Passage: Europe [Hardcover]

Philip Levine (Author), Richard Copeland Miller (Author, Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2000 | ISBN-10: 1888899050 | ISBN-13: 978-1888899054

This is a rare and beautiful lyric poem through the medium of photography. Richard Copeland Miller's haunting images reveal his incisive and compassionate vision of the mysteries and realities of everyday life. The book brings together profound images from the streets and countryside of Europe in a touching portrayal of the human condition. With an unflinching yet sensitive eye, Miller captures the random dramas of daily existence, interspersing the sweetness of life with the struggle for survival. Miller's photographs reveal the movement and rhythm of life, the fleeting details and mysteries unfolding in common places and chance moments. His photographs embody the ineffable spirit of every man, every woman, and every child who fights for life in a troubled world. Miller's Photographs, glimpses of brief moments in time, are revealing in their depth as they expose truths, half-truths, and sometimes imagined stories.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The title Passage: Europe shouldn't be construed to suggest tourist travel. Miller's pensive black-and-white photographs, all but one taken in Latin and Slavic Europe, instead bring to mind Europe's historical journey through the twentieth century. The poet Philip Levine picks up on this implication in his imaginative two-page afterword, which spins a story of personal loss out of an image of an old woman, whose face bears a pained expression, and her reflection in a window. Most of the people Miller shows us are old, exhausted-looking, often bowed or stooped at labor; they are ready to rest. The few children are dwarfed by architecture or nearly swallowed by darkness. In many pictures, soft focus and either long exposure or slight movement of the camera conjure an atmosphere of blurring and dissolving toward death. Death itself is just out-of-frame in several high-contrast scenes of the Nazi concentration camp at Birkenau, preserved as a Holocaust memorial. These pictures are the still, sad music of humanity made visible. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Richard Copeland Miller

Product Details

• Hardcover: 85 pages
• Publisher: Lodima Pr (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888899050
• ISBN-13: 978-1888899054
• Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 12.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,010,483 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:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captured images famed within an historical context, March 16, 2001

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Passage: Europe (Hardcover)

Passage: Europe is an impressive, powerful, at times surprising coffee table artbook compendium of 80 superbly produced black and white photographs by Richard Copeland Miller as he traveled for years throughout Europe. With his artist's eye Miller captures the unplanned and unexpected dramas of everyday life ranging from the joyous experiences of ordinary people to horrific images of the Holocaust. Very highly recommended for photography students, and an ideal Memorial Fund selection for community libraries, Passage: Europe is enhanced with an insightful, informative introduction by Philip Levine revealing the core of Miller's photographic vision and his captured images famed within an historical context.