The Sam Abell Library: The Photography of Places

by Leah Bendavid-Val (Contributor), Sam Abell (Photographer)

Sam Abell (born 1945) is one of America’s most influential documentary photographers, celebrated in particular for his in-depth color photo-essays for National Geographic magazine. He has also made a considerable impact as a teacher and author. Abell’s career is now the subject of The Sam Abell Library , a new publication project from Radius inaugurated with this volume--the first in a series of four multi-volume sets. Each of these sets is themed around a particular the photography of places; the photography of nature; the photography of the past; and the photography of ideas. Essays by Abell appear in all of the books. In Life and Still Life , Abell explores three different Newfoundland; Hagi, Japan; and Northern Australia. This first boxed set also includes a fourth book with an illustrated essay by writer and curator Leah Bendavid-Val examining Abell’s evolution as an artist.

312 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2012

About the author

Leah Bendavid-Val is a historian of photography who has worked with Russian photographers for more than two decades. She is the author most recently of Song Without Words: The Photographs & Diaries of Countess Sophia Tolstoy (published in October 2007). Her two earlier books about Russian photographers and themes are Propaganda & Dreams (1999); and Changing Reality (1991).

Bendavid-Val is former Director of Photography Publishing for National Geographic Books. Books published in her program for popular and professional audiences have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Bendavid-Val is author of two books on the history of National Geographic photography—Stories on Paper & Glass (2001) and the best-selling National Geographic: The Photographs (1994), which is still in print. She is co-author and editor of National Geographic Image Collection, on the New York Times Bestseller List in December 2009.

Based on her Russia and National Geographic work, Leah Bendavid-Val has served as curator for exhibitions at the International Center for Photography, New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, and other museums. She teaches writing and book publishing for photographers at the Santa Fe Workshops in New Mexico. She was Commencement Speaker for the University of Maryland Department of Philosophy, Class of 2008.

(from https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/l...)

Reviews

[Aaron the Pink Donut · Rating 3 out of 5]

inspired photos broken up in 4 volumes featuring various places while on assignment for National geographic. The Japan volume is the star in this set.

[Maura · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first in a four volume Sam Abell library -- can't wait for the next installment.