Magnum Stories (Hardcover)

~ Chris Boot (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Imagine having 61 widely published photographers from around the world candidly discuss their careers and beliefs while showing you key images from their portfolios. That is the engaging concept of Magnum Stories. From Iran-born Abbas (whose career began with a series about the Vietcong in the 1970s) to Patrick Zachmann (who has documented the lives of Malian immigrants in his native France), each photographer is given ample space to talk about his or her work. Editor Chris Boot accompanies the interviews with a brief explanation of the cultural or political background of each suite of images. The one thing the interviewees have in common is past or current membership in Magnum, a photographers' cooperative founded in 1947 by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson and David Seymour as a means of breaking free from the editorial tyranny of Life and other photo-based magazines. Boot's introduction deftly summarizes Magnum's history and the practicalities of postwar photography. The presence of vintage "Magnum stories" by such photographers as Erich Hartmann ("Our Daily Bread") and W. Eugene Smith ("Country Doctor") adds a welcome historical dimension. While the founding generation were mostly photo-journalists who organized their images into visual "stories," today's members often pursue topics of personal interest with photographs that do not relate a straightforward narrative. These topics range from outlaw biker gangs in the U.S. (Dennis Stock) to the mountain peoples of Laos, Guatemala and Georgia (John Vink), from the tacky seaside resort of New Brighton in Liverpool, England (Martin Parr) to Siberian prison camps (Carl De Keyzer). With nearly 800 illustrations, this distinctive, square-format book offers a kaleidoscopic survey of the many faces of documentary photography. —-Cathy Curtis

Product Description

This book explores the ‘photo story’ through 61 master classes by some of the world’s greatest photographers, all members of the international photographic agency Magnum. Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold, Elliott Erwitt and their colleagues use the photo story as a vehicle to explain their approach to taking and editing photographs. It is about the Magnum photographers, their subjects and their approaches to photography in general and to the particular form of the photo story. The book will also comprise a history of Magnum practice and photojournalism over a 70-year period.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (December 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714842451
• ISBN-13: 978-0714842455
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 11.2 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,905 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #25 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Criticism & Essays
  #46 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > History
  #77 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Photojournalism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stories -- get to know them better, April 30, 2007

By	Tom - See all my reviews

This book is not your usual photo book -- it's real value and what makes it different is the stories inside. Inside, 61 Magnum photographers have written 2-page story about themselves, about why they take pictures, how they work etc. As the book also features photos and/or photo story from each photographer, they also share "inside" information about presented pictures and their background.

I truly recommend this book to all people who have serious interest in documentary photography and like reading/seeing interviews with photographers. If you just want to see pictures and not interested in personalities, then perhaps you should take a look at Magnum Degrees or other similar books.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Anthology Of Decisive Moments, May 19, 2007

By	Thomas Edwards (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This is a brilliant anthology of the "decisive moments" of the collective individuals who made up the legendary photo agency, Magnum.

Magnum Stories allows one to peer into the mind's eye of the most influential photojournalists of the 20th Century; part history book (as Rodger would have intended), part art book (as HCB would have intended), part photographic teaching book (as Capa would have intended), part autobiography(ies) book, and all at a price that Chim would have appreciated.

One is encouraged to read (simultaneously, if possible) Russell Miller's "Magnum - Fifty Years At The Front Line Of History" to complete the "Big Picture" of the individual Decisive Moments to fully understand the impact of the brilliant artifice constructed by Capa, Chim, HCB and Rodger in that noteworthy spring of 1947.

That said, one would have wished that the other significant actors in the House of Magnum, such as Ernest Haas, Sebastiao Salgado and Mary-Ellen Mark, would have been included in Magnum Stories. Otherwise - Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unreadable, September 5, 2008

By	Peter Randall - See all my reviews

I was looking forward to this book, to read it and add it to my large photo book collection. Many of the greatest photographers of the 20th century belonged to Magnum, but they have been failed by this poorly designed book. The type is too small and stretches into the gutters. Shame on the designers and the publisher for producing what should have been a great book. I returned mine!