FOTO: BOX

by Roberto Koch

Eine »seltsame, erhabene Entdeckung« nannte 1825 Claude Niépce, der Bruder des Erfinders des Verfahrens, Nicéphore Niépce, die Fotografie. Zwischen diesem Aufbruch des Mediums und heute liegen mehr als 180 Jahre und ein großer Wandel, allem voran der Techniken, der Ausrüstung und des Materials – aber die Faszination bleibt und wächst auch im digitalen Zeitalter. Dieses Buch feiert die vielen Dekaden von Experiment und Innovation und leistet im Grunde das Unmögliche: Es ist eine Geschichte der Fotografie. Es zeigt in höchster Qualität rund 250 Fotografien von mehr als 200 der berühmtesten Fotografen der Welt, von legendären Meistern und zeitgenössischen Stars. Unterteilt in zwölf verschiedene Themenbereiche – Porträt, Reportage, Stillleben, Krieg, Kunst, Mode, Akt, Frauen, Natur, Reise, Sport und Stadt – gibt Roberto Koch einen einzigartigen, umfassenden Überblick zum Stand der Dinge in der Fotografie, kenntnisreich kommentiert und ergänzt durch Kurzbiografien der Fotografen.

Die bekanntesten Fotos und ihre Geschichte
Nach Themen geordnet, u. a. Landschaft, Menschen, Mode

Genres: Photography, Reference, Art, Nonfiction

512 pages, Hardcover

First published October 12, 2009

Reviews

[Francesc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impresionante libro de fotografía.

Impressive photography book.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

250 photographs, from the beginning of the art of photography up to the time that the book was published. They are divided into twelve categories: reportage, war, portraits, nudes, women, travel, cities, art, fashion, still life, sport, and nature. These are at best rough guidelines. For example, a nude portrait of a young woman is placed not in portraits, nudes, or women, but in fashion; the woman is model Kate Moss and the photograph by Mario Sorrenti was from a Calvin Klein ad. "Reportage" is so wide-ranging as to be meaningless. As for "art," I suspect that many of the photographers represented consider their work art, no matter what the subject matter.

There are some truly famous images here. Sadly, the section that had the most pictures that I recognized is "war." Some of the pictures here are Eddie Adams's "General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner, Saigon, 1968," Joe Rosenthal's "Marines hoisting the American flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, 1945," and Nick Ut's "Phan Ti Kim Phuc fleeing her village after a napalm attack, Vietnam, 8 June 1972." (Robert Capa's iconic war photo "Death of a Loyalist militiaman (Federico Borrell Garcia), or 'The Falling Soldier', Cerro Muriano, Cordoba front, 5 September 1936" is grouped under "reportage.")

On a more cheerful note, one person is the subject of two photographs, one in "fashion," the other in "portraits"; that is, appropriately, Audrey Hepburn.

Had I time and patience enough, I would like to comment on many of the individual photographs. I will limit myself to just a few.

◾The man in Brassaï's "Lovers in a café, Place d'Italie, Paris, 1932" does not look human. He looks made of wax. His shiny hair looks more like paint than brilliantine. I know that this is not the case, but I can't help thinking he isn't real.

◾I am writing this on September 11,2018. This adds special poignancy to James Nachtwey's terrifying "New York, 11 September 2001."

◾Many of the items in "portraits" are wonderful, each in its own way. I love Dennis Stock's "James Dean in Times Square, New York City, 1955."

◾My favorites in the section "nudes" are "Tunisia, c. 1910" by Rudolf Lehnert and Ernest Landrock and "Jaime, Paris, 1993" by Paolo Roversi.

◾The final picture in the book is a stunning portrait by Andrew Zuckerman. The subject is a most majestic lion.

I think that this is a superb selection of well-reproduced photographs.

[Steef · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some (of rather: a lot) of the world's best and most famous photos throughout the history of photography, divided into 12 categories. Great print quality.

Each photo has a bio of the photographer and a little story next to it: how it came to be, what happened after the picture was taken, the innovations behind a photo... it's just... *sometimes* the authors just don't seem to make any reference at all to the picture at hand and just seem to state some unrelated facts or wonder off in some semi-philosophical babbling that's truly teethgnashingly hideous. It's a shame really, as (most) other texts are truly informative and relevant.

I don't know it it's the Dutch translation I had (I know it can't be all attributed to that), but this is the sole reason this book is getting a 3-star rating from me, rather than 4 or maybe even 5.

More 3 and a half stars than 3 though.

[Sven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dit boek startte zeer sterk met prachtige reportage foto's. De foto's worden ondersteund door de nodige uitleg over de fotograaf en wat er nu exact op de foto staat . Oorlog bevat ook zeer sterke foto's en portretten bevat mooie foto's van gezichten die een eigen verhaal vertellen. Bij naakten en vrouwen verdween de aandacht wat en hij kwam jammer genoeg niet meer terug. Bij steden flakkerde hij terug een beetje op maar bij mode en kunst was het volledig over en uit. Dit is natuurlijk zeer persoonlijk en is afhankelijk waarin de interesse ligt van de lezer.
De foto's zijn allemaal zeer duidelijk en groot afgebeeld zodat ze wel makkelijk te bekijken zijn.

[Judy Li]

I only looked at all the photos and use that as a reference to look up the photographer’s work. Didn’t really read all the biographies. But this is an amazing collection.

All the portraits of famous people, nude woman and alternating woman’s body parts are not considered as art to me though. Those are cheap.

But the rest are truly interesting and a really great way to discover artists!

[فرهاد ذکاوت · Rating 4 out of 5]

حتی می‌تونستم رأی بهتری هم بدم. معمولا مجموعه‌های عکس ویراستاری و انتخاب خوبی ندارند. خیلی‌هاشون هدر دادن وقت و پول هستند. ولی این کتاب یکی از مجموعه‌های خاص عکاسی هست. البته این نظر من هم نیست به تنهایی. فروش خوبش هم به زبانهای مختلف نشان از موفقیتش داره. تکنیک های عکاسی. عکاسان بزرگ، عکس‌های تاریخی، و وقتی به سال عکس نگاه می‌کنی فرق عکاسی سطحی و یا ایده‌آل‌گرای بیهوده‌ی غالب بر عکاسی امروز رو متوجه میشی. اینکه چقدز کپی کاری ناموفق با دوربین های با کیفیت می‌کنند و دقیقا تصور اشتباه بسیاری این هست که خطای عکس‌های قدیمی رو گرفتند بهتر عکس گرفتند! به حالی که دقیقا عکس اصلی رو خراب کردند. این مجموعه رو اگر دیدید و علاقه به مجموعه عکس داشتید می‌تونم توصیه کنم براحتی.

[MaxKender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trovo che questo libro sia una pubblicazione affascinante. Le foto in esso contenute sono davvero molto belle (non tutte mi sono piaciute... diciamo un 80-85%). Ma la magia del libro si ottiene solo con i testi associati alle immagini. Ogni foto ci racconta così due storie. Quella del soggetto che viene ritratto e quella della persona che lo ritrae. Ogni fotografo ha le sue esperienze, i suoi percorsi di vita e il suo particolare modo di guardare il mondo. Ogni fotografo, quindi, ci presenta uno scatto che è il risultato dell'unione del soggetto della foto e della propria visione delle cose. Un libro davvero molto bello, duro, onirico, strano e, spesso, poetico.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with any collection, the idea tends to be scope and variation, not depth. So, while Koch selects luminaries from each genre (like Fashion (!) with Richard Avedon, and Americana with Robert Frank, a simple half page blurb opposite an iconic photo will have to suffice. The pictures from the "War" section are particularly disturbing, including an execution shot from the Korean War. The packaging is quite nice - it's bound in portfolio style with thick, glossy pages and smart design. An enlightening, if not redundant, coffee table read.

[DuMont Buchverlag · Rating 5 out of 5]

»Eine ausgeprochen qualitätvolle – und günstige – Übersicht von exzellenten Aufnahmen verschiedener Fotografen, begleitet von hervorragenden Kommentaren.«
THEONLINEPHOTOGRAPHER

»Ein ungeheuer attraktives Grundlagenwerk, das man immer wieder zur Hand nimmt.«
PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER

»Mehr als 250 zeitlose Klassiker!«
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

„Eine faszinierende Anthologie über die Geschichte der Fotografie (...) eine packende Bilderreise."
BUCHJOURNAL

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

inspiring photography.

[Acy Varlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

looking forward to rewatch it daily