Customer Reviews

Stones in the Road: Photographs of Peru

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

 

 

"Anyone thinking of going to Peru or, for that matter any Andean Republic, on a photographic assignment should study this author and photographer's work with great care. He demonstrates great empathy with the people he photographs--his main subject-matter. The photographer should be heartily congratulated for his exceptional ability to study and understand his subject-matter, achieve spontaneity and yet at the same time maintain high standards of composition and outstanding technical quality."

"For the lover of peopled enigmas and tonally rich photos splashed big across two pages, this book is a find, a breath of contemplative art in a fast-forward video world. Alexanian's pictures are metaphors. Read them like poems."

"I believe we, reportage photographers of the human condition, have a moral duty to get as close as we can to the people we photograph and to draw attention to all the dignity in the world, as Nubar Alexanian has managed to do so well in this book. It gave me immense pleasure to see my Latin-American people portrayed with so much tenderness."

"Alexanian's 56 photographs, many of them double-page spreads, are simple, powerful, and reveal the dignity of a people coping with life under difficult conditions. His concise introduction is complemented by the poem of Jose Maria Arguedas (1911-69) which creates a powerful tension between the old and the modern in Peru."

If you've been to Lima or the highlands of Peru or are planning to go, this book is a great choice. The photos are taken mainly in Cusco, Lima, and Chinchero, a town near Cusco. They look to be mainly from the 80s and are all in black-and-white. They're beautiful, and I especially enjoyed looking through them after I returned from my trip to Cusco. Most of the photos (maybe all) are of people; I felt it really captured the spirit of the people. This is the best book of Peruvian photographs that I have found.

"...an authentic expression of our geography and our people making at the same time a personal statement which is artistically original and morally compelling."