Following in the footsteps of Cartier-Bresson and Elliott Erwitt, Craig Semetko is a connoisseur of the spontaneous moment. With a keen eye for serendipity, he captures the offbeat and the unusual to be found all around us. Each of his images intrigues us, yet lets us draw our own conclusions. Although a skilled technical artist, for him the camera is just a tool. To borrow a phrase from Henri Cartier-Bresson, "Photography is nothing--it's life that interests me." Craig Semetko's photographs have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and publications worldwide. As well as being a photographer, he is a comedic actor and writer of note.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Unposed by Craig Semetko, a new classic collection of great black and white candid "street images" in the manner of Erwitt and Cartier-Bresson, by a modern master, whose eye sees all with unflinching acuity and subtle humor.
You will enjoy this collection of images, and you will wnt to share it with many others....
It is an immensely entertaining and rewarding sequence of images for anyone who can smile at the procession of life's events...
you will love it.
Steve Barbour
You will enjoy this collection of images, and you will wnt to share it with many others....
It is an immensely entertaining and rewarding sequence of images for anyone who can smile at the procession of life's events...
you will love it.
Steve Barbour
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Zen
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is a great street photography book, displaying funny, memorable moments. Craig Semetko is indeed a modern day combination of Bresson's idea of geometry and Erwitts knack of humour, as can be seen in this book. Surpassing neither masters, the photos in this book shows his own twist while being influenced by his idols.
However, the experience shown in the photos are shortlived as the photos are split in half when it occupies two pages. This creates a void in the middle, leaving the reader unable to fully appreciate his work.
Great photos, bad book layout. I can't recommend this physical copy but it is definitely worth a look.
However, the experience shown in the photos are shortlived as the photos are split in half when it occupies two pages. This creates a void in the middle, leaving the reader unable to fully appreciate his work.
Great photos, bad book layout. I can't recommend this physical copy but it is definitely worth a look.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
'It's not where you look, it's what you see.' Paraphrasing Thoreau, this principle has guided photographers for years. By this collection Craig Semetko shows us he sees very well. It's not as easy as he makes it look. This is a book you'll come back to for lessons in how to see.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book of unposed photographs of people taken out on various streets and avenues of the world is obviously homage to Elliott Erwitt, who did the book's brief foreword, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eugene Agtet and the many other photographers who have chosen to wander the streets and byways of wherever they happen to be and people watch.
They do more than just enjoy people watching they take pictures of what they find during their endless strolls. And more than just quick grab shots taken from the hip, they often see arrangements, patterns, juxtapositions and contrasts which if simply photographed individually would not make the same statement as capturing the entire pattern so that others can see the hidden beauty, humor, life statements that the photographer has observed.
Almost all photographers pass through this stage of photography. Some people see more than others. One of the joys of photography is that it can be "Everyman and Every woman's" art form. Everyone loves people watching and everyone sees the world around them in a slightly different way. There are several wonderful examples of seeing more than the surface of a scene in this work. Some of the humor and curiosity results simply from how out-of-place some aspects of a street scene contain. "Soi Cowboy, Bangkok, Thailand, 2007" on page 70-71 of this tome shows a baby elephant strolling through a street market in Bangkok. The picture is fascinating because nobody on the street seems to give the elephant a second glance. Two young women who seem to be dressed in circus costumes are carrying on a conversation with a bored looking female clerk in one of the market stalls. That is a wonderful moment captured on film.... Read more ›
They do more than just enjoy people watching they take pictures of what they find during their endless strolls. And more than just quick grab shots taken from the hip, they often see arrangements, patterns, juxtapositions and contrasts which if simply photographed individually would not make the same statement as capturing the entire pattern so that others can see the hidden beauty, humor, life statements that the photographer has observed.
Almost all photographers pass through this stage of photography. Some people see more than others. One of the joys of photography is that it can be "Everyman and Every woman's" art form. Everyone loves people watching and everyone sees the world around them in a slightly different way. There are several wonderful examples of seeing more than the surface of a scene in this work. Some of the humor and curiosity results simply from how out-of-place some aspects of a street scene contain. "Soi Cowboy, Bangkok, Thailand, 2007" on page 70-71 of this tome shows a baby elephant strolling through a street market in Bangkok. The picture is fascinating because nobody on the street seems to give the elephant a second glance. Two young women who seem to be dressed in circus costumes are carrying on a conversation with a bored looking female clerk in one of the market stalls. That is a wonderful moment captured on film.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Sean Enright
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Semetko's photos are so vivid, so humorous and heart-breaking (often in the same moment), so captivating, that the title UNPOSED almost seems ironic. But they are just that: caught moments of unrehearsed existence, one at at time. Semetk...o's subjects seem to indicate their complicity with the moment the shutter snaps, as if these people too wanted their image preserved, at that instant, in that place of their lives, in that failing or too-bright or perfect light. This is his genius, a human touch that is both light and serious. As he comes so close to another's life, and finds the right depth and light for it, an optical dimension that can frame it with emotional sureness, he then instinctively steps back and lets life resume, before he almost off-handedly makes his photograph, at a respectful distance from the soul, always letting a spontaneous human personality resume.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Kyle Cassidy
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
There's a reason that so many of the images in Craig Semetko's book seem familiar, the figure walking past a statue in the garden of the Louvre, Buddhist monks sweeping outside a temple, a row of children jumping rope -- they seem familiar because they're the exact sort of images that we've seen from the greats of early 35mm photography like Henri Cartier Bresson. Semetko follows in that path as a successor, without being derivative, but by being consciously aware of what makes a good street photo and then being a good enough editor to know that a good street photo doesn't cut it -- it needs to be a great street photo.
Trying to not sound overly enthusiastic, which is difficult, -- this is not tepid, lukewarm street photography, every image is one you'll stare at, marveling at how all the elements came together in a precise, perfectly captured, decisive moment.
Trying to not sound overly enthusiastic, which is difficult, -- this is not tepid, lukewarm street photography, every image is one you'll stare at, marveling at how all the elements came together in a precise, perfectly captured, decisive moment.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Craig Semetko is the Mark Twain/Will Rogers of photographers. His eyes are open to those tiny moments that just happen to occur within the blink of an eye, little journeys into the realm of absurdity that are all the more treasurable because they are spontaneous and fleeting. This book of black and white photographs are immensely entertaining to look at and then re-visit because aside from the fact that they capture individuals and groups of people in little blunders, accidents, or other whoops moments that make us smile or laugh out loud, they also remind us of our own human foibles we usually try carefully to conceal.
There are street scenes - a street cleaner doing his job paying little attention to an angel sculpture wrapped in chains, A dog seated in the driver's seat of a parked car, young boys startled by the presence of a costumed caped devil at the corner of Hollywood and Highland, monks sweeping the grounds outside their temple, women laughing uncontrollably or tourists viewing an odd couple wearing eyeball head pieces, a parade of helmeted people on people scooters pacing through a Chicago park - and there are little tender moments of couples kissing by the memorial for the Unknown Soldier or in front of a museum painting of Adam and Eve.
The aspect of this collection that makes it so entertaining and endearing is the fact that none of these images were planned: these are the things that happen all around us everyday everywhere - if we just take the time to look at them. The very brief Foreword by fellow photographer Elliott Erwitt sheds some additional light on the subject, but Semetko's images speak volumes on their own! Grady Harp, November 10
There are street scenes - a street cleaner doing his job paying little attention to an angel sculpture wrapped in chains, A dog seated in the driver's seat of a parked car, young boys startled by the presence of a costumed caped devil at the corner of Hollywood and Highland, monks sweeping the grounds outside their temple, women laughing uncontrollably or tourists viewing an odd couple wearing eyeball head pieces, a parade of helmeted people on people scooters pacing through a Chicago park - and there are little tender moments of couples kissing by the memorial for the Unknown Soldier or in front of a museum painting of Adam and Eve.
The aspect of this collection that makes it so entertaining and endearing is the fact that none of these images were planned: these are the things that happen all around us everyday everywhere - if we just take the time to look at them. The very brief Foreword by fellow photographer Elliott Erwitt sheds some additional light on the subject, but Semetko's images speak volumes on their own! Grady Harp, November 10
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Carries On Tradition Of Street Photography
Unposed is a beautiful volume of black and white photographs by Craig Semetko. Although the comparisons to Henri Cartier-Bresson and Elliott Erwitt are fair and easy to make,... Read more
Published on November 24, 2010 by Daniel G. Lebryk
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best photo books in my collection
I have lots of photo books, but Craig Semetko's Unposed stands out for the quality of its photography and the human touch Craig brings to the images. Read more
Published on November 14, 2010 by Belgian Gator
5.0 out of 5 stars
UNPOSED
The first photograph in this book that touches my heart with the softest of camera-clicking fingertips is one of an overweight man, sitting at the bar of a diner, with his back... Read more
Published on November 8, 2010 by Maria Swett
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