In a world in which many photographers seek to avoid definition, Roger Ballen's photographs define themselves in their defiance of classification and genre: his world stands out as one of a kind. The black-and-white images featured in Asylum of the Birds were created exclusively within the confines of a house in a Johannesburg suburb, the location of which remains a guarded secret. The inhabitants of the house, both human and animal - including, most notably, the ever-present birds - are the cast of Ballen's world, performers amidst the theatrical interiors that they create and he orchestrates. The resulting images exist in a space between painting, drawing, installation and photography. They are timeless, psychologically powerful and masterfully composed.

Eighteen lighthouses still stand in the Carolinas, from Currituck Lighthouse near the Virginia border down to Haig Point Lighthouse near the border with Georgia. Author Zepke tells how they were built and how they have weathered hurricanes, erosion, and neglect. Some are open to visitors; others can be seen from the coast or on a passing boat. In this second edition, all the travel guide information is updated, along with new sections on light keepers, the U.S. Lighthouse Board, and a timeline.

Born in 1948 in Hammersmith, London, Michael Rock became a photographer after graduating from college, and developed his visual style with photos of the local rock music scene in England. Soon thereafter his photography career took off, going higher and higher with each new musician he shot for. His work is embodied in this text, full of luscious, color-saturated photography of some of the most dynamic and enthralling musical acts and stars in rock history-and likewise filled with amazing and amusing behind-the-scenes stories of musicians from Mick Jagger to Miley Cyrus and beyond. A sure-fire hit with rock and musical history fans!

The US subprime mortgage crisis, which had its roots in the closing years of the twentieth century, exposed pervasive weaknesses in the regulation of the financial industry and the global financial system. At the end of 2008, as the fall-out from the crisis became increasingly widely felt, Edgar Martins was commissioned by the New York Times Magazine to photograph across the US in eight separate states and across sixteen different locations. These carefully researched sites exposed the extent and impact of the crisis on the US construction industry. Martins approached the project as a photographic intervention into a crisis and the resulting images go beyond pure formal investigation or documentation. His interest lay in summoning a disquieting conjunction of realism and fiction by cutting into the real. As the writer Jacques Ranciere states, the real can only be unravelled and understood if it is first fictionalised. And so the real must be transformed to be understood. The houses depicted in this series do not refer to just the particular. They are images of spatial assemblages, of kinds of stages on which a number of quite different (and perhaps incompatible) narratives might be enacted. These images, these houses, these ruins, reflect back at us the human constructs that we project and impose on them. 'This Is Not A House' emerges precisely at that juncture where clear words falter, where language is disturbed. The meaning of the world is no longer carried on its surface, if indeed it ever was.

Photography and memory in Mexico traces the 'life stories' of some of the famous photographic images made during the 1910 revolution, which have been repeatedly reproduced across a range of media in its aftermath. Which photographs have become icons of the revolution and why these particular images and not others? What is the relationship between photography and memory of the conflict? How do we construct a critical framework for addressing the issues raised by iconic photographs? Placing an emphasis on the life, afterlife and also the pre-life of those iconic photographs that haunt the post-revolutionary landscape, Andrea Noble approaches them as dynamic objects, where their rhetorical power is derived from a combination of their visual eloquence and their ability to coordinate patterns of identification with the memory of the revolution as a foundational event in Mexican history. Richly-illustrated, this book will be of interest to all those interested in photography, memory studies, and Mexican cultural history. -- .

The American photographer Francesca Woodman (1958–1981) created a body of fascinating photographic works in a few intense years before her premature death. Her oeuvre has been the object of numerous in-depth studies and major exhibitions in recent years, and her photographs have inspired artists all over the world. Woodman’s photographs explore gender, representation, sexuality and body. Her production includes several self-portraits, using herself and her friends as models. The figures are often placed behind furniture and other interior elements; occasionally, the images are blurred in such a way that their identity is hidden from the viewer. The intimate nature of the subject matter is enhanced by the small formats. Woodman worked in unusual settings such as derelict buildings, using mirrors and glass to evoke surrealist and occasionally claustrophobic moods. Moderna Museet will present some hundred photographs by Francesca Woodman, with a selection from the series and themes she explored. The exhibition is produced by Moderna Museet in association with Betty and George Woodman and the Estate of Francesca Woodman. Alongside this exhibition, Moderna Museet will present a compilation of photography from the same period from its collection, to show Francesca Woodman in context and expand the perspective on her oeuvre to the public.

Russell "Russ" Melcher came to Europe and photographed the superstars of the time, either during their visits to Paris and France or accompanied them on worldwide trips. He witnessed many world events from film festivals to terrorist attacks. Among the portrayed were royal families like the Windsors, Grace Kelly & the Monegasques, as well as film legends like Romy Schneider, Alain Delon, Burt Lancaster, Erol Flynn, Alfred Hitchcock, Sofia Loren, Brigitte Bardot, and music legends like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Harry Belafonte, and Yves Montand. In addition, there were political greats such as Charles DeGaulle, Fidel Castro, Nikita Khrushchev, the Shah of Persia, American presidents, and many more. Later Russ Melcher became director of the legendary photo agency MAGNUM and worked with photo legends Robert Capa, Henry Cartier-Bresson, Ian Berry, Bruce Davidson, Elliott Erwitt, to name a few. This large-format photo book is about the stories behind the images and personalities. Entertaining, humorous, but also profound, Russ describes his way to the perfect photo, his individual perspective, up to the importance of photographic storytelling of this 'Golden Age of Photojournalism'. Russ Melcher is an important witness to that time, but also an American entertainer in Paris who encouraged his protagonists to do things that few photographers could manage, a true and trusted partner to the stars of that era through the ages. The book is organised according to the two decades and Russell's encounters with the stars of the time. Text in English and German.

The city of Las Cruces, situated under blue skies in the Chihuahuan desert, boasts a wealth of Native American and Wild West history. As New Mexico's second largest city, it is a modern metropolis that has held fast to its picturesque past. Spanish explorers arrived in the 1500s in search of the Seven Cities of Gold, and after the United States conquered the territory, the area became a transportation hub, blossoming from its adobe beginnings into a permanent, important city. The photographs contained in this volume tell the unique story of this town of contrasts, where historic plazas sit next to modern office buildings and subdivisions sprawl alongside old Indian trails. Many of the original buildings are now restaurants, galleries, and shops, but here readers see them as they once stood, making this book a fascinating reference for those familiar with the city or exploring it for the first time.

Following the award-winning Seeds: Time Capsules of Life, Wolfgang Stuppy and Rob Kesseler explore the fascinating world of fruits through a unique presentation of extraordinary images from around the world accompanied by a lively explanatory text. Fruit. The word itself conjures up mouthwatering memories of crunchy apples, luscious strawberries, sweet bananas, succulent melons and juicy pineapples, to which we can add the splendid tropical fruits on our supermarket shelves. They are one of nature's most wonderful gifts but providing us with a healthy source of food is not the reason that plants produce such delicious fruits. It is therefore quite legitimate to ask what fruits are, and why they exist. As will be revealed, the true nature of fruits is concealed in what is buried in their core: their seeds. The key role that both play in the survival of each species explains the manifold strategies and ruses that plants have developed for the dispersal of their seeds. Whether these involve wind, water, humans, animals or the plant's own explosive triggers, they are reflected in the many colours, shapes and sizes of the fruits that protect the seeds and in the extraordinary way that some fruits have adapted to the animals that disperse their seeds, and the animals to the fruits they relish. In this pioneering collaboration, visual artist Rob Kesseler and seed morphologist Wolfgang Stuppy use scanning electronmicroscopy to obtain astonishing images of a variety of fruits and the seeds they protect. Razor-sharp cross-sections reveal intricate interiors, nuts and other examples of botanical architecture and reproductive ingenuity. The black and white microscope images have been sumptuously coloured by Rob Kesseler highlighting the structure and functioning of the minuscule fruit and seeds some almost invisible to the naked eye and in so doing creating a work of art. Larger fruits, flowers and seeds have been especially photographed. The formation, development and demise of the fruits are described, their vital role in the preservation of the biodiversity of our planet explained. Fruits are the keepers of the precious seeds that ensure our future; some are edible, others inedible and many, quite simply, incredible.

Grit Blocs by Dave Parry showcases 100 of the finest must-do boulder problems on the gritstone outcrops, edges and quarries of the Pennines. The gritstone crags of Northern England are internationally renowned and are home to some of the best bouldering in the world. With an emphasis on high-quality photography, Grit Blocs presents a selection of the very best boulder problems in these areas - covering the Peak District, Yorkshire, Lancashire and North East England. The classic problems are there - Careless Torque on Stanage and Flying Arete at Almscliff - but, as the sport of bouldering continues to evolve, there are also lesser-known and newer gems to discover: Archery at West Nab, The Lash at Birk Gill and Ouzel Thorn at Thorn Crag, amongst others. The stunning photography is accompanied by texts that expand on the context and characteristics of the boulder problem and give you a flavour of what each problem is like, with a bit of bouldering history thrown in too. Let Grit Blocs inspire your next climbing adventure - whether you're a seasoned grit aficionado or new to the sport, you'll find something to engage and animate you.

A Sky-High Flight of Imagination When a photographer's imagination really soars, a book like this one is created. Imagine posing live models like museum statues, and transforming their photographs back into statues Then, place them in exotic digital backgrounds. The result is 240 genuinely stunning photographs in a coffee table book that will deliver many hours of enchanting viewing. Living Nude Statues began as a search for great poses for models. Naturally, the most admired poses are found in museums, so photos of nude female statues from museums around the world were used as posing guides. With this collection of statue poses to use with the models, wonderful images were created. Then, a question arose: what it would be like to turn these photographs of models in statue poses back into statues again, using photo manipulation techniques? By teaming up with a photographer who has exceptional Photoshop skills, wondering became wonderment at the results. The twelve professional models featured in this volume are from the greater Phoenix, Arizona area. Each model is featured on twenty pages in the book. Each set of photographs is shown on facing pages with the studio shot on the left and its transformation into a statue on the right.