Trent Parke: Minutes to Midnight and The Christmas Tree Bucket in stock!

It arrived, it exists!!

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^ Yeah, I saw that video a while back, good stuff! Another short but sweet video from this year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62JZqs1iHUM

Ack! Second time this has happened - someone announced Amazon has Minutes to Midnight in stock, only to find out it's only for an international version, not Amazon.ca which perpetually says "temporarily out of stock."
 
My thoughts on Minutes to Midnight: First off Steidl books are beautiful. You can literally feel the ink on the page. The quality of the binding and paper are like holding something made well -- well like a Leica M3, or a Nikon F or anything like that.

And the photos are superb. Not many books can leave a fellow photographer with a useful "take-away" that they can apply to their own vision. Today while walking up Lexington Avenue with the light on my back I thought to myself, when I turn around soon, the light will be facing me, and I can channel Trent Parke. Then at Citibank building their was a thin shaft of light illuminating a woman and I thought of some of Trent's photos. Now this particular offering wasn't "Trent-worthy," but you get the point. Then when I'm shooting on the shady side of the street 125 at 5.6 or 8 with Tmax I'm thinking HCB. Not to copy but there are certain commonalities.

Back to Steidl -- I scored his recent printing of Robert Frank's The Americans (I didn't have a copy) and also Henry Wessel's Incidents -- wonderful. You really cannot cannot go wrong with a Steidl book. Everything is perfection and a model for the way it should be done. Plus when Steidl and Howard Greenberg team up you're a goner :)
 
NY_Dan said:
My thoughts on Minutes to Midnight: First off Steidl books are beautiful. You can literally feel the ink on the page. The quality of the binding and paper are like holding something made well -- well like a Leica M3, or a Nikon F or anything like that.

And the photos are superb. Not many books can leave a fellow photographer with a useful "take-away" that they can apply to their own vision. Today while walking up Lexington Avenue with the light on my back I thought to myself, when I turn around soon, the light will be facing me, and I can channel Trent Parke. Then at Citibank building their was a thin shaft of light illuminating a woman and I thought of some of Trent's photos. Now this particular offering wasn't "Trent-worthy," but you get the point. Then when I'm shooting on the shady side of the street 125 at 5.6 or 8 with Tmax I'm thinking HCB. Not to copy but there are certain commonalities.
Back to Steidl -- I scored his recent printing of Robert Frank's The Americans (I didn't have a copy) and also Henry Wessel's Incidents -- wonderful. You really cannot cannot go wrong with a Steidl book. Everything is perfection and a model for the way it should be done. Plus when Steidl and Howard Greenberg team up you're a goner :)
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NY Dan- 100% agreement- my first impression after opening Minutes to Midnight was the smell of freshly printed inks- then the images and both put the reader in a intimate gallery like setting… fun experience- only wish Trent Parke would do a second printing of Dream/Life through Steidl. Last, I also got a copy of The Americans 50th Anniversary version- well done….
 
I hear you danielsterno -- the books even smell good. From what I can see, Trent makes the most of a limited amount of shooting -- in some of his books you can see that the number of rolls or shoot days are minimal -- but he gets a lot out of it. For me, I usually come in closer when I'm shooting, so I value books where the photographer takes a further view -- and Trent and Wessel do this well. I just want to be more cognizant of the subject distances I'm choosing and to mix it up more.

Forgot to add, what I really like about Trent's book and all the Steidl books is that if you're a photographer, they make you want to go out and shoot.
 
I know RFF has a B&W bias, but the Christmas Tree Bucket book is just as original as Minutes to Midnight.
 
I've been waiting for a copy from Amazon for months...occasionally I get emails asking if I'm still interested in waiting. I'm hoping someday I'll be surprised!
 
Has any one ever gotten the Dream/Life book? Thats worth the time rummaging in used book stores- I would enjoy it to see those images-
 
The Christmas Tree Bucket still is available on Amazon, for a mere 30 bucks.

I found The Seventh Wave online too, seller asks EUR 500+...

Makes me want to purchase the remaining 3 Xmas Bucket books and cash in big time in a year or two... :p
 
Steidl prints so nicely! I also have Henry Wessel's book INCIDENTS. A career goal and highlight for any photographer would be to have their work printed by Steidl -- I can't even type this sentence without hyperventilating. The ink on MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT positively leaps off the page -- it's so thick and tactile.
 
danielsterno said:
Has any one ever gotten the Dream/Life book? Thats worth the time rummaging in used book stores- I would enjoy it to see those images-
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I think that would be an incredibly lucky find considering the prices used copies of Dream/Life go for these days.
 
danielsterno said:
Has any one ever gotten the Dream/Life book? Thats worth the time rummaging in used book stores- I would enjoy it to see those images-
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Parke's one of my favourite photographers - I've got all his books, including "Dream/Life" and "The Seventh Wave". The former I bought on this forum for £200 I think, the latter for £50 from an online bookshop. So, they can be had for (fairly) sensible prices if you search diligently - albeit it took me a year of looking...
 
RichC said:
Parke's one of my favourite photographers - I've got all his books, including "Dream/Life" and "The Seventh Wave". The former I bought on this forum for £200 I think, the latter for £50 from an online bookshop. So, they can be had for (fairly) sensible prices if you search diligently - albeit it took me a year of looking...
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How different is Dream/Life from the Dream/Life series of photos on the Magnum website (Link:- HERE)? I read somewhere that he regretted publishing the book so early (1999) because he continued shooting the series for another 2-3 years. Quite a number of photos on the magnum website are shot in 2001 and 2002. Any chance of doing one of those flipping through the book videos? :) It's one of the books not many people get to see.

I do hope a publisher gets the rights to publish an updated edition of Dream/Life soon.
 
I live in Sydney and some of the local council libraries have copies of Dream/Life on the shelves. I can borrow it anytime I want.
 
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