Customer Reviews

Pure (Anne Geddes)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I confess I was expecting more darling babies in flower pots--after all, Anne Geddes has built her name with "cute" baby photography.

PURE, however, is totally different, more powerful, and GREAT. Instead of photographing babies in a cute but posed way (baby as pumpkin, baby as flower, etc.), these photographs are all about photograping babies as BABIES. Some photos look as though they were taken in the womb (an illusion created with lighting and background). Others are delicate photos of the itsiest newborns. I love the photos with a man's strong hands and a delicate baby's head..it's a contrast of strength and vulnerability.

I saw her on 20/20 and they showed how some of these photographs were done. Unbelievable!

Check this one out.

Having been a longtime fan of Anne Geddes work, I was amazed by the powerful images included in her new work PURE. The revealing images include some photographs made to look like they are actually taken in the womb-absolutely breathtaking and inspiring.

This would have been a great approach if real mothers were photographed with their own children. As I read the names of the `mothers' and the babies it became apparent what a staged affair this is. We could only find one immediately postpartum woman. Apparently Anne is not above our culture's belief that women must be thin to be attractive. Pregnancy and postpartum body shapes are interesting, natural, and beautiful to those that understand the complex beauty of childbirth. Anne, given her standing as a photographer, missed a great opportunity to portray what is natural is truly beautiful and worth pondering. In many ways I am not comfortable with this book on my coffeetable.

WOW. I liked the "babies-in-flowerpots" Anne Geddes, so I picked up her new book Pure. It's stunning. The babies and the women are just breathtaking. This book seems to be a departure from her previous stuff. For one thing, besides babies, it also explores and celebrates pregnancy. (Anne Geddes even makes stretch marks look beautiful--one photo of a very pregnant tummy is taken from an angle that shows the pattern of the woman's stretch marks like the markings on a tiger or the stripes on a watermelon, or the whorl of hair on Geddes's birds-eye-view photos of the tops of babies' heads.) My favorites are the photos where images of babies are superimposed on images of women's bodies, showing how they fit inside. There are even a couple photos showing babies juxtaposed against images of pelvic bones and spinal columns. It's really illuminating. But mostly it's just beautiful.

PURE is filled w/beautiful photography of newborns. For anyone tired of babies in flowerpots, be sure to check out this book before you judge it. I was suprised by this book and really love what Anne Geddes has done in this one.

While Anne Geddes definately takes brilliant newborn shots, and this book is a welcome departure from her other work, I found her treatment of the women very poor. For example, one model named Emma, appears to be a victim of starvation. And it's particularly disturbng to see Emma with her ribs and hipbone protruding from her body cradling a newborn with the title, "love" or "pure" beneath. The babies' ages are listed in the caption of each picture, it would have been really interesting to see a truthful representation of a mother after 2 days or 2 weeks as well as the baby. Alas, another example of our culture's insistance that women, at no time ever should have an ounce of fat on their bodies.

I'm not much for the cutesy babies-as-vegetable-and-flower motif of Geddes' earlier works. But, I randomly flipped through this book and loved it! I was truly surprised.

The photos, reminiscent of different stages of birth, are beautiful AND artistic. They celebrate the creation of life and the true beauty of babies (rather than imposing "cutsey-ness" on them). Bravo! I would recommend this book as a gift of any woman that is expecting. It will make her feel special and beautiful as she goes through those sometimes difficult nine months.

I'll grant you that Anne can take some good pictures of babies but this book is "Pure" BS. If you want to show the joy and miracle that is the bringing forth of new life show it in a realistic forum. The only thing I saw in this book was a disgusting glorification of how our society feels women should look even if they have a baby. As a mother I am deeply offended and upset by these images. This is a gross, hollow misrepresentation of how mothers and children should be. I doubt any of these models even have children themselves. You cannot capture the magic of motherhood in a cold studio with a shallow anorexic model posing as something she is so obviously not. Where are all the stretch marks, the baby fat, the look of shear exhaustion outweighed by the unimaginable joy of the new life that we've brought into the world.

I actually looked at this book as I sat in my midwife's office preparing to give birth to my second child. What a terrible way to depict postpartum women! Please, don't anyone think that a woman who has just had a baby looks like any of these women. The images made me feel insecure and defensive about the way my body was looking at the time and the way I knew it would look in the weeks after I had my son. I would much rather see the REAL mothers with their babies, flab, curves, mushy stomachs and all. THEN and ONLY THEN would we see the pure love and devotion that exists between a mother and her child.

This new book from Anne Geddess is absolutely stunning. Anne strays from her "cutesy baby" formula and the result is truly beautiful artwork. PURE features both color and black & white photographs of the different stages of pregnancy and motherhood - from the first moments in the womb to photos of the tiniest newborns. PURE perfectly captures the natural essence of the creation of life. Beautiful!