Magnum Contact Sheets

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'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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.