Magnum Contact Sheets

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His form is mirrored by his shadow on the ground – and also mirrored, elsewhere in the book, in Susan Meiselas’ portrait of Lena, from her Carnival Strippers series (again, link has some nudity). Presumably, when a photographer releases the shutter, it is because he believes the image worthwhile.

If the photographer is self-critical, he can attempt to analyze the reasons for the gap between expectation and actuality … Ruthless examination of the contact sheet, whether one’s own or another’s, is one of the best teaching methods. While these systems [digital] may be highly functional for the short-term trafficking of images, it remains to be seen how enduring they will be. Personally I'm fairly diligent with storage and back-up of digital files (touch wood) and still have many pictures from my college days, 15 years ago. Further insight into each contact sheet is provided by texts written by the photographers themselves or by experts chosen by members' estates.Did it emerge from a diligently worked sequence, or was the right shot down to pure serendipity a matter of being in the right place at the right time? I may not be watching the photographer actually taking the photographs but, where a photograph can lie, I would argue that a contact sheet does not. this book lays bare the creative methods, strategies and editing processes behind some of the world's most iconic images. I think I have got more out of these reflections, and from careful perusal of the contact sheets, than I have from many technical books about photography. For those worried about the new edition lacking some of the content of the first book - have no fear.

I have been exploring this book regularly over the past month and find that the biographical details and illuminating notes on the individual photographers work featured to be consistently rewarding.When you consider that the majority of this book is full pages of contact sheets or enlargements of individual images then it really isn’t so scary.