Finding Grace: The Face of America's Homeless (Hardcover)

by Lynn Blodgett (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

An amateur photographer from the age of 10, Lynn Blodgett studied under Andrew Eccles, a renowned photographer who was selected by The New York Times to shoot the cover of their millennium issue. Blodgett is also a businessman with a social conscience who travels the country as head of the nation’s largest provider of computer-based services to state and local governments. He does extensive fundraising across the country, with the funds going to benefit local homeless shelters and projects. During his travels over the last few years, he began keeping a photographic journal of the homeless people he met, along with their stories, in every city he visited. The result is this powerful collection of words and images that show how people who go through life ignored and reviled manage to endure, often with grace and humanity, the grimmest of life’s circumstances.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 124 pages
• Publisher: Earth Aware Editions (August 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1601091052
• ISBN-13: 978-1601091055
• Product Dimensions: 13.9 x 10.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #420,816 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The faces speak for themselves, December 11, 2007

By	Jonathan Groner (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Photographer Lynn Blodgett went to a dozen American cities to photograph the faces of the homeless. This coffee-table style book is the result. Unlike most books of its size and genre, it is not full of attractive pictures. It is sobering, real, and somehow inspiring as well. These homeless people -- men, women, and children -- are human beings. "My purpose is to see and capture one moment in the life of the person before me," Blodgett writes. He neither lauds nor condemns his subjects. He merely gives them the significance that they deserve and so seldom receive.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Book, Difficult Subject , December 27, 2007

By	Wesley Mullins (Kentucky) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lynn Blodgett traveled the US photographing homeless Americans in 12 cities. In stark minimalist photos, his subjects come across sometimes shy, sometimes proud, but always vulnerable. Their eyes tell the stories the book lacks, stories of lives taking a wrong turn, American Dreams unfulfilled and the toil of a daily existence scavenging for food and shelter.

The talent and creativity behind the camera are as undeniable as the visceral effect of the faces, but the overwhelming reaction to this book by most people will be "Why?". Why create such a beautiful book about such an ugly subject, a stunning coffee-table centerpiece that will no doubt bring down the mood of any gathering?

The author does little to answer that question. In fact, he provides almost no commentary or perspectve; he mainly speaks of his book's journey and provides some advice to those moved to help the homeless, but an overarching homelessness dissertation is lacking.

Those looking for evidence of poor choices, lack of opportunities or an unsympathetic government as the cause of homelessness won't find them in the limited descriptions attached to each picture. The book is without a political agenda, a refreshing change in this ever-polarized world where opportunistic pundits spin any issue into fodder for their causes. I'm sure Blodgett has feelings on how much responsibility the individuals, society and the government deserve for the homelessness epidemic in this country, but thankfully, his book lacks that lecture. Instead, he strips away everything except his subject, as he trusts their existence to impact his readers more than the most convincing debate.

But if that's the book's biggest strength, it's also the greatest weakness. Critics will say the book is nothing more than a collection of similar photos, and for every person who comes away from the book motivated to get involved with this cause, many more will only become depressed by it.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning in its authenticity and layout, January 17, 2008

By	Carol A. Biedenharn (Jackson, MS) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Stunning in its authenticity and layout!

Lynn Blodgett's masterful photo-journey is a requirement of study for any photographer with substance. The cover jacket alone will stop you dead in your tracks. Blodgett portrays, through his gift with a camera, the very essence of beauty and uniqueness of human spirit. The drama depicted does not die as one turns the pages; nor does that drama end with the last photograph. The pictures stay with you, etched in detail. The subject matter is hauntingly delicate, hauntingly disturbing, hauntingly symbolic of human nature, human drive, human survival on the streets. One can assume Blodgett learned to appreciate the soulful spirit of all humans he viewed through the lens as his talent grew.
Comprehending GRACE is altogether worthy of volumes, but these pictures made public for all humanity simplify the concept, corralling the spirit if not spirituality of all God's creatures. In following the theme, Blodgett's donation of the proceeds of this book is merciful and obviously, deeply personal.