ducttape
Established
I don't recall why I ordered this from Amazon. I think maybe I saw it in the Aperture newletter or something. Wow, good book. I've read all of the introduction and the first chapter and I am blown away.
Apparently, Lee Miller was a Vogue photographer. Finding herself in Europe during the war, she applied for and got press acreditation. She shot and wrote articles back to the Vogue editors.
Her pictures have such a warm touch that it's almost oxymoronic. Her writing is personal, descriptive, colorful and anything but what we read today. Knowing she is a Vogue writer, you see it all over her work. Not purposely, not flipantly, just her honest attempt to describe what she sees.
She describes colors and things that fill the senses. In a warpiece. 'The surgical tent had a white floor and white walls... the surgeons were changed from their olive fatigues into white gown, facemask and coif. Disgarded helmets on the floor. Six groups of people were around six operating tables. There was no ether smell of hospital because they use mostlyspinal nerve block, sodium pentathol and nitrious oxide.'
No, I don't get the feeling AT ALL that she is describing a fashion runway, just being incredibly observant of things that most war correspondents don't seem to see.
'Three of the patients were conscious... he had watched me take his photograph and had made an effort with his good hand to smooth his hair. I didn't know that he was already asleep with sodium pentathal when they started on his other arm. I turned away for fear my face would betray to him what I had seen.'
Then, I turned the page and there is this soldier, lying in bed, totally bandaged in face and hands. You can see 2 holes for eyes, one for mouth and something where the nose should be. The picture is not sharp at all. 'A bad burns case asked me to take his picture as he wanted to see how funny helooked. It was pretty grim and I didn't focus good.'.
Nurses leaving tents, standing dead tired at the door. Doctors leaning over surgical tables. And then, some nurses relaxing in their cot on a 12 hour break, before moving 6 miles, past two other mobile hospitals, to the front.
I'm really looking forward to reading the balance of this book. She has an incredible was of tying her photographs (which surely she did not see until sometime after) with her writting, which must have been done that very evening to keep it fresh.
I would highly recommend this book. It is more reading than visual, but there are 159 photographs. As a mixed media of words and images, it hits the spot.
Has any one else ever seen her work?
Apparently, Lee Miller was a Vogue photographer. Finding herself in Europe during the war, she applied for and got press acreditation. She shot and wrote articles back to the Vogue editors.
Her pictures have such a warm touch that it's almost oxymoronic. Her writing is personal, descriptive, colorful and anything but what we read today. Knowing she is a Vogue writer, you see it all over her work. Not purposely, not flipantly, just her honest attempt to describe what she sees.
She describes colors and things that fill the senses. In a warpiece. 'The surgical tent had a white floor and white walls... the surgeons were changed from their olive fatigues into white gown, facemask and coif. Disgarded helmets on the floor. Six groups of people were around six operating tables. There was no ether smell of hospital because they use mostlyspinal nerve block, sodium pentathol and nitrious oxide.'
No, I don't get the feeling AT ALL that she is describing a fashion runway, just being incredibly observant of things that most war correspondents don't seem to see.
'Three of the patients were conscious... he had watched me take his photograph and had made an effort with his good hand to smooth his hair. I didn't know that he was already asleep with sodium pentathal when they started on his other arm. I turned away for fear my face would betray to him what I had seen.'
Then, I turned the page and there is this soldier, lying in bed, totally bandaged in face and hands. You can see 2 holes for eyes, one for mouth and something where the nose should be. The picture is not sharp at all. 'A bad burns case asked me to take his picture as he wanted to see how funny helooked. It was pretty grim and I didn't focus good.'.
Nurses leaving tents, standing dead tired at the door. Doctors leaning over surgical tables. And then, some nurses relaxing in their cot on a 12 hour break, before moving 6 miles, past two other mobile hospitals, to the front.
I'm really looking forward to reading the balance of this book. She has an incredible was of tying her photographs (which surely she did not see until sometime after) with her writting, which must have been done that very evening to keep it fresh.
I would highly recommend this book. It is more reading than visual, but there are 159 photographs. As a mixed media of words and images, it hits the spot.
Has any one else ever seen her work?
