Customer Reviews

Picture This!: The Inside Story and Classic Photos of UPI Newspictures

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Everyone who picks up a newspaper is used to seeing photos credited to the Associated Press (AP). Not so long ago, United Press International (UPI) photographers worked the trenches "shoulder to shoulder" with their AP rivals.

UPI's rise and fall has been chronicled by other journalists, but this is the first tribute to its incredible wealth of photographic history. Although underpaid and overworked, UPI photographers and photo editors churned out remarkable visuals.

In Picture This, Haynes has assembled an amazing collection of black-and-white photos that is a mere representation of the more than 11-million photos contained in archives preserved by Bill Gates' Corbis group. Like history itself, the mood of the photos range from humorous to somber to devastating to profound. This is not a volume for the faint of heart, as some of the photos stem from intense tragedy; but these images should never be forgotten.

Words cannot describe what UPI--and AP--photographers have endured to record history as it happens. To that, the rest of the world owes them an everlasting debt of gratitude.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
9/4/2006

My husband worked for UPI Newspictures from 1961 to l981 and shared the ups and downs of UPI and Gary Haynes has captured the story of the wonderful photographers and their work who were always out numbered by the AP and were able to compete and win many stories by sheer determination. UPI Newspictures had a great planner,Charley McCarty who out thought the oposition and two fantastic photo editors Ted Majeski and Larry Desantis who could find the best images on the film they edited. This books shows some of the photos they found on the film made by the hardworking photographers who never were willing to let the AP beat them. Thanks to Gary Haynes for putting it all in this book.

Gary Haynes' book, Picture This, is as wonderful as dicovering the Mobius Strip. One carefully explores the wonderfully detailed black and white photographs and ends up (without even thinking about it) at the beginning again. Teachers of history should have this book available because it shows just what humanity found to be visually riveting. The pictures range from shots of terrible, horrific destruction to the delightfully ridiculous.

If you are as old as I, you like renewing old friends, the pictures that adorned newspapers in the days before TV. {Some even after.}The author has presented us with the best of United Press International, the best of the old news bureaus. Each picture is a masterpiece of telling visually a piece of news. From the tennis players on the wing of the flying plane to JFK in a rare hat, the shots amuse. Some of the other ones still horrify. All are interesting and the author tells a lot about many of them. Well, if Walter Cronkite does the Introduction, you know the book is a rare view of news gathering by skilled photographers. Get some copies for your children, too. You might even give some to your local school library. Great work.

As a reporter and editor at UPI (1970s), I wax nostalgic for the old service and will buy any book produced by a fellow alum. A picture book -- okay, I thought, good for the coffee table or powder room. But I was delighted when I opened the cover and poured over the hundreds of amazing photos that told a visual story of the 20th Century. Remember "Dewey Defeats Truman"? It's all here, it's more than a coffee table book. It's something my kids are already enjoying and I believe their kids will one day discover with delight. Way to go Gary!

If you like pictures - news pictures that tell a story even after 70 years - you'll love "Picture This! The Inside Story and Classic Photos of UPI Newspictures." If you like good captions that flesh out the images with background information, you'll love Picture This!. The book of 238 black-and-white photographs, written and compiled by Gary Haynes with a foreword by Walter Cronkite, showcases the work of UPI's band of aggressive, talented and serious photojournalists who chronicled the life of the world in images that resonate even after 70 years.

You'll recognize the world-famous photograph of a saluting John-John Kennedy following the funeral of his father and discover the photo of the Dionne quintuplets and the image of George H.W. Bush campaigning in a Chicago suburb.

I have no vested interest in whether you buy Picture This! and never met Gary Hayes. But, I was a newsman with United Press International for 18 years in four states and I am, obviously, partial to UPI and have a sense of the toil and trouble UPI photographers encountered in chronicling news events.

A word of warning, however. When you try leafing through this book with the intention of spending only a few minutes, you will find yourself stopping to peruse an image, reading a caption and re-discovering, and perhaps discovering, forgotten events. Invariably, you will ask yourself: What was I doing at that moment in time, captured by a UPI photojournalist.

Unfortunately, Picture This! does not have the glitz and glitter of a huge table top book. Perhaps, however, that is the charm of a wire service book that underscores the art of black-and-white photographs and the talents of UPI photographers worldwide. These pictures and these photographers never tried to be pretty or charming, only tell a true, accurate story.

PICTURE THIS! THE INSIDE STORY AND CLASSIC PHOTOS OF UPI NEWSPICTURES comes from a veteran syndicate editor and photographer who pairs the best of UPI news photos with an insider's account of the stories behind them. But it's more than just a gathering of key photos linked to major news stories: it follows the wire service industry as a whole, providing a history of its development and evolution, competition with other news services, and how its library ended up in a Pennsylvania cave. An outstanding survey essential for any student of journalism.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

We all take the camera for granted ;but someone having a camera availible at the right time and place;has meant that memorable moments and events have been recorded for posterity.There are many books that have tried to sum up the best photographs of the Century;some are very average,some are very good,and some are excellent;this one is that type.
I often wondered which I would choose if I had to pick 3 favorite photographs.It is very difficult;but three that come to mind immediately,and I don't really know why,are;

The Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima ,as the best photograph from
the Second World War.

Oswald being shot in Dallas,probably since iI saw it "live" on TV.

and,

Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to President Kennedy,again
watched "live" on TV.

Anyway those are my picks,but with a little more thought,I could think of others just as momentous;such as the collasping of the World Trade Center on 9/11;which I watched being built;when I worked in the next block at the corner of Broadway Ave. & Nassau St.
UPI published many of the great photographs of the Century and if you've wondered what happened to all their 11.5 million photographs;they ended up in a cave in Pennsylvania,owned by Bill Gates's Corbus.
Gary Haynes has put together this wonderful collection from these archives ,along with comments on the photographs,circumstances and photographers.
In this large book of 256 pages and 238 B&W photographs, Haynes will enthrall you and bring back many memories. You'll remember seeing many of them,you may have even watched sone take place (live or on TV);and others will be new to you.But one thing is for sure,you'll enjoy this remarkable collection.
Here are some of what is included;

The Hindenbury exploding in 1937.

Barrels of wine being dumped in the gutter in Los Angeles,in the
1920's.

The KKK parade in Long Branch,NJ,on July 4,1924.

Truman holding up the Chicago Times announcing "Dewey Defeats Truman"
November 3,1948.

People viewing John Dillinger on a slab,July,1934.

Rare photograph of JFK in a hat;and not the top hat at the Inaugural.

Hermann Goering ,accustomed to ostentatious luxury,eating from a tin
plate during a break in his Neurenberg tria.

JFK and Sinatra as best of pals.

President Truman playing a tune with Lauren Bacall draped across the
piano.

Louis Armstrong serenading his wife Lillian in front of the Sphinx.

and even some humor ,such as;

Lee Travino ,emerging from a rough ,holding a large snake on the end of
his club.Though it was a prank rubber snake,it always startled the
bystanders.
What a wonderful collection of photographs and many thanks to both Haynes for putting them together and least, but not all,to the photographers who took them.

The pictures were marvelous and the captions and accompanying text brought the history back to life. I'm no good at reviews, but I definitely enjoyed the book. It brought back memories from history class and childhood, and it was fascinating to read about the inner workings of a news service.

A bookful of surprises -- the story of fabled UPI newspictures and its photographers who for more than 30 years gave heartburn to the better-financed Associated Press
by beating their socks off. Large format, 256 pages, with more than 200 of UPI's great photos. All-new captions explain each photo and add perspective. Walter Cronkite, as did many American journalists over 55,began his career with UP (no I in those days) wrote the Foreword. The last chapter, Photo Tales, are photographer's "backstories" behind some UPI pictures. Photo "chapters" on news, sports, wars, entertainment, features. Broad appeal to photographers, historians, schools, journalists - a book you go back to. I'm the "author" but the text is just 20 pages-the remaining 235 or so display the great photos that made UPI such a formidable adversary of AP, 24/7, until UPI was bought and frittered away.