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spav's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing portraits that tell many stories. It is amazing how Diane Arbus manages to master basic rules in order to break them and get really impactful shots.
tracie_nicole's review against another edition
5.0
Her photography is haunting and even though they are almost all portraiture, her use of lighting makes you take a long look at each photo.
chelseasofia's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
Beautiful monograph of iconic works. I really appreciated reading her own remarks in the beginning that shows how she didn’t profess to have or know one right way to photograph. The way she talks about composition or technique is that she’s looking for something beyond that. She says the camera is a nuisance sometimes. And that her preferences for light changed over time. I love all that, it’s very comforting as a photographer and artist to read these things from another artist.
Although I had seen many of these images before, I had never before poured over them for so long. Some of them are downright stunning. Others are thoughtful, funny, scary, quirky, beautiful, ugly, heartbreaking or whatever.
“Sometimes for me composition has to do with a certain brightness or a certain coming into restness and other times it has to do with funny mistakes.”
“I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don’t like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.”
“The thing that’s important to know is that you never know. You’re always sort of feeling your way.”
“For me the subject of the picture is always more important than the picture. And more complicated.”
Although I had seen many of these images before, I had never before poured over them for so long. Some of them are downright stunning. Others are thoughtful, funny, scary, quirky, beautiful, ugly, heartbreaking or whatever.
“Sometimes for me composition has to do with a certain brightness or a certain coming into restness and other times it has to do with funny mistakes.”
“I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don’t like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.”
“The thing that’s important to know is that you never know. You’re always sort of feeling your way.”
“For me the subject of the picture is always more important than the picture. And more complicated.”
sloatsj's review against another edition
3.0
People are crazy about Diane Arbus and I like her but I'm not crazy about her. Still, as portraiture, she's very interesting. The twins on the cover are among the fabulous, and surely are what expired the Redrum twins in "The Shining."
bldinmt's review against another edition
3.0
I like Diane Arbus' style. It made me of the Michael Franti lyric, "All the freaky people make the beauty of the world."
c_ristin_a's review against another edition
5.0
I work from awkwardness. By that i mean i don't like to arrange things. If i standin front of something, instead of arranging it, i arrange myself.
I really believe there are things which nobody would see unless i photographed them
I really believe there are things which nobody would see unless i photographed them
amysutton's review against another edition
2.0
Diane Arbus takes pictures of very intriguing subjects, and about five of those pictures actually stand out in this collection. When she gets one of those stand out shots, it's really exceptional. There are some pictures that are striking and jarring and breathtaking.
The rest are just not my cup of tea. Technically, the pictures are over exposed and some are riddled with marks from film development. Others are not composed well and could have been excluded from the collection. I feel like a body of work like this should display the gems and not try to catalogue every picture taken. Arbus feels more like a one hit wonder than an artist with a solid collection, and this book unfortunately highlights that.
The rest are just not my cup of tea. Technically, the pictures are over exposed and some are riddled with marks from film development. Others are not composed well and could have been excluded from the collection. I feel like a body of work like this should display the gems and not try to catalogue every picture taken. Arbus feels more like a one hit wonder than an artist with a solid collection, and this book unfortunately highlights that.
sky_reaper's review against another edition
4.0
There's this sense of eeriness and queasiness I felt looking through each photograph. It's awkward and queer (not only the undisturbed set-up when the pictures were taken, but also the people in it mostly), yet a flowing acknowledgment on the person in front of the camera and behind it is evident. It's straightforward and dignified in some way.