In Soviet Seasons Kotov's photographs reveal unfamiliar aspects of the post-Soviet terrain. From snow-blanketed Siberia in winter, to the mountains of the Caucasus in summer, these images show how a once powerful, utopian landscape has been affected by the weight of nature itself. This uniquely broad perspective could only be achieved by a photographer such as Kotov. Singularly dedicated to exploring every corner of his country, Kotov often hitch-hikes across vast distances. On these journeys he chronicles not only the architectural achievements of the Soviet empire, but also its overlooked or simply undocumented constructions. Arseniy Kotov: 'In this book I reveal the beauty and diversity of this vast region, showing both cities and nature at different times of the year. I have travelled widely across Russia and its neighbouring countries, where I captured the landscape of post-Soviet cities and witnessed the seasonal changes.'

Juxtaposing the albums of Lady Brassey, an overlooked figure among Victorian women travelers, with Brassey's travel books, Nancy Micklewright takes advantage of a unique opportunity to examine the role of photography in the 1870s and 1880s in constructing ideas about place and empire. This study draws on a range of source material to investigate aspects of the Brassey collection. The book begins with an overview of Lady Brassey's life and projects, as well as an examination of issues relevant to subsequent discussions of the travel literature, the photographs, and the albums in which the photographs are assembled. Lady Brassey is next considered as a traveler and public figure, and the author gives an overview of Brassey's travel literature, placing her in her social and political context. Micklewright then considers the seventy volumes of photographs which comprise the Brassey album collection, taking an especially close look at the eight albums devoted to the Middle East. Analyzing the specific contents and structure of the albums, and the interplay of text and image within, she explores how the Brasseys constructed their presentation of the region. While confirming some earlier work about constructions of the Orient by the British during the time, this book offers a much more detailed and nuanced understanding of how photographic and literary constructions were related to individual experience and identity within a larger British identity. The first appendix explores the illustrative relationship between the photograph albums and Lady Brassey's travel books, yielding an understanding of the processes involved in transferring the photographic image to a printed one, at a particular moment in the development of book illustration. A second appendix lists the contents and named photographers of all seventy albums in the Brassey collection. All in all, Micklewright's study makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the complex and unstable social, political and imperialist discourses in the nineteenth century.

Filled with brilliant reproductions and engaging texts reflecting the latest scholarship, this portable and attractively priced volume is the perfect introduction to the renowned Spanish Baroque painter.

Celebrated for his masterful realism and innovative techniques, Diego Velázquez profoundly influenced art history through his use of light, perspective, and portraiture.

Opening with an introductory essay, Velázquez's life and work are explored within their historical context, and in stunning reproductions of 35 of his significant works. Readers will discover how Velázquez’s role as court painter to King Philip IV of Spain allowed him to experiment with new techniques, and how masterpieces such as “Las Meninas,” and “The Triumph of Bacchus” showcase his genius for composition and psychological depth.

The most prolific photographer of the Farm Security Administration (FSA), Russell Lee has never been canonised for his iconic images of mid-century America. With this insightful biography, historian and archivist Mary Jane Appel uncovers Lee’s rebellious life, tracing his journey from blue-blood beginnings to self-taught photographer through the body of work he left behind. Lee crisscrossed America’s back roads more than any photographer of his era, living out of his car from 1936 to 1942. Under the guidance of FSA director Roy Stryker, he captured arresting images of dust storms and punishing floods, and chronicled the Second World War home front and the heyday of small-town America—all the while focusing prophetically on themes like segregation and climate change. With more than 100 images spread throughout, Russell Lee speaks not only to the complexity of a pioneering documentary photographer’s work but to a seminal American moment captured viscerally like never before.

An iconic project made at the height of the 'Troubles', Troubled Land deals with the small but insistent signs of political division embedded in the landscape of Northern Ireland. At the heart of the Irish conflict lays the land - who owns it, who controls it, whose history it expresses. Paul Graham's quietly radical book keeps this material truth in mind as it uniquely combines landscape and conflict photography, seducing us with bucolic views in which telling details only gradually appear: painted kerbs, distant soldiers or helicopters, flags and graffiti, paint-splattered roads, each tacitly aligning that location to its Republican or Loyalist allegiance. Pastoral photographs of green fields and hedgerows reveal themselves to be images of conflict and dispute - despite the steadiness of the photographic frame and the clarity of Graham's vision, this is unsettled land. Originally published in 1986, Troubled Land is reprinted here for the first time in thirty-five years. Controversial then for its use of colour and refusal to follow the cliched tropes of photojournalism, the book was pivotal in providing a fresh perspective on Northern Ireland's 'Troubles' and left a lasting impact on landscape photography, suggesting how it might engage with politics and society rather than escape from them. Together with A1 - The Great North Road and Beyond Caring, it completes a new edition of the remarkable trilogy of books Graham made in 1980s UK.

This visually striking book is the first to explore the oeuvre of the celebrated multidisciplinary Nigerian artist, and its themes of identity, globalization, migration, cultural heritage, and African postcolonial identities.

From his birth in a rural village in Nigeria to his unorthodox ascent as a global art star Victor Ehikhamenor is garnering worldwide attention for his vibrant and incisive works that engage contemporary art, African history, and the postcolonial politics of global Black identity.
Drawing inspiration from his Nigerian roots, Ehikhamenor fuses tradition with contemporary expression through intricate patterns, symbolic motifs, and a rich visual language that weaves together the threads of mythology and cultural heritage. Brimming with boldly colored photographs and reproductions, this book focuses on Ehikhamenor’s most recent work such as Daydream Esoterica, Saints and Sanctums, Still Standing, and A Biography of the Forgotten, investigating them through a transcultural analysis of mobility, circulation, networks, and connectivity.
It explores seven key aspects of the artist’s practice—rosaries, perforations, installations, paintings, drawings, collage, and sculpture—to show how he creates complex portraits of African peoples and African spaces.

The first comprehensive study of these rare, influential objects, documenting a formative moment in the noted photographer's early career This elegant book unites all of the known carte postale prints by the photographer Andre Kertesz (1894-1985), including portraits, views of Paris, careful studio scenes, and exquisitely simple still lifes. Essays shed new light on the artist's most acclaimed images; themes of materiality, exile, and communication; his illustrious and bohemian social circle; and the changing identity of art photography. Playful yet refined, the book's design reflects the spirit of 1920s Paris while underscoring the modernity of the catalogue's more than 250 illustrated works. Kertesz made his rigorously composed prints on inexpensive but lush postcard stock, sharing them with friends and sending them back to family in Hungary. The works reveal the artist learning his craft as he encountered an international group of modernists-including Piet Mondrian, Fernand Leger, and Joseph Csaky-in the interwar metropolis. Prized by collectors as well as by Kertesz himself, the cartes postales influenced his compositions and the intimate scale of his picture making for decades. Distributed for the Art Institute of Chicago Exhibition Schedule: Art Institute of Chicago (October 2, 2021-January 17, 2022) High Museum of Art, Atlanta (February 18-May 29, 2022)

Maryam Ashrafi is a social documentary photographer who believes in long term projects, she chooses to stay behind the front lines and observe the daily lives of combatants, which includes a lot of waiting around. She is above all involved in documenting the everyday life on the Kurdish front. Her work puts a face on a widely commented war which remains, from afar, perceived mainly by the West in terms of the number of refugees. Maryam documents the war in her own way, stressing its complexities and the actual building of a new social model based on equality where women occupy the same roles as men, which is remarkable in this area of the world. This is why, over the years, she has returned to the same places, from Kobane to Tabqa, to show the unique power of the resilience of the population and the will to live and change. "The struggle of the Kurdish people and their fight for freedom and fundamental rights have not come to an end, and therefore this book cannot portray all of their journeys, nor shall I stop documenting what is still to come. Yet I believe, as a witness, I owe it to history and to those I have met for sharing some of these images in this book to show part of their journey to freedom and equality", Maryam believes. The book is built on the chronology of the events as documented by Maryam Ashrafi, to understand the evolution of the conflict and its consequences on the populations and their living environment. Photographer James Nachtwey once made a point about such war photographs shown in museums, or in a book; it is "a space for reflection on the universality of the dramas that humanity is going through in its entirety". During her travels, Maryam Ashrafi has created a body of images which highlight very important topics as they are an immediate consequence of war, from the sheer destruction to the refugee camps, as they evoke the foundations of the culture and the identity of the Kurdish people - the ceremonies in honour of martyrs, dances around fires, New Year celebrations etc. Finally, Maryam Ashrafi's work is also about empathy and about invisible wounds; it is obvious that one could not witness a conflict without being caught up in the daily suffering, especially children and women. Maryam finds emotions and feelings, in simple gestures, smiles and dances, these moments of intimacy. The presence of the photographer is forgotten, there remains only the reality of their fight and the resilience of a people. In these moments, she captures expressions that speak so much more than long speeches. Let's listen to them in the midst of ruins, dancing amid bullets.

There is an astonishing world just waiting to be photographed underwater. With marine biologist Dr Alexander Mustard as your guide you can learn all you need to know to explore the amazing creatures and landscapes that lie beneath the surface. From information about diving equipment and cameras, to crucial advice on understanding and controlling light underwater, this book provides all the background you need before you take the plunge. Topics covered include wide-angle light, macro lighting, ambient light and macro techniques. All this is illustrated, of course, with stunning images of the weird and wonderful animals and sights he has encountered beneath the waves.

The Photofile series brings together the best work of the world's greatest photographers. Each book contains a selection of the photographer's most important and representative images, plus an introduction and a bibliography. American photographer Berenice Abbott first took up the art while working as an assistant to Man Ray, but soon left to set up her own studio, where she photographed the leading lights of Paris's literary and artistic circles, including James Joyce and Jean Cocteau. She also met and was inspired by the great photographer Eugene Atget, whose work she tirelessly promoted. On her return to her homeland, Abbott began her major project, Changing New York, in which she documented the interaction between the city's dramatic architecture and its people in a series of remarkable images that made her name. By the time of her death at the age of 93, Abbott's diverse body of work had earned her a place as one of the greatest American photographers.

This limited edition, facsimile photobook by American photographer Danny Lyon is a unique and intimate portrait of China and its people. Lyon's unparalleled photographic findings and discoveries are presented alongside his travel ephemera, personal annotations and his ever-inquisitive and non-judgmental prose. Lyon is one of America's most original and influential documentary photographers. With the United States his usual subject, Lyon's travels in China represent a radical and exciting departure as well as an important record of a cultural region that is fast disappearing. Each book is signed and numbered by Lyon.

Gordon Parks (1912-2006) was a pioneering figure in 20th-century photography. As well as being the first African-American photographer to join the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and to become a staff photographer for Life magazine, he was also a writer, film director and composer. Although best known for documenting issues such as poverty, race relations and civil rights, he was remarkably versatile, turning his gift for visual narrative to subjects as diverse as news coverage, fashion, art and sport. He also captured prominent figures of his era, from Malcolm X to Marilyn Monroe, in a series of memorable portraits. Working in the US and around the world, he was driven by a commitment to social justice: 'The common search for a better life and a better world is deeper than colour or blood.'

Kary H. Lasch (1914 - 1993) was a Czech-born photographer who moved to Sweden in 1939 and whose international model scouting network was based in Stockholm. His photographic career spanned the 1950s through the 1980s, and he attended the Cannes Film Festival consecutively for over 30 years. He travelled widely, and is well known for his iconic images of Picasso, Dali, Fellini, Sofia Loren, and Brigitte Bardot. Lasch was known to do anything to get a scoop on the best photos. In a famous instance, when Sofia Loren was on her way to Stockholm by train from Copenhagen in 1955, Kary picked up the train she was on in Copenhagen, bribed the concierge, and photographed her while she was dressing in the train car. When they arrived in the Stockholm Central Station, the Swedish press were competing for the best position for a picture while Sofia and Kary were looking out of the train window. This 3-volume set (Vol. 1: Famous; Vol. 2: Cannes; Vol. 3: Humorous), brings together works from the extensive Kary Lasch Collection, which contains more than 600,000 images.

Now available in a paperback edition, LaToya Ruby Frazier's award-winning first book, The Notion of Family, offers an incisive exploration of the legacy of racism and economic decline in America's small towns, as embodied by her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania. The work also considers the impact of that decline on the community and on her family, creating a statement both personal and truly political-an intervention in the histories and narratives of the region. Frazier has compellingly set her story of three generations-her Grandma Ruby, her mother, and herself-against larger questions of civic belonging and responsibility. The work documents her own struggles and interactions with family and the expectations of community, and includes the documentation of the demise of Braddock's only hospital, reinforcing the idea that the history of a place is frequently written on the body as well as the landscape. With The Notion of Family, Frazier knowingly acknowledges and expands upon the traditions of classic black-and-white documentary photography, enlisting the participation of her family, and her mother in particular. In the creation of these collaborative works, Frazier reinforces the idea of art and image-making as a transformative act, a means of resetting traditional power dynamics and narratives-both those of her family and of the community at large.

Explore and discover the most beautiful places in Wiltshire. Visit and photograph the ancient and mysterious sites of Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill; the great houses and gardens at Longleat, Bowood, Wilton, Stourhead; villages and churches; Georgian Bradford-on-Avon and the chalk White Horses and the Fovant Badges etched into the hillsides. You will enjoy photographs of the strip lynchets along the downs where sheep have grazed for centuries; the big open farmland, the Ridgeway, the chalk streams; Salisbury Plain and Salisbury Cathedral. With over 500 colour photographs, Photographing Wiltshire is the definitive visitor and photo-location guidebook to photographing this fascinating county. Introductory sections explain the story of Wiltshire's varied landscape, exceptional cultural heritage and diverse wildlife. It will appeal to Wiltshire residents, outdoor enthusiasts, photographers and anyone who loves Wiltshire and would like to understand it better.

The first full-length title in English on the celebrated photographer Claude Cahun whose work was rediscovered in the 1980s.

This lively and original book looks at Cahun and her oeuvre in the contexts of the turbulent times in which she lived. Surveying standard postmodernist approaches to Cahun, born Lucy Schwob, Doy goes further, positioning Cahun's photographs as part of her life as a woman, lesbian and political activist in the early twentieth century. Doy considers Cahun's relationships with Symbolism and then Surrealism and her approach to dress and masquerade, assessing the images in the context of the situation of women at the time and within the prevailing fashion and beauty culture. She also pays attention to her curious images of constructed objects and re-evaluates the status of Cahun's small-scale snapshots as photographs.

Enormously readable, 'Claude Cahun' at last provides a fuller picture of this important artist's life and work.