Magnum Contact Sheets

I've been after this book for a while so when I won some money on a Photo competition I didn't give a second thought about buying it. Despite other comments to the contrary, my copy arrived in perfect condition and it's only protection was a small amount of brown paper around the sides and top. It was despatched through Hermes not Royal Mail so maybe that helped. I also don't see any problems with the page binding. It's not a book you can really look at properly unless you've got a flat surface to put it on but the binding seems to be quite strong to me, so they've either improved this or people were trying to read it while riding a bike or something ;) I haven't had a chance to properly look at the book content yet, but first impressions are that it's a marvellous, beautiful book that I'm sure I'll keep returning to. It will take pride of place in my bookcase, although perhaps on a lower shelf as it's HUGE! UPDATE 29/10/2012 I've now had a chance to flip through the content so I thought I'd update the review. The quality of this book is astounding. Despite the fact it's full of beautiful big photos on quality paper (150gsm matt art) many of which you will have seen before if you're serious about photography, I am a little disappointed with the selection of some of them. Given that each photo is accompanied by a narrative about how it came about, in some cases I would have preferred to see other, and in my opinion better, photos by the same photographers. Although that's not to cast the selection with any negativity. They are all superb in their own way and there is a vast array of subjects throughout making it an incredibly interesting read. I've seen other reviews mentioning that you will learn from this book and it will improve your photography, but what you will not learn is anything about equipment used or exposure settings and the like. This is not a "how to" guide to taking photos. What you will learn is whatever you as an individual take from it by combining the narrative with careful examination of the contact sheets and the selected photo. To give you an example, one section, 1976, is a photo entitled "The Teds" by Chris Steele-Perkins showing a Teddy Boy about to comb his hair. The contact sheet shows a series of 5 or 6 photos on the same roll with the Teddy Boy at various stages of carrying out this action. So why did the shot get selected? The photographer writes: "The first frame is the one that grabs you immediately, as it's quite decisive [The teddy boy is actually combing his hair], but I preferred the later one because it's of that moment when something is about to happen, yet is suspended, unresolved in time and that injects a little tension into the image" This was one of the first narratives I read, and for me it was like an epiphany! I would have selected the first one myself, but the photographer is right, I'd never considered that the moment of something about to happen is more powerful than the event taking place. If I get nothing else from this book I have at least learnt that one thing. Another thing you will learn is that there such a thing as a "decisive moment", but often in order to find it you have to work a scene, approach it from different angles, take multiple shots and above all don't be afraid to make mistakes. It's a fascinating book for anyone with an interest in Photography and one I know I'll keep returning too.

A must-have book for any photographer or photography enthusiast! Full of wonderful imagery, and just being able to view the photographers’ processes before they get to a final image is just fascinating. The book might seem pricey, but it’s well worth it!

i sortof think magnum is kindof problematic. however. i saw an exhibition of these contact sheets at FOAM in Amsterdam and I think it's an excellent and interesting way into how other people see things, how we edit in the moment and later. I"m not all that into docu stuff, but this is great.

It’s paperback but not really.It’s huge and heavy. Been after a hardback for years but it’s been too pricey. Fascinating content with the contact sheet,chosen frame,that frame full size and a small piece about why the frame was chosen. Just brilliant.

Wonderful book. If you want to be inspired by the icons of photography and see the ‘behind the scenes’ shots of their iconic photographs then this book is a must. Excellent price for the paper book as the hardback version may be expensive. No snapchat, instagram or phone app filters included.

First, as other reviewers have commented, Amazon's packaging was poor. It's a really heavy book, and it shifts around inside the oversize box where the only cushioning added by Amazon is crushed brown paper. On mine, the top of the spine was crushed during transit. I don't mind that much, because I urgently wanted to read the book - but I can imagine it really annoying some people considering the price. This is a fascinating book, but overall the photographs selected for discussion create a dismal view of humanity. There are almost no joyful pictures, but plenty of truly depressing ones. I suppose this reflects the kind of stuff Magnum photo-reporters cover. I was personally very encouraged to see how low a hit rate such famous photographers had. I'm still not certain, though, whether it's an argument in favour of motor drives and taking more frames, or the opposite. Clearly Mr Barnack foresaw the need to have several shots at the target, but I'm not convinced that quantity makes up for quality of vision.

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.Kirsten Lubben sets the context and relevance of Photographers Contact sheets in an insightful and very well written introduction.The presentation and chosen scale allows for an experience close to viewing actual size contact sheets allowing the reader to view individual frames easily. It does not so much "drop" through the letterbox as be handed to you with the warning that " it is heavy"….it certainly commands respect and has an authority that is enviable. Unique and worthwhile.

Magnum Contact Sheets is a fantastic - but really heavy! - book, absolutely recommended for every serious photographer. I was fortunate enough to see the exhibition in Budapest last year as well and was instantly hooked. This is the second edition which is a bit cheaper than the previous one, so there's no excuse not to buy this book for this great price. Images are near print quality and everybody - whether shoots film or digital - can learn a lot of things from these contact sheets of the best photographers in the world.

Es increíble poder ver el proceso de selección del autor de una fotografía famosa, y leer o bien el comentario del mismo autor o de especialistas de la época. No me gusta el encuadernado suave, pero la buena calidad de impresión de las fotografías compensa. Un imprescindible en la biblioteca de un fotógrafo.

Une source inépuisable. Il y a les planches de contact, la finalité choisie et l’histoire qui a suscité le déclenchement des photographes à l’époque de l’argentique.

I've had my eye on the Contact Sheets book for the past few years, and I saw it on Amazon for ~32 USD (45 CAN?) and had to pull the trigger. For this price, I'd say the book is an insane deal. The quality of the book is very good - the pages are smooth with smart edges and decent thickness, and the book cover is well-made with a minimalistic design. The dust cover got a little bit wrinkled during shipping (from Amazon? the vendor?). I'm not too miffed because it shipped all the way from Canada to me (in California), and the wrinkles were all on the corners/binding. Some people in the US amazon complained about poor book binding, but I don't perceive the binding to be a weak-point. Caveat: I've only had the book for a few weeks and babied it, so take that FWIW. The actual content is well laid out and in chronological order. The text have relevant stories leading up to the culmination of the photos. Some of the stories are in-depth than others. The Magnum photographers write about people involved, the events, and the feelings they felt when shooting or selecting photos from their film rolls. I don't have the book with me, nor do I think describing a particular page very useful. If you're already interested in Magnum, you'll probably know a few of the stories behind the photos (e.g. Hoepker's photo of the young people relaxing during 9/11 twin towers incident). However a few stories I was happy to learn more about (e.g. the fortuitous accident involving the photo processing of Frank Capa photo of soldiers on Omaha beach). I only wish that the book covered more photographs and more recent time period.

O livro mostra um pouco do processo criativo de inúmeros fotógrafos a partir de uma ou duas fotos de uma sessão, revelando o processo de busca pela imagem com a folha de contato do rolo da foto consagrada. Em um breve porém suficiente relato o fotógrafo conta a história de como chegou naquele resultado. É simplesmente incrível para quem fotografa.

I read this book cover to cover over the course of a few months. Just a few entries each weekday morning after I dropped my kids off to school. The images are wonderful, of course, but seeing the contact sheets and learning even more about the context in which the photos were taken as told by the photographers themselves (!) just adds to the quality of this fine, fine book. Don't flip through it. Read it page-by-page. When you read the photographer's words about how/when the photos were taken gives so much great background detail. And with that info, once you turn the page to see the full-scale image they've been discussing and setting up?!?! WOW. It's a revelation. A must-have book for any photographer open to inspiration.