Search results for ""author jackie higgins""

Why take a self-portrait but obscure your face with a lightbulb (Lee Friedlander, Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts (1968)? Or deliberately underexpose an image (Vera Lutter, Battersea Power Station, XI: July 13 , 2004)? And why photograph a ceiling (William Eggleston, Red Ceiling , 1973)? In Why It Does Not Have To Be In Focus , Jackie Higgins offers a lively, informed defence of modern photography. Choosing 100 key photographs – with particular emphasis on the last twenty years – she examines what inspired each photographer in the first place, and traces how the piece was executed. In doing so, she brings to light the layers of meaning and artifice behind these singular works, some of which were initially dismissed out of hand for being blurred, overexposed or ‘badly’ composed. The often controversial works discussed in this book play with our expectations of a photograph, our ingrained tendency to believe that it is telling us the unadorned truth. Jackie Higgins’s book proves once and for all that there’s much more to the art of photography than just pointing and clicking.

Read more less

In Sentient, Jackie Higgins assembles a menagerie of zoological creatures – from land, air, sea and all four corners of the globe – to understand what it means to be human.'Spellbinding . . . More than any other book, [Sentient] has made me think differently about the world this year.' – Financial Times Best Books of the YearThe peacock mantis shrimp can throw a punch that can fracture aquarium walls.The great grey owl can hear many decibels lower than the human ear.The star-nosed mole’s miraculous nose allows it to catch worms in as little as 120 milliseconds.In Sentient we also meet the four-eyed spookfish and its dark vision, the vampire bat and its remarkable powers of touch, as well as the common octopus, the Goliath catfish and the duck-billed platypus. Each zoological marvel illustrates the surprising sensory powers that lie within us and enables us to engage with the world in ways we never knew possible.'Lyrical and lucid . . . Higgins makes popular science accessible.' – Observer

Read more less

'Jackie Higgins’s lyrical, literate style will charm you while her book stuns your imagination with strange, other-worldly truths' Richard DawkinsSentient assembles a menagerie of zoological creatures – from land, air, sea and all four corners of the globe – to understand what it means to be human. Through their eyes, ears, skins, tongues and noses, the furred, finned and feathered reveal how we sense and make sense of the world, as well as the untold scientific revolution stirring in the field of human perception. The harlequin mantis shrimp can throw a punch that can fracture aquarium walls but, more importantly, it has the ability to see a vast range of colours. The ears of the great grey owl have such unparalleled range and sensitivity that they can hear twenty decibels lower than the human ear. The star-nosed mole barely fills a human hand, seldom ventures above ground and poses little threat unless you are an earthworm, but its miraculous nose allows it to catch those worms at astonishing speed – as little as one hundred and twenty milliseconds. Here, too, we meet the four-eyed spookfish and its dark vision; the vampire bat and its remarkable powers of touch; the bloodhound and its hundreds of millions of scent receptors, as well as the bar-tailed godwit, the common octopus, giant peacocks, cheetahs and golden orb-weaving spiders. Each of these extraordinary creatures illustrates the sensory powers that lie dormant within us. In this captivating book, Jackie Higgins explores this evolutionary heritage and, in doing so, enables us to subconsciously engage with the world in ways we never knew possible.

Read more less

David Bailey was part of a new generation who revolutionized fashion photography in the 1960s and made stars of models such as Jean Shrimpton. He was also among the first photographers to become a celebrity in his own right, socializing with and photographing many of the cultural icons of the 1960s and 1970s, such as Catherine Deneuve, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Michael Caine and Andy Warhol. He has held contracts with British, American and Italian Vogue and contributed to many other major magazines and newspapers over more than 40 years. His simple and direct style is accompanied by an intimacy that reveals the personality and sensuality of his subjects. Over the course of his successful career, Bailey has produced books, paintings, commercials, documentaries and feature films and remains a high profile figure in photography and filmmaking. This book delves into the photographer's archive and provides an engaging overview of his career, including early and previously unpublished work alongside his iconic portraits from London and New York in the 1960s.

Read more less