy this if I was able to flip through it beforehand. It's too bad because what intriqued me about this book was the subject matter and the mysterious world therein. What I got was overdone, dilluted, and, dull.

I was drawn to this book by its bold concept, and was pleased to see a beautifully produced book. Unfortunately, the potential of available light photography is stretched here beyond breaking point. The images are mostly nondescript blurs that could have been shot almost anywhere--except for the fleeting hints of naked men. I guess this book is sort of a Rorschach test. Apparently, some see genius in the writhing light and shadow. I see underwhelming photos in attractive packaging.

Sorry, hate to differ with the other reviewers but you have to really like barely visible images on black pages to appreciate this work. I don't. Dreamy? Perhaps. Or is just the latest gimmick to be differen? The book itself is handsome but the almost invisible characters inside are doing something but I can't quite make out what it is. I give it an "A" for presentation and an "F" for photographic content.

I'd heard about this book before it came out, and was excited to see it how somebody could picture a scene that for me was always intensely private, almost dreamlike. The result is everything I hoped for-not cheap or embarrassing, but erotic, evocative and provoking. Before I saw the book, I wondered about spending so much on something that was probably going to live with the porn magazines stashed under my bed. But this book is art, and I'm proud to have it in the open so that my friends can also enjoy these beautiful photographs, which take gay moments that are usually only discussed in sensationalist terms and capture the fleeting beauty, and often near-silent power. Barker is a genius!

This gorgeous book is a collection of photos taken by Mr. Barker in places where cameras usually do not go: NYC sex clubs. It is not a pornographic account of his exploits. It's a romantic dream of disaggregated images, a book of hunger, longing and intense desire. There is a religious aspect to these images, almost ghost-like forms searching and longing. I highly recommend it.

There is not much to say about this book: a series of murky images of naked men printed on high quality black stock paper.

I am sure that this made for an interesting opening at an art gallery but without more explanation about the artist or a more comprehensive artist's statement, much of the impact is lost.

Passing by the art section in good bookstores I kept noting people paging through a dark black book about night and swimming or something like that. It stayed in my mind's eye. After reading "Nighswimmer" by Joseph Olshan and still a bit under its spell I finally picked up this art photography book. Now I've spent time inside the place the book creates and find it wholly mesmerizing. Yes, the images are tough to discern.....like looking for faces in the fog much the way lust feels after midnight. But it is the spontaneity of the moments and the sensitivity of the layout of the book that create a shoreline of approaching and receding waves: this is the way longing feels and looks. Though spare, the commentary is as terse as nervous whispers and adds greatly to the overall effect of this journey. Can't see much here? Then as in all good art, infuse your imagination and go where it feels either best or most dangerous. I like this book.

I don't buy expensive books usually, so before I got this, I wasn't sure it was wise. After I saw these fantastic pictures, I knew I'd made the right choice. When my friend clumsily got in the car and stepped on the book, I almost killed him. I want to save these beautiful pictures and enjoy them for many days-and nights-to come.

I loved this book, it is more beautiful the further you go and the more images you see... leaves you with much to think about and a feeling of beauty and romance for the work. A photographer who has something to show us, thanks for making work for us to see and a book for us to afford