Evidence of My Existence (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: photo department, White House, World Report, Lonely Planet (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Set against a backdrop of the most stunning settings the world has
to offer—from India to Antarctica—Evidence of My Existence
is an intimate and intricate exploration of ambition and the
difficult decisions artists are forced to make in search of a balance
between work, the love of work, and love itself. Jim Lo Scalzo
serves as a brilliant guide—by turns hilarious and heart-torn—
and has created a masterful memoir, an exquisite debut!” —Julianna Baggott, author of Which Brings Me to You and Compulsions of Silkworms and Bees

"This is what it's like to be a photojournalist living on the front lines of the best stories in the world. From Afghanistan to Alaska, Lo Scalzo captures the rush, the payoff and the personal sacrifice that comes with making great pictures. He's not only got a great eye for finding the shot, but a great ear for telling the tale."
—Brian Kelly, Editor of U.S. News & World Report

Product Description

From a leper colony in India to an American research station on the
Antarctic Peninsula, from the back rooms of the White House to the
battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Evidence of My Existence tells
a unique and riveting story of seventeen years spent racing from one photo
assignment to the next. It is also a story of photojournalism and the
consequences of obsessive wanderlust.
When the book opens, Jim Lo Scalzo is a blur to his wife, her remarkable tolerance
wearing thin. She is heading to the hospital with her second miscarriage,
and Jim is heading to Baghdad to cover the American invasion of Iraq. He
hates himself for this—for not giving her a child, for deserting her when she so
obviously needs him, for being consumed by his job—but how to stop moving?
Sure, there have been some tough trips. He’s been spit on by Mennonites
in Missouri, by heroin addicts in Pakistan, and by the KKK in South Carolina.
He’s contracted hepatitis on the Navajo Nation, endured two bouts of amoebic
dysentery in India and Burma and four cases of giardia in Nepal, Peru, Afghanistan,
and Cuba. He’s been shot with rubber bullets in Seattle, knocked to
the ground by a water cannon in Quebec, and sprayed with more teargas than
he cares to recall. But photojournalism is his career, and travel is his compulsive
craving.
We follow Lo Scalzo through the maze of airports and crowds and countries as
he chases the career he has always wanted, struggles with his family problems,
and reveals the pleasures of a life singularly focused. For him, as for so many
photojournalists, it is always about the going.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Ohio University Press; 1 edition (October 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821417738
• ISBN-13: 978-0821417737
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #726,734 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings, January 1, 2008

By	Steven Ford "stevenford.org" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lo Scalzo starts by admitting his arrogance and then spends the rest of the book providing supporting evidence. Don't get me wrong; I liked the book. His recollections of spending time among Mennonites in Missouri and the Navajo in Arizona are amazing and instructive. He's got a bottomless well of fascinating stories about being an adventurous, wanderlusting photojournalist. But every book needs a central theme to hold it together. Here, it's how much he neglects his wife (who is at best a peripheral character). Case in point: after ruining a family vacation by lugging his work along, he goes on to leave his wife for Iraq the day after her second miscarriage. In the end, he repents and goes home to his wife. They have a child and everyone is happy. But here's the kicker: what drives him to repent and go home is not a sudden awareness of how much of a jerk he's been. It's the realization that while he may be a good photojournalist, he'll never be a legendary photojournalist. I'd probably feel a lot different about this book if the author could have just found it within himself to say, "I wish I hadn't treated my wife so poorly."

5.0 out of 5 stars Candor, humor and humanity, with a dash of photojournalism on the side..., February 15, 2008

By	Thomas Hayden (San Francisco, CA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Evidence of My Existence (Hardcover)

Evidence of my Existence is a remarkable surprise--Lo Scalzo's writing is clear, sharp and perceptive; his story funny, on point and spirited; his life a charming mix of low frustration, high adventure and goofy, self-induced f*ck ups. To disagree with another reviewer, Lo Scalzo doesn't demonstrate arrogance in his life or his book so much as he reveals things about himself, his work and his motivations that most authors would conceal--to their own benefit of course, and their readers' detriment.

"Evidence" isn't just a photography book--it's a travel book, a book about restlessness and adventure, and most of all about the kind of coming of age that happens only to those who spend most of their life refusing to grow up.

As a writer who worked with Lo Scalzo once or twice, you could expect me to be biased--and I am. I never thought the miserable little b*stard could write like this! That he can is frustrating beyond belief--I sure can't make photos like he can--but the results are good enough, entertaining enough and true enough that I'll forgive him the trespass, and recommend his book the best and truest way I know how: with jealousy. I'm pretty sure I'm relieved I didn't live Jim's life, but I sure wish I'd written his book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable!, October 14, 2007

By	LG (NJ) - See all my reviews

An amazing story of his true experiences, very interesting. There were laugh out loud moments, sad moments, moments of disbelief. A very well written story.