Customer Reviews

Physiognomy: The Mark Seliger Photographs

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Physiognomy is "discovering temperment and character from outward appearance." Mark Seliger in the epilogue talks about how he sees his role as a photographer as to "deliver the essence." These portraits of celebrities magnificently fulfill that mission.

Before going further, let me note that this book contains much discrete male and female nudity, some violent images, and one impolite gesture. If this book were a movie, it would probably receive an "R" rating.

Mark Seliger is one of the very best of the current celebrity phtographers, a talent that has won him the role of chief photographer for both Rolling Stone and Us. You will enjoy both Mr. Seliger's epilogue, where he describes the development of his career, and Eric Bogosian's introductory commentary on the book's contents. Both explore the notion of finding the reality of the person's character.

Mr. Seliger has a particularly playful side that is wonderfully displayed in the book. For example, his portrait of Keith Richard makes him look like a jealous wife flirting with the image of a brooding Mick Jagger. In another case, the energy of Ringo Starr's drumming is captured by displaying him with four arms, hands, and drum sticks! One of the most humorous is an opening sequence of a bare Ben Stiller, first as an ape-man, then as a human.

The facing pages are brilliant. In most situations, they mirror each other by either portraying the same image, but with a different style, or having the two images interact as though they were one image.

One of Mr. Seliger's strengths is that he has a wide range of talent. His color photographs are powerfully effective in ways that most photographers can only accomplish in black-and-white. He can also do simple face shots, or complex compositions. I can think of no other currently popular photographer with nearly this range of effective style. One of my favorite examples of this range is that he has a beautiful shot of Jennifer Aniston in the buff, discretely displayed. At first you are inclined to think of it as a "beauty" shot, and then suddenly you realize that it's really a play on all of those photographs that parents take of their young children lying bare on a rug.

Mr. Seliger is equally adept at the dark side. Sean Penn's volatile personality is nicely captured in a brooding photograph of him pulling on a cigarette. Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg show up looking like they are relaxing during a rumble looking for trouble. "Don't mess with me" is written all over their faces and bodies.

Here are some of my other favorites:

Fiona Apple, Los Angeles, 1997

Bob Dylan, Los Angeles, 1998

Michael J. Fox, Burlington, Vermont, 1993

Merle Haggard, Lake Shasta, California, 1994

Billy Bob Thornton, Toronto, 1997

Bob Dylan, New York City, 1995

Pat Conroy, Charleston, South Carolina, 1995

Charlize Theron, New York City, 1997

Jerry Seinfeld, Los Angeles, 1998

Will Smith, Los Angeles, 1997

Winona Ryder, New York City, 1997

Jerry Seinfeld, Los Angeles, 1994

Drew Barrymore, Bell, California, 1994

There is another way to think about Physiognomy. People who have studied Neuro-Linguistic Programming argue the opposite way, that physiology becomes psychology. Repeated psychology becomes a habit, and the build-up of habits becomes a character. Spend some time thinking about how you hold your body. Test out how those positions and facial expressions affect you mentally, and how that influences your behavior.

Pose for best advantage . . . to others and to the development of your own character!

this book is incredible. if you are a subscriber to rolling stone magazine, and have ever noticed a photograph that is simply amazing, it is probably the work of mark seliger. if you buy this book, you will be able to see hundreds of pages of these intriguing photographs, some involving vivid use of color, and others utilizing the intimacy of black and white photography.

when you first get this book, you will set it down, read it from cover to cover, be solidly amazed, and then promptly read it again from cover to cover.

i know nothing about photography, but you don't need to in order to appreciate seliger's appealing, beautiful pictures. i would suggest that anyone buy this book.

You may be like me and wondering which of the Seliger books to buy? He has this one, a couple of US MAGAZINE books with Drew Barrymore on the covers, but let me tell you now - THIS IS THE BOOK YOU BUY! It has the US MAGAZINE pictures and more.

It''s huge in dimensions and page count! The quality is great, but if you know who Mark Seliger is then you know that already. The paper is mid-weight and the colour reproduction is excellent.

My only gripe is that after a year I've torn the dust cover because the book is so huge it's easy for the cover to slip off a bit and get caught on something. So if you want the cover in good condition forever maybe you should take it off when looking at the book.

Want a look at some of the photos in the book? Go to www.markseliger.com

This book is goregeous to look at: the photographs are amazing (and printed HUGE so you can get a good look at the detail), and Seliger's ideas are phenomenal -- who would've thought to dress the cast of Seinfeld up as the characters from Wizard of Oz? Genius!

Whenever I have friends over to my home, people inevitably end up flipping through this book and being fascinated by the photography inside. Every time I look at it, I notice something new, or another photograph catches my eye, no matter how many times I've seen it before. This is a book you will look through many times, and whether you're a fan of the musicians and actors (and other famous folks) that Seliger photographed or you're a shutterbug yourself, you'll find something to take away from these amazing pieces of art.

My only complaint is that the book is a little odd-sized and probably won't fit on a standard size bookshelf (luckily, Amazon gives you the dimensions here, so that's a help).

This is the only book I know of that will give me goose bumps every single time I look thru it. Mark Seliger captures something brillant in every photograph in this book. What an amazing gift he has. If you or anyone you knows is a fan of photography or of music this book is a M-U-S-T!!!! You just CAN NOT go wrong with this book.

Mark Seliger presents us with a beautiful collection of photographs of well-know individuals and groups. This "picture-only" coffee table book is full of imaginative portraits that truly capture the subject at his/her/their finest! This book would be a bargain at twice the price!

I'm not a photographer or know anything about photography, but I do know that the pictures in this book were so vivid that they are now tatooed in the back of my mind..I wanted to tear them out and put them all over my ceiling so I could look at them while I was in bed....but then I'd hafta buy another...oh well...it's worth it

The only thing better than owning Mark Seliger's Physiognomy is owning two copies of his great photographic collection. This guy sits in the halls with Leibovitz and LaChapelle. Buy it, you'll like it.

The photographs in Mark Seliger's newly published collection are exquisite. He understands, more than anyone, how to capture the essence of the particular celebrities he celebrates. And the picture of BRAD PITT in a dress, sauntering casually beside a showcase car is OUT OF THIS WORLD! The book is a marvel --- from cover to cover! A++++++++++++++

Awesome book that you can show off! The photos will suprise you, make you laugh out loud or even get a little misty eyed........Okay maybe not misty eyed.....Worth it!