Customer Reviews

Poolside With Slim Aarons

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

 

 

Poolside is a great collection. I am an enormous Aarons fan and have his two other currently in-print books. Poolside shows some of the once great, but now little known members of an international society which is now all but gone. Doinnes, gold-diggers, and scions comingle in glamorous pools wearing Cartier watches, gold bracelets, and the classic '70s look, the gold chain softly nestled in a bed of chest hair. Hermes beach towels and Vuitton bags hold vigle under umbrella tables, visited by bowtie clad waiters refreshing drinks for little sister as she flirts with a countryless prince. Whats keeps his work from being complete camp, is that it was all real. People trully lived these lives. They weren't acting for a camera, they were caught in that moment when they were just happening to be having cocktails in Jamaica with Mrs. so-and-so.
My only complaint is that many of the pic.s have been previously published in prior collections and others just don't have all the impact and roundness held in the selections Aarons made for the works published in his lifetime.
There are many "society" photographers. None are Slim Aarons.

I have all the other Slim Aarons pictorials and they are great. This volume is good, but many of the photos are extras not used in the other volumes. Also, there are very few celebrities represented here. Lastly, there is some odd focus on Mexico and the French and Italian Rivieras and much less on the wonderful pools and communities in the US, like Palm Beach (barely featured), Fort Lauderdale, Laguna Beach/Niguel, La Jolla, Malibu, and so many, many more. I got a good price so it's a decent addition, but definitely not as great in terms of print quality and content. You can tell right away that the photo repro quality is much poorer: when it sits beside the other volumes on your coffeee table, the colors in the cover photos don't pop like the others, rather, appearing in a slight haze.

A superb coffee-table photo book that should be in every home that can boast an in-ground swimming pool. While the images show American and European jetsetters at poolside during the 1950s to the 1990s, it does inspire us slugs in the middle class to work to achieve that oh-so ethereal (in-ground) swimming-pool lifestyle that typifies having "made it" in the modern age. Pour yourself a martini and then sit by the pool as you enjoy this book. You don't have to just dream it. Go ahead--live it. Just ask the late actor Burt Lancaster's character in the 1968 film "The Swimmer". Then you, too, can swim home.

Slim Aarons was given rare access to the super rich and he captures them perfectly in all their shallow excess: all vacuous looks and gorgeous scenery. His images are famous of course, as much for the famous people as for the art of photography. This book is not to the level of, The Place in the Sun, mainly because, as that book was comprehensive the one is..well..about being poolside with the Euro trash and American trust fund baby's. Personally, I kinda like the voyeurism his images provide, and it makes you feel glad, even with all their wealth and jet setting lives, that you are not one of them; to look back on your life and know that all you did was spend money and jet set would be pathetic indeed. Overall, good book, interesting text and quality images, but the other book on Aarons is better.

If you love the era of photography you will love this book. Takes you back in time. I love it.

I love this book and the price is very good. It arrived on time and in perfect conditions. Nice to have it on my coffee table.

Beautiful photography of poolside scenes from across the world.
Fun and mostly unstaged, lovely locations and fashion.

The book arrived in good time and was in good condition. There was a small nick on the cover.

Considering I paid a bout a third of the retail price for a second hand book, I was very happy with my purchase and the book.

Thanks again

Poolside is a wonderfull journey back in time with sometimes perfect architecture of the surrounding buildings. Most of the names were not familiar for me of the jet set people but it sure gives great value for money. If you like the coloursettings of "Thunderbirds" or "I dream of Jeannie" this is a book worthwile.
Did people in those days have more class & civilisation than nowadays? If you liked "Back to the future" than you will like Poolside!

The book is brand stinking new and PERFECTLY PERFECT! Gorgeous - thank you!