I've been reading the book Mike Johnston recommended a few weeks ago (Photography from 1839 to Today : George Eastman House, Rochester, NY) and I highly recommend it. It's an absolutely fascinating collection with particularly good coverage of 19th century photography and history. Definitely a keeper and a stupendous bargain even at the list price of $29.95.
Since I live in Rochester, I picked it up at the George Eastman House & Museum, which is just down the street from where I work. I have a friend who works there (her official title is Assistant Registrar - she gets to examine and log in all the works that come into the museum) so not only did I get her 30% employee's discount, I learned that you can request a personal viewing of any of the photos in the book. There's no charge for this; you just have to arrange it in advance and they'll set up a private viewing. I haven't taken advantage of this yet, but I'm seriously considering doing so when I've had time to really go through the book and think about a couple of images I'd like to see in person. Since my S.O. and I may be moving to Pittsburgh next year, I want to take advantage of this while I have the chance. I also got some inside dirt on the creation of this particular book. It seems there was quite a bit of controversy and friction between the German publishers who put the book together and the management of the George Eastman House. Some of the GEH staff thought there was too much emphasis on nudes, particularly *male* nudes and *particularly* some that, while perhaps not actually homoerotic, well... caused a great deal of consternation for some people. I can't say I see anything alarming in the book myself but I don't know if that's because they eventually got the publishers to tame it or if the German publishers and I are that much more sophisticated and worldly than the conservative management of the GEH ;-) -- Mark Roberts www.robertstech.com - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
