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The title of this lavish volume says it all. In other words, that beautiful breasts can become a real mania, a minor but fully deserved addiction. When he was playing a female character, what was it the actor and comic Robin Williams said? “If I actually were a woman, I would be fooling around with my breasts all day long…” Who would b nd begrudge him this erotic fantasy? We are actually extremely fortunate that quite a few of these magnifi cently buxom women are still around, possessed as they are of two irresistible arguments. Given today's anorexic models, still seen by the fashion industry as the measure of all things (and have been since Twiggy), they should not be taken for granted. Among the fabulously well-upholstered women in the pages of this bumper 400-page collection, you won't fi nd many in current fashion magazines. All the more surprising and gratifying, then, to discover that there are still well-known and even famous photographers who are more than happy to get back to the roots of unalloyed joy. This certainly applies to the approximately 40 international photographers included here, whose unique images boast some pretty impressive vital statistics.

Schon der Titel dieses üppigen Bildbandes sagt es: Schöne Brüste können zu einer richtigen Manie, zu einer liebenswerten kleinen Sucht führen. Wie sagte der berühmte Filmkomiker Robin Williams, als er eine Frauenrolle spielte? „Wenn ich eine Frau wäre, würde ich den ganzen Tag an meinen Brüsten herumspielen …“ Wer kann ihm diesen Wunschtraum schon verargen – denn zum grossen Glück gibt es sie noch, die prachtvollen Vollblutweiber, die uns mit ihren beiden schlagkräftigen Argumenten jederzeit zu überzeugen vermögen

The Former Soviet Union’s Foremost Photographer

Since starting out as a photographer in the mid-1960s, Boris Mikhailov (b. Kharkov, Ukraine, 1938; lives and works in Kharkov and Berlin) has built a wide-ranging and strikingly multifaceted oeuvre. A virtuoso of his art, he has explored a great variety of ways of using the medium to paint a picture of his immediate surroundings that is as unsparing as it is ironic. His unflagging critical engagement of photographic techniques and the work with different cameras and stylistic devices as well as the alternation in his oeuvre between conceptual photography and documentary approaches render him the preeminent present-day photographer whose work reaches back to the Soviet era.

The book - which accompanies his largest exhibition in Germany to date - brings together a selection of works that includes the experimental pictures of his early years as well as his most recent photographs created in Berlin.
With essays by Thomas Köhler, Christina Landbrecht, Inka Schube and Jan Verwoert.

Rarely has anyone photographed reality in such an unprettified way as Boris Mikhailov. He captures the unadorned and the natural; in pictures devoid of aesthetic exhaltation, he concentrates on people and their living conditions.

On his journeys through Russia, Germany and his Ukrainian homeland, Mikhailov has equally observed the poor, the well-to-do, the outcasts and the homeless. Look at Me, I Look at Water was composed in 1999 at the suggestion of the Heiner Mller-Society when Boris Mikhailov's name was found in one of Heiner Mller's notebooks.

With this book Mikhailov is continuing, thematically and conceptionally, what he began with his artist's book Unfinished Dissertation in 1985.

The photographs are accompanied by handwritten Russian commentaries, which together give the impression of a private album which narrates stories from a chapter in the artist's life.

The special thing about Boris Mikhailov as a "book maker" is that he thinks of and develops photography in sequences, in spaces and cuts, in the forms of its montage.

Viewed as a whole, his books and book drafts which often only exist as one original copy create a retrospective of a very unique and intimate kind. The artist's books "Krymskaja Fotomanija" (Crimean Photomania) and "Mountains", each with 128 pages, are shown here in facsimile, accompanied by 80 pages of illustrated text.

Boris Mikhailov is seen as a chronicler of his Ukrainian homeland: the everyday life of the so-called little people on the street, on the beach, at dances anywhere that the politic becomes visible in the private. Drawing on this material, Mikhailov explores both the human condition and the history and decline of the Soviet Union and the consequences of its fall.

About the Author:

Boris Mikhailov was born in Kharkov, Ukraine in 1938. He uses documentary as well as staging and studio techniques to comment on the Soviet Regime and, latterly, the downfall of the Soviet Union. His work has appeared in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), the Kunsthalle (Zurich), and the Sprengel Museum (Hannover). Today, Mikhailov lives and works in both Kharkov and Berlin.

For the acclaimed photographer Boris Mikhailov (born 1938), a society's most significant paradigm shifts are often most clearly perceived in the smallest of everyday transactions. For example, in a café or restaurant in Soviet-era Ukraine, a waiter would have offered you "tea or coffee?" Today, two decades after the fall of the Soviet bloc and the ascent of western capitalism, it's "tea, coffee, cappuccino?" In his latest body of work, Mikhailov addresses this shift by focusing on his hometown of Charkow, in northeast Ukraine. Here, the consumerist invasion of western capitalism is everywhere apparent in huge, colourful advertising banners and billboards, but the promises of the so-called Orange Revolution seem to have been fulfilled for only a few.

Mikhailov writes that "only when one sees misery in a picture, does one begin to notice it in the street," and throughout the 200-plus photographs in this volume, he takes pains to neither dramatize nor ameliorate the conditions of life in Charkow; and so his tough-minded pictures present a bleak but rigorously honest portrait of Ukraine and its inhabitants.

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For Boris Mikhailov, societal changes are most clearly visible in small, everyday events. While the waiter in Ukraine would still be asking "tea or coffee?" during the Soviet era, the question today is "tea, coffee, cappuccino?"

In his newest works (2000 - 2010), Mikhailov tackles precisely these changes and captures-as he has already in "By the Ground / At Dusk" (Oktagon, 1996)-daily life in his hometown Charkow. In this collection of more than 200 colour photographs, the West is perceptible everywhere in the form of huge, colourful advertising banners, but the promises of the Orange Revolution, that everything would get better, have only been fulfilled for few.

Through palliating nothing, transfiguring nothing, Mikhailov attempts to sensitise the view of the observer. The individual pictures and scenes create a large tableau of society that tells us more about Ukraine and its inhabitants than any specialised book.

This past year Boris Mikhailov joined the ranks of William Eggleston, Cindy Sherman, and Robert Frank as the recipient of the prestigious Hasselblad Award, confirming the international stature and critical acclaim he has earned in the last few years with one-person exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, London's Photographer's Gallery, and the DAAD Gallery in Berlin as well as representation in major international surveys such as the Carnegie International.
 
His first book, "Unfinished Dissertation", was published by Scalo in 1997, on the occasion of his receipt of the Albert Renger-Patzsch Prize; in 2000, he published his second book with Scalo, "Case History", and was awarded the photo book award of the International Festival for Photography in Arles, France. Mikhailov also recently accepted an invitation to teach at Harvard University beginning in the fall of 2000.
 
This new book contains a never-before-published series of work from the early 1980s: Mikhailov photographed ''The Dancers'' in his hometown in Ukraine during a period when the former Soviet Union was a reality, before the appearance of Gorbachov and "perestroika". We observe the open-air dancing scene with great astonishment; seeing older and younger people enjoy themselves in a way that might be contradictory to the images we might have about everyday life in the old Soviet Union. These cheerful images remind us how little women and men need to have a good time.
 
An essay by Russian art critic Boris Groys and an exhaustive interview make this volume a must-have for readers and libraries interested in contemporary art and photography. Hardcover, 144 pages, 9 x 10 inches, 65 duotone illustrations.

The complete manual to boudoir, one of the fastest growing trends in photography

Once popular mainly with brides, boudoir portraits are now enjoyed by women of all ages to celebrate everything from anniversaries to birthdays to their own independent spirit. This isn’t old-fashioned glamour photography - it’s an altogether new genre, with a focus on flattering the subject and creating stunning, intimate images.
In this one-stop guide, successful boudoir photographer Critsey Rowe reveals all you need to get started with your own boudoir studio, whether you’re an amateur shooting at home or a professional looking to tap into this exciting new revenue stream. Inside you’ll discover:

- A complete guide to boudoir, from equipment, makeup, and styling, to lighting, shooting, and step-by-step retouching.
- Thirty poses to flatter any subject, whatever her body type.
- Essential postproduction techniques to lift, smooth, and tone.
- Tips on making clients comfortable and collaborating with them to produce portraits they’ll love.

Harlots, hoodlums, and heathens in Brassaï's Paris

"Brassaï is a living eye," wrote Henry Miller of the Hungarian–born artist who adopted Paris after World War I and became one of its most celebrated photographers. Originally a painter before he moved on to writing, sculpture, cinema and, most famously, photography, Brassaï (1899-1984) was a member of Paris`s cultural elite, counting Miller, Picasso, Sartre, Camus, and Cocteau, among his friends. Camera in hand, he scoured the streets and bars of Paris, unabashedly capturing the city`s inhabitants in their natural habitats. Prostitutes, hoodlums, and other ‘marginal` characters were the most famous heroes of Brassaï`s moody, gritty photographs taken often by night. Including an extensive selection of Brassaï`s finest photographs and an essay describing his life and work, this book explores the world of Brassaï in thematic chapters: Minotaure magazine, Paris at Night, Secret Paris, Day Visions, Artists of My Life, and Graffiti and Transmutations.

Roaming Paris streets by night in the early 1930s, Brassai created arresting images of the city's dramatic nocturnal landscape. The back alleys, Metro stations, and bistros he photographed are by turn hauntingly empty or peopled by prostitutes, laborers, thugs, and lovers. Paris by night, first published in French as Paris de nuit in 1932, collected sixty of these images, which have since become photographic icons. Original and subsequent editions of the book are highly sought after by collectors. For Brassai, 1932 and 1933 were the most important years in his life: they were the years in which he met Picasso, published Paris by Night - his first book - and collaborated with the Surrealists on the magazine Minotaure. But he distinguished himself from the Surrealist group by commenting, "The surreal effect of my pictures was nothing more than reality made fantastic through a particular vision. All I wanted to express was reality, for nothing is more surreal." The strange, bewitching poetry of Paris by Night faithfully embodies this credo.

Interest in Brassai's work has been fuelled in recent years by major retrospective exhibitions of his work at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Complementing the catalogues of his work that accompanied these shows, and publishing to coincide with the exhibition Brassai: The Soul of Paris (Hayward Gallery, London, 22 February to 13 May 2001), this long-overdue reissue of Paris by Night in photogravure brings one of Brassai's finest works back into print.

Brassai (1899-1984), born in Hungary as Gyula Halasz, began his artistic apprenticeship in Berlin before moving to Paris in 1923 and launching a career that would establish him as a key figure in the evolution of twentieth-century photography. Brassai's importance as a photographer was recognized early in his career, affording him a privileged position from which to witness the varied aspects and milieus of Parisian life during the 1920s and 1930s. During and just after the war, Brassai collaborated with other artists and writers, and displayed his own artistic proficiency in multiple domains including theatre, cinema, sculpture, drawing, and writing. The late 1940s marked the beginning of a new period in Brassai's life, during which he married and became a naturalized French citizen. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he travelled extensively and executed his original graffiti compositions that would acquire international fame. Toward the end of his life, the artist returned to reading and writing. Brassai, who remained at the cutting edge of avant-garde, refused to espouse a single style; his rich body of work exceeds definition.

This illustrated biography is based largely on unpublished documents and photographs from the artist's personal archives. The author shares stories told to her by Brassai's wife Gilberte and by several of the artist's friends, including Henry Miller, Miro, Henri Michaux, and Raymond Queneau. Filtering a rich variety of sources, "Brassai" offers a very intimate and multi-faceted view of the artist's life and of the bonds that link him and his legendary images to Paris.

Brassaï (1899–1984) war der erste und ist bis heute der berühmteste Chronist des nächtlichen Paris. Als der vielseitig begabte gebürtige Ungar 1924 nach Frankreich kam, stürzte er sich nicht nur mit Begeisterung in das Pariser Nachtleben, sondern begann auch bald, auf seinen nächtlichen Streifzügen durch die Stadt zu photographieren.
Kaum zehn Jahre später, 1932, erschien sein Buch Paris de Nuit, das ihn schlagartig berühmt machte – ein Klassiker der Photoliteratur und phototechnisch gesehen eine damals unerhörte Meisterleistung. Das Licht, die Existenzbedingung jeder Photographie, reduziert sich in Brassaïs Bildern auf ein paar Bühnenscheinwerfer oder Lampen in den einschlägigen Etablissements, auf spärlich erleuchtete Fenster, eine Straßenlaterne im Nebel, Reflexe auf regennassem Asphalt …

Die großzügige Schenkung von Brassaïs Witwe 2002 an den französischen Staat und die Versteigerung seiner Werkstatt 2006 förderten weiteres Bildmaterial zu Tage und riefen Spezialisten und Photohistoriker auf den Plan. Ergebnis ihrer Arbeit ist dieses große Brassaï-Buch, das sich auf seine Nachtbilder der 30er Jahre konzentriert. Angesiedelt zwischen Reportage, Sozialdokumentation und poetischer Vision, ist Brassaïs nächtliches Paris der Zwischenkriegszeit vor allem auch ein Meilenstein in der Geschichte der Photographie des 20. Jahrhunderts.

The first study exclusively dedicated to Brassaï’s night photographs from the 1930s, his most productive period, reconstituting their genesis and their chronology through Brassaï’s various influences and complexity.

Born and raised in Syracuse, New York, Brian Bowen Smith became a professional photographer by a less traditional route than most. While performing as a pro athlete, Bowen Smith happen to catch the eye of legendary photographer Herb Ritts, who invited him to appear in a Gap ad campaign. Ritts subsequently became his mentor and friend.

Four years spent as Ritts’ assistant helped Bowen Smith to establish his photographic style, and assignments for W, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Self and Interview soon followed. Now living in Los Angeles, Bowen Smith has established himself as a veteran celebrity and beauty photographer, having worked with some of the best-known TV, music and movie stars of today (both up-and-coming and established), among them Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Warren Beatty, Orlando Bloom, Adrian Brody, Cindy Crawford, Sheryl Crow, Cat Deeley, Emily Deschanel, James Franco, Scott Glenn, Ethan Hawke, Demi Moore, Carolyn Murphy, Winona Ryder, Brooke Shields, Hillary Swank and Billy Bob Thornton, among many others.

As this first monograph shows, many of these stars have gone on to become close friends. Projects spans the gamut of Bowen Smith’s work, from personal work to commissioned assignments done over the past ten years.

A bridge is a link between two worlds, a point of tension between two separate and often disparate locations. Free, belonging neither to one region or another, the bridge imposes itself upon the landscape and defies nature. Its existence embodies the will of mankind to construct these necessary bonds between people and places. A symbol of progress and innovation, the bridge, anonymous demonstration of the mastery and the durability of new techniques, is gradually becoming more and more light and fluid, constantly defying state-of-the-art technology. As veritable aesthetic creations, bridges appear today not only as examples of masterful engineering, but also as incredible works of art. With its magnificent photographs, this book invites the reader to rediscover these modern-day sculptures.