June 2023 MBR The Photography Shelf

The Photography Shelf

A Face in Time: Egypt Photo Studios, 1865-1939
Sherif Boraie, editor
Zeitouna
c/o American University in Cairo Press
www.aucpress.com
9789775864321, $120.00, HC, 240pp

https://www.amazon.com/Face-Time-Egypt-Studios-1865-1939/dp/9775864321

Synopsis: From the invention of the camera, photographers, like painters, have sought to portray other people, and the early studio photographs, with their highly stylized props, poses, and costumes, provide today's readership with a beguiling window onto the prevailing fashions, tastes, and attitudes of their time.

The portraits in comprising "A Face in Time: Egypt Photo Studios, 1865-1939" are Egyptian studio photos ranging from the mid-nineteenth century to the opening of Second World War, represent/illustrate their popularity and art of photography which was then driven by the burgeoning presence of photo studios across the country.

In their rich variety, these photographic images offer vivid evidence of the democratization of the photograph as access to this new technology spread from members of Egypt's royalty to an ever-wider circle of subjects. But, more than that, they freeze time, by capturing human subjects that are no longer there.

These photographic portraits compiled in "A Face in Time: Egypt Photo Studios, 1865-1939", and the studios that created them, evoke haunting fragments of a vanished past and invite us to endless speculation and contemplation. In the age of the selfie, their power to speak to us from the mists of time cannot be overstated.

Critique: In a large hardcover, coffee-table style format (13 x 0.5 x 12 inches, 4.98 pounds), "A Face in Time: Egypt Photo Studios, 1865-1939" features more than 200 visually stunning, informatively captioned, full page images, drawn from the work of 81 Egyptian photographic studios. A seminal body of work, "A Face in Time: Egypt Photo Studios, 1865-1939" is highly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library History of Photography collections, and will be of particular and special interest to readers with respect to Egyptian History and Portraiture Photography,

Editorial Note: Sherif Boraie is an editor and publisher based in Cairo. He founded his imprint, Zeitouna, in 1988, under which he has published forty highly illustrated books on Egyptian history, from the pharaohs to modern times.

Michael Freeman on Color & Tone
Michael Freeman
Ilex Press
www.ilex.press
c/o Octopus Books
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781781578711, $29.99

https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Freeman-Color-Tone-Photography/dp/1781578710

Michael Freeman on Color & Tone: The Ultimate Photography Masterclass is the third book in a series of his photography guides, employing an original perspective and instructions to approaching color and tone in a 'masterclass' guide that reviews and promotes the new artistic license granted by technological developments in sensors and processing software. Chapters explore this topic with an eye to developing creative connections between color manipulation and management and the possibilities for photographic enhancements that stem from them. From discussions of vision changes as light moves through the day to processing issues and photographic technique, Freeman's guide is an outstanding survey that places creative power in the hands of those who aspire to construct more than ordinary photos. Michael Freeman on Color & Tone should be in any serious photographer's collection, and in libraries catering to them.

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