Product Description
In the past 30 years, Diane Keaton has been an actress, a director and a photographer. This work begins with her early years in California, but the primary focus is on her film career from the 1970s through the present. The author examines Keaton's image as star and public figure, drawing on information from interviews (including personal conversations with Keaton), feature pieces, press releases, books, photographs, posters, films, and reviews of films. Each chapter provides an overview of the significant events and influences in Keaton's life during a particular period, along with a thematic and stylistic analysis of that period's feature films, television movies, and photography. The film analyses include an examination of themes and technical elements such as cinematography, mise-en-scène, movement, editing, sound, acting, costumes, set, and narrative structures. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Five stars!!
I read this book after watching Annie Hall recently, for the first time, and have watched a lot more of her old movies since then. This book gives a lot of information on Ms Keaton's persona and on her films which confirms most of my analysis of her based on her performances and from reading about her from different sources. Her film collaboration with Woody Allen are considered classic and all her other movies reflect how versatile an actress she is. I'm highly recommending all of her movies to my kids even though they were justborn around the time when Annie Hall first came out.I know they will enjoy them.

Author Mitchell makes Keaton look like a God
I am not a big fan of Debroah Mitchell's book Diane Keaton: Artist and Icon.She is an actress not a God.I will say I am a fan of Keaton but this book went to far. Hollywood stars today are treated like their better than everyone else.Liberalism is portrayed all over this book.Too much leftist talk for me! ... Read more

Product Description
California Romantica features the most important, yet rarely seen, residential exemplars of the California Mission and Spanish Colonial styles, by such noted architects as George Washington Smith, Wallace Neff, Richard Requa, Lilian Rice, and Paul R. Williams, among others. From whitewashed stucco walls and cloistered patios to tile roofs and sumptuous gardens, each house shown is a rare masterpiece, splendidly appointed with authentic Monterey furniture, California tile, and Navajo rugs. Among the magnificent seaside estates, canyon villas, and courtyard bungalows shown is Diane Keaton’s former home in Beverly Hills, which she thoughtfully restored with noted designer Stephen Shadley, and for which she has been recognized as a committed preservationist.She brings her cinematic eye, a keen sense of natural drama, and a profound appreciation for the nuances of shadow and light to the elucidation of these buildings, through the selection of specially commissioned photography. Authoritative text by D. J. Waldie lucidly explicates the architecture and provides an intimate tour of a historic and distinctly Californian lifestyle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Disappointing
This is a beautiful book but it has some major problems I think. There are too many closeups and detail shots and not enough big picture photos. The photos are very dark and the lighting while very interesting does not allow one to gleen much information for the reader. Not enough pictues of interiors that are furnished. The black boarder to the photos just adds to the the darkness.
If you want to learn and not just browse about this look, then this is not the book for you.

Disappointing
I purchased this as a research book for work.First off, I was taken aback by the reduced quality of the paper inside the book - very thick, and seemed to be a little bit gritty.

This book is just not that special.Although meticulously researched, I must say that it felt like every house looked the same.The photographs are mostly of the architecture of these structures.It is gorgeous architecture, but after the first two houses, I got bored.Seems like there are pages and pages of shadows on walls, and empty rooms with beamed ceilings.

I recommend the book Courtyard Housing of Los Angeles instead.That book is outstanding and a must have for fans of this California style.

Simply Amazing
I bought this book for my wife on her birthday.She had seen it at SFMOMA and I thought it would be a nice, coffee table-type addition to our modest book collection.What I found, however, was a marvelous portal to a California I had only dreamed about.As orchestrated by Diane Keaton, a singular artist in film, the photographs here perfectly present the amazing Spanish and Mission architecture of Southern California while the text, by D. J. Waldie, tells the stories behind the stucco, wood and iron of the structures.The homes and furnishings presented here are at once simple and elegant; ornate and plain; expansive and private.A seemingly simple room can be a frame-work for a splash of color that takes the breath away while ornate ironwork or colorful tile nestles in a quiet setting like a found treasure.
My wife and I are currently planning a vacation to Spain where we will no doubt encounter the original inspiration for the work here.But growing up working-class Chicano in L.A., our families used to drive through the rich neighborhoods to gawk at the houses and I remember thinking,"This is Hollywood; these can't be real houses for real people."The amazing structures and spaces in this book are all the more beautiful for being real places in the land of make-believe.What I thought would be an interesting diversion turned out to be much, much more.

Great Photos, period.
I love looking at Spanish colonial architecture. I have a viceral reaction to it, as does/did Diane Keaton, who is also a Californian. I would love to look at each and every photo in this book but it's very very difficult because it is so huge and heavy.You can't hold it in your lap to enjoy the pictures, so you must lay it on a table and look at each page using both hands.The black and white photos show details in the various grand houses mentioned but I was able to look them up online so I could see each house featured in the book inside and out, and in color, e.g. Leo Carillo's house, Los Quiotes.All in all, very very beautiful photography rather than inspirational. What I thought I was getting was something like a wonderful book called Red Tile Style. I can look at and read that book for hours and get the intense feeling that is somewhere in my early psyche and is brought out by seeing the Spanish Colonial and Mission Style houses, some gone, some that still exit, like those in Long Beach and Ventura, CA.I did not get that feeling from this book, but I liked what little writing there was.How I would have liked more to read. But for me, this book is not a keeper. Too much of a physical commitment to pull out and enjoy. I wonder if this book would have been published if the photos were taken by a non-celebrity. Oh well.I have always loved California architecture and Diane Keaton can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. I hope she can get into Falcon's Lair, the last home that Rudolph Valentino owned. It still exists and I'd love to see photos of the inside of the house he loved so much at the time of his death at age 31.

a little more light
I was disappointed with California Romantica.The use of a black seems to dominate.The photos are framed with a black border and pages with text are black with white lettering. For me,some photos were difficult to appreciate due to the darkness. One,in particular, the photo of huge old tree, using two pages,the foreground on the right side was black with just an outline of what one knew was a cactus. The left page had a dirt road lite by the sun giving a cooperish glow. The tree is underexposed making it very dark, therefore the focus is the cooperish dirt road. I love trees and I wish this one did not look dead since it seems to be a
beautiful place to sit and stay awhile, to read a book or meditate. The architectural features of the villas,the walls, floors, ceilings, stairs, balconies, tile work, doorways,wooden doors, pools, windows, wrought iron work, the furnishings, were creatively portrayed. I did enjoy photos showing what one would see out of specific windows, such as the window on the all black page with just a patch of blue which we know is the ocean!

I will keep the book since I love old houses and I have a great respect for Diane Keaton's efforts to renovate and restore these wonderful homes preserving California's past. Thank you Miss Keaton.Keep up the good work.


... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

great actress but a writer i don't know
i have never actually read this book but i really want to because diane keaton is my favorite actress and i love every single one of her movies and i think she is the greatest actress in the world. she has almost done it all and i really envy her and i wish i just like her. if your in the mood for a good movie you need to watch one of hers and or read one of her books. i can't wait to see all of her movies and read all of her books. i'm going to give it a 5 just because it has diane keaton in it and i love her so much. ... Read more

Product Description
Voyeur. Bandit. Hound. Ron Galella has been called every name in the book. In 1955, fresh out of the United States Air Force, he became a paparazzo--and redefined the genre. From his notoriously obsessive treatment of Jackie Onassis and the subsequent legal battles associated with it, to his alarmingly beautiful photographs of celebrities in the 60s and 70s, Galella has always been in a category of his own. Possessed of a unique talent to catch stars at moments when they seemed most alive, most human, most stylish, Galella was able to do something no other celebrity watcher was able to do: become a star himself.Featuring images of: Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Cher, Liz Taylor, Marlon Brando, Ali McGraw, Farrah Fawcett, Robert Redford, Raquel Welch, Mick Jagger
Edited by Steven Bluttal. Foreword by Diane Keaton. Introduction by Tom Ford. Interview by Glenn O'Brien.

10 x 14 in.
16 color, 180 duotone illustrations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Best
This is a great book. Ron Galella took very chic, very flattering black and white photos of STARS when the world actually had STARS - not the tabloid trash that we have today. Great printing and art direction - a classic. ... Read more

Product Description
The world needs its clowns.It's the clowns of society who make us laugh - sometimes - and who help us view our lives with greater clarity and perspective.Bigger than life, with their exaggerated features and makeup, dressed in their gaudily mismatched and hilariously oversized outfits, clowns refuse to be overlooked.And yet, the portrait of the clown has been all but ignored.Trained to respond respectfully to serious portraiture, we try to read meaning into their big mouths, prosthetic noses, and unruly tufts of hair.Ultimately, the paintings are mysteries: what did amateur artists, who lavished so much time on these iconic images, hope to capture and accomplish?Clown Paintings is a twisty little illustrated book that showcases 65 outrageous and compelling clown portraits, painted by amateurs and selected by actor-directo Diane Keaton.By turns hilarious and heartfelt, joyful and mortifying, these artworks were collected over the years by Keaton, who found herself as mesmerized by their mute eloquence as she was by their bad taste.It's easy to see what drew Keaton to them.They embody contradiction; they're fabulous and horrible, hysterical and dignified, generic yet absolutely specific.And above all - in the grand clown tradition - way out there.The clowns, from whom we expect mischievous, out-of-control behavior, are painted as solemn and decorous subjects to contemplate.Instead of distracting us with brooms, squawking horns, rubber mallets, and slapstick humor, we get the chance to look at them carefully - and to consider how they not only make us laugh, but how they allow us to look more closely at ourselves.And to contemplate the abyss. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

You're kidding me, right?
This is scary stuff and should be kept out of the hands of innocents.It is corruptive, corrosive and full of "CLOWN PAINTINGS", people.Clowns I tell you, clowns!

Need I say more?

I'm off in my jalopy now, away and away and away from those dastardly, red-nosed purveyors of horror.

L.A.E.

The clown has been crowned properly
I am a clown lover. Clowns have always amazed me and grabbed my attention. I love them not because they are funny or clumsy, but by their beauty, pureness, and happiness/sadness contrast. And this is what this book shows, the esthetic and humane sides of the art of clowning.Lovely colorful crying/laughing clowns!

'Clown Paintings' is a very extensive and interesting collection of clown paintings. Diane Keaton is crazy about clowns and many of the paintings are from her private collection. The book also presents a very rich collection of personal beliefs (short texts) about clowns from various famous authors, directors, writers...

The quality of the printing is very very good, the hardcover is really wonderful (without the paper covering), and the price is insignificant for such a piece of art.

The clowns ability to showfeelings and emotion.
I love this book. I'm always looking for clown or circus books. As a Clown lover, I share the same passion as Diane Keaton. This book is a great addition to my personal Clown collection. It feels like this book was published just for me. Being a Clown myself and a Clown artist of fine paintings and sculptures,(www.clownartist.com), I appreciate the works by the different artists and what they communicated. These Clowns evoke a myriad of emotional feelings.
I agree with Diane Keaton about how much we have in common with a clown. We have all felt the emotions that we see on a Clowns face.....CLOWN'S EYES SEE TRUST AND ACCEPTANCE. A WORLD OF FRIENDSHIP...GIVEN AND RECEIVED. A CLOWN'S VIEW IS DIRECT...LIFE IS SIMPLE, UNENCUMBERED...SOMETHING HURTS, HE CRIES, SOMETHING PLEASES HIM, HE LAUGHTS, SOMETHING PUZZLES HIM, HE FROWNS, SOMETHING TOUCHES HIM, HE RESPONDS. LIFE CAN BE THAT SIMPLE...FOR A MOMENT.

Demi - Gods Of The Sawdust
With Clown Paintings (2002), idiosyncratic actor, author, and director Diane Keaton has produced the kind of offbeat creative work that is sorely lacking in American culture today.Clown Paintings is just what is appears to be: a slim compendium of presumably amatuer clown paintings which were happily discovered at swap meets, jumble sales, bargain bins, and thrift stores.What makes Clown Paintings surprising is that Keaton treats the sixty - six paintings as oddball if serious pieces of work, and pointedly avoids treating them as banal, ironic objects of kitsch or high or low camp.Created roughly over a period of thirty years, all of the paintings were made by unknown artists, and many are unsigned, further obscuring their etiology.

Keaton and Los Angeles gallery owner Robert Berman each contribute a brief but fascinating essay.Keaton, a well - known comedian herself, perceives clowns as perpetually bright - eyed innocents and eternally hopeful beings that are easily wounded but fundamentally incapable of learning from negative experience or their own mistakes.Noting that clowns were acceptable enough subjects for Picasso, Beckmann, and Matisse, Keaton believes that clowns images "expose the human experience at its most transcendent on one hand, and on the other, its most tragic."Berman, who thinks "one clown painting alone may look like a silly indulgence," dreams "of a gallery full of clowns, floor to ceiling, walls of clowns - so powerful that the viewers would be overwhelmed."

Keaton has asked a broad range of mostly - American comedians to comment on the subject, including Woody Allen, Don Knotts, Phyllis Diller, Carol Burnett, Ben Stiller, Chevy Chase, Sandra Bernhard, and Jerry Lewis.Not surprisingly, most of those solicited find both clowns and their painted images appalling, frightening, repulsive, or subtle metaphors for psychopathology.With few exceptions, these short commentaries are insightful and touching rather than merely glib or clever.Based on the written selections, it appears clowns are rarely if ever a neutral subject. Like garden gnomes, clowns seem to be "loved by millions, and loathed by millions more."

What Clown Paintings only barely touches upon is the clown as an archetypal trickster figure, a psychopomp, a mythical straddler of at least two conflicting states, a figure perpetually at the crossroads, a subversive, borderland creature who manifests in dreams, childhood memories, literature, popular entertainment, consumerism, world history, and in the gray area of symbol and metaphor.Clowns are and have been everywhere and nowhere at once throughout history, like witches.As with all numinous images, they both reveal and conceal simultaneously.Are clowns predominantly good or predominantly evil?Trustworthy or innately figures of suspicion? Well - intended or conspicuously devious?Social outcasts or masters of their fates? Where does the man end, and the clown artifice begin?Are clowns partially transvestite figures?Or gussied - up memento moris?Like glamorized, inverted modern Medusas, clowns and clown images are capable of eliciting at least a brief fit of paralysis in their audience or viewer.

Despite their apparent obviousness and bluntness, these paintings, which underscore several American traditions, proudly maintain their mystery, even when their dignity seems to be faltering.Regardless of the viewer's discipline or angle of approach, their secrets remain inscrutable and thus safe forever.Curious readers willing to give these pieces their time will be adequately rewarded, for, ultimately, Clown Paintings is an eccentric, funhouse - mirror meditation on the strangeness of being human.

A special book in my life
This book has changed my life for the better!For many years I have had a fear of clowns, in itself an emotional wall put up to deal with my inability to embrace the inner child.My girlfriend on the other hand loves clowns and has been begging me to come to terms with my emotional problems.I used to hide behind the hunstmans rifle in a misplaced attempt to deal with my emotional shortcomings but now things are getting better, and in no small part thanks to this book.

Diane Keaton is familiar to all as a talented Hollywood actress but few will know that she is also a patron of the arts.This book showcases her collection of clown paintings and they are accompanied by the comments and stories from many famous celebrities.The pictures distressed me at first but somehow the warm words of Diane Keaton and the humourous comments of the celebs made me keep coming back. Before long I recognised these paintings for what they truly are, an insight into the very essence of the clown.I see that often behind the greasepaint and oversized shoes there often lies a fragile and passionate soul.In particular a picture in the book entitled 'Let Down' moved me and provided my breakthru moment.It features a clown with his unicycle backstage, just about ready to enter the big top.But his wheel is flat and he cannot go on.A small tear gently rolls down his cheek, making the white and red makeup run a little, as he casts a heartfelt glance at his clown comrades running into the arena.A beautiful, poignant picture which the famous director Alan Smithee summed up as 'moving beyond belief'.

Buy this book and you will not regret it.Beautiful pictures appreciated by beautiful people. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Stay still for stills



In the back of this book there's a very telling 1938 quote from William Eglinton, Chief of Camera and Stills for RKO: 'At the end of each scene, the director and his crew step aside for a brief moment and the still camera man poses the principals in the climax of that particular scene'. The sixty-two stills in the book are the best that Keaton and Heiferman selected from the many they looked at.

I liked the idea that the contents are roughly from the end of the Second World War to the early Sixties, a particularly glossy period for Hollywood and it shows in several of the stills showing sets. Many group shots are really frozen in time photos, looking like tableaus from a waxworks others look like 'candids' with the actors totally unaware of the camera.


I've had this book for some years and I still find it fascinating. The contents are just movie stills but present them in a large, square (twelve by twelve inches)beautifully designed and printed book with the use of a 200 screen on quality paper and the mundane becomes intriguing. Less is definitely more.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.


... Read more

Product Description
Now in Paperback~Voyeur. Bandit. Hound. Ron Galella has been called every name in the book. In 1955, fresh out of the United States Air Force, he became a paparazzo--and redefined the genre. From his notoriously obsessive treatment of Jackie Onassis and the subsequent legal battles associated with it, to his alarmingly beautiful photographs of celebrities in the 60s and 70s, Galella has always been in a category of his own. Possessed of a unique talent to catch stars at moments when they seemed most alive, most human, most stylish, Galella was able to do something no other celebrity watcher was able to do: become a star himself. Featuring images of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Cher, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Ali McGraw, Farrah Fawcett, Robert Redford, Raquel Welch, Mick Jagger and many, many more of the rich, famous and hounded.America's master paparazzo, Ron Galella, was willing to do almost anything to catch the famous unawares, and his tactics brought him a fame of his own. . . a notoriously pesky photographer, he helped create icons, redefine glamour and launch the age of modern celbrity. Vanity Fair~All celebrity all the time--Ron Galella was the godfather of the U.S. paparazzi culture.Time Magazine~Galella wooingly stalked Jackie Kennedy Onassis for years. His gaze-lust for her was so intense that any Galella picture of a Kennedyis, by magic default, a portrait of Jackie.ArtforumEdited by Steven Bluttal.~Foreword by Diane Keaton.~Introduction by Tom Ford.Paperback, 9.5 x 13 in./258 pgs / 16 color 0 BW180 duotone 0 ~ Item D20326 ... Read more

Product Description
Like its spectacular predecessors, New York, New York and These United States, this elegant volume is a brilliant presentation of all that is L.A. It takes us from Venice Beach to Rodeo Drive, from high culture to pop, and over freeways and flashing past billboards.Los Angeles captures the essence of the constantly evolving city: from palm-lined avenues to hip hotels and art deco theaters, Frank Gehry's Disney Concert Hall to the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels. Not just for L.A. residents and connoisseurs, this book is for anyone interested in architecture, design and, of course, the iconography unique to Southern California. The book's format allows us to revel in the marvelous landscape. From mountain peaks to desert oases, beautiful beaches to redwood forests, Los Angeles literally envelops us in the city's grandeur in stunning spreads and impressive gatefolds, each more than five feet wide.
Acclaimed architecture and design photographer Tim Street-Porter showcases the fascinating cityscape-by day and by night.A long time resident with exceptional access, Street-Porter takes us from the most coveted homes of Hollywood and Beverly Hills to the best examples of contemporary architecture for which the city is famous, featuring the full spectrum of residences from seminal modernist houses to baroque mansions and California Mediterranean homes in their lush settings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Lynch the editor
I agree with some of the other reviewers that this book is overpriced--so I am glad that I found it in a discounter for $35 (and an original number/signed copy).
I can also agree with those who would have liked it to have been more comprehensive.Overall I believe Tim Street-Porter has been poorly served by his editor/publisher.I have three main gripes (in addition to the above):
1) Absence of captions.It is an increasingly frequent habit of certain kinds of glossy photo-books that information on each picture is only listed at the end of the book.This is mind-bogglingly irritating and stupid.With this huge and unwieldy (A3 size) book, it is especially dumb and inconvenient.Is it a Gen X/Y thing or what?Inexplicable.
2) Absence of a map.In such a sprawling megalopolis as LA it is impossible to really comprehend without the bearing a map brings.Indeed it should have a mini-map on each page with the location of the photo/building shown to aid orientation.
3) Following from (2) there is no particular organizing principle to the book.While one could imagine various possibilities (eg. by era of construction, or style) the sprawl and scale of LA probably makes organization by geography the logical one.
These features, or lack of, have seriously spoiled this book (though it is a good buy at $35!) and the definitive book on LA city photography and its architectural heritage remains to be written.

Exquisite
This book transcends everything Tim has done to date. It's a gorgeous, cinematically sweeping vista of a magnificent city. Whether you love or hate LA makes no difference here. Examine the nuances and curves of the city's lines, the pageantry of its people and edifices, and sheer daring of neighborhoods that connect with each other without losing their own character or charm. An all-round magnum opus....truly a treasure to vist over & over.

Very nicely done
I was impressed when I finally got my copy of this book. I have never been to LA despite having been born in San Francisco back in the mid 60s and moving east when I was 7. Having said that I was initially put off by none of the pictures having words to describe what each picture was, until I found out that this massive tomb has the index in the back, each with a smaller thumbnail of the picture.
I would guess that they chose to do it that way so as to allow the full page to be taken up with the pictures which works out very nicely. Again let me stress that there are no margins in the pages of this book , just the pictures in all their beauty. Also the fold out pages are a nice touch placed throughout. This book is a nice mix of the new and the old and makes me want to now visit LA to see it all for myself.
I almost took off a star for the steep price. Really this is a great great picture book but $155, that is a little too steep. If that is too much, then do what I did and buy it used through Amazon's terrific used book network.

Glowing
This books takes what many feel is an ugly, spawling city and shows it the way I have always seen it. Gorgous, bright, colorful and diverse. A hot bed of new and unusal design. This is a new city in regards to the East, but it has a very rich Architectual history. It is a city alive and thriving.

I do wish more attention had been payed to the eastside and more of south central or south L.A. as it is now called. Then again who could have lifted such a heavy book had Tim Street-Porter done that.

One of the best cities in the world :-)
I can't tell you how much I love Los Angeles and yet I live in Australia, so I obviously bought this up as soon as I saw it released.It is like one gigantic souvenier for me to look back at each time I get 'home sick'.The book is absolutely beautiful and the work involved in it is spectacular.The buildings and streets seem to come alive in here and it's a book for anyone who loves LA or wants to see it but hasn't been yet, or for someone into beautiful buildings etc.It's a costly purchase, but something you'll have for a lifetime.I really highly recommend this book as a luxury treat for yourself or someone you love. ... Read more

Product Description
Articles include Touchstone,Diane Keaton,The Moderns,The House On Carroll Street,Dennis Quaid, Rob Reiner, more ... Read more

Product Description
Bill Wood's business was photography, and he produced tens of thousands of images over the course of his career. A tall, slender, hardworking family man with a penchant for bow ties, Wood (1913-1979) was born, lived and died in the Fort Worth, Texas area, and his photography played a central role in how his clients chose to see and to portray themselves and their city. Bill Wood's Business features approximately 300 of Wood's photographs, alongside essays by Diane Keaton and Marvin Heiferman that pay homage to the skills Wood (and professional photographers like him) brought to the business of photography. What drew Keaton and Heiferman to this project was the extraordinary range of Wood's images, as well as a shared appreciation of archives and the construction of photographic realities. In an earlier collaboration, Still Life (1982), Keaton and Heiferman explored the Surrealism, the fantasies and the economic motivations percolating beneath the surface of the glamourous color publicity photographs that Hollywood studios orchestrated and distributed in the mid-twentieth century. Since then, Keaton (in her film and book projects) and Heiferman (in his curatorial, writing and publishing work) have continued to survey the quirks of American iconography. Keaton purchased the archive of Wood's negatives 20 years ago, and in Bill Wood's Business, she and Heiferman team up again to look at and through photographs, to show what they are intended to depict and what they actually reveal. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Commercial Art
Bill Wood was just like thousands of photographers across the Nation who ran small commercial photo studios and made their living from capturing the aspirational endeavors of the middle-classes: it could be the opening of a new gas station or furniture showroom; a wedding; inside a new apartment; a product shot; family portrait or anything else that needed a visual record for private or commercial use.

This is bread-and-butter work with technically correct lighting and straightforward compositions and the only thing to worry about was making sure the final prints put a positive spin on whatever was being photographed.These are commissions of record not creativity.

You might think that a book of 235 large black and white photos of essentially everyday life might look sort of dull but I found this a real page turner.Bill Wood seems to have been paid to photograph an amazing amount of Fort Worth commercial activity during mid-century.Interiors, exteriors and a few aerial shots, too.

The layout is the standard photo book format: one centered image to a page with reasonable margins and the briefest of dated captions centered below, printed on matt paper with 175 screen.The photos are presented un-cropped.

The work of city and small-town photo studios seems a neglected area of photography probably because it lacks a creative or critical edge but I think it can reveal so much of what the country aspired to in past years.Barbara Norfleet has raided the archives of local studios to produce three books: WEDDING/NORFLEET P (Fireside Books (Holiday House)), When We Liked Ike: Looking for Postwar America and Killing time.This last one is looks at the work of Joe Steinmetz and his coverage of social life in Pennsylvania in the thirties and forties and life in Florida during the fifties.

Norfleet though tends to concentrate on people doing things where as Bill Wood's Business gives examples of all of his commercial output and I think that is why I found it so fascinating.

***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

Spectacular b&w photos
This collection of beautifully composed black and white photographs captures life in central Texas chiefly from the 1940s through the 1960s. Subjects covered include just about everything from typical scenes of daily life and business to Christmas cards, lake outings and contest winners. Includes a brief introduction by Diane Keaton who bought Wood's archives, this is highly recommended for all fans of b&w photography as well as typical scenes of Americana from the 40s on. ... Read more

Product Description
Crawdaddy, 1976. Articles on Bob Marley, the Who, Bob Dylan, Diane Keaton, Bonnie Raitt, and more, plus columns by William S. Burroughs, Paul Krassner and the Firesign Theatre. ... Read more

Product Description
Diane Keaton, Find Your Perfect Haircut, Body-Mind Special, Best Jobs For Midlife Women, The Diet Trend, The Marriage Monologues, Cookies For Grown-Ups, Look Good In Jeans Again. ... Read more

Product Description
Forty-four full-page black and white photographs of hotel interiors. ... Read more