FYI ~ highly recommended
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 09:34AM 
During my holiday travels I encountered a Barnes&Noble bookstore so I stopped in for a looksee at the photography periodical offerings. In a word, they were "vapid" at best, "horrible" at worst. I also ventured a gander at the photography book section. Again, the books on offer were not very interesting.
As I was leaving the store, I passed a discounted books display where the book New York Times Magazine Photographs caught my eye. The book had a bright red 50% OFF sticker - net price, $37.50US - on the cover and, after a brief scan of the book's contents, it was of to the checkout counter where I also purchased a Ghirardelli chocolate bar.
After spending but a little time with each acquisition, I can positively state that I enjoyed them both. Whereas the Ghirardelli chocolate bar was a pleasant but passing fancy, the Photographs book is most definitely a gift (to self) that keeps on giving. IMO, it's another "must have" for anyone seriously interested in the medium of photography.
The book features more than 400 pictures which are organized into 5 categories: Portraits, Documentary, Photo-Illustration, Style, and Projects. The picture makers represented are a veritable who's who of those various genres. And what makes that doubly interesting is that many of the picture makers were given assignments outside of their normal/regular genre - a war photo-journalist assigned to make fashion pictures as an example.
Most of the pictures have back-story commentary from the picture maker who made them. Some have additional commentary from Kathy Ryan, the Director of Photography at The New York Times Magazine (FYI, Ryan edited the book). The commentaries most often add context and illumination, re: the picture makers mindset.
The design and production values (paper, print quality, etc.) are beyond-category excellent. And, FYI, the book can be had from many online sources for that same 50% discounted price.
My advice - Buy it. You'll like it.
Reader Comments (1)
The Christ Child (Bavarian equivalent for Santa) was so kind to present it as a gift to me. Yes, this is a present that keeps giving.
And I do not understand why in the world this book has to be sold that dirt-cheap only 2 weeks past christmas - does it mean that business was overestimated so much or that readers for that kind of book are scarce or is it just the normal death for a book in a tired economy where nobody dares to stock anything any more for fear it could be worthless tomorrow?