3 compelling photo books for gifting this winter

Photo books have the power to capture the world in images that can be as amusing and heartbreaking as they are informative. Here are three Monitor favorites from 2012.

- Monitor Staff

1. 'Exiled to Nowhere,' by Greg Constantine

In "Exiled to Nowhere," photographer Greg Constantine tells in pictures the little-known story of the Rohingya, a stateless ethnic minority in Myanmar (Burma) who have long been denied the most basic human rights.
For nearly half a century, Myanmar has resisted recognizing the Rohingya as one of the country’s indigenous groups. As writer Emma Larkin explains in a foreword, the Rohingyas trace their origins back to Arab traders who arrived in northwestern Myanmar as early as the 9th century (although many Burmese scholars and historians insist that many of today’s Rohingyas are recent immigrants from Bangladesh).

Few of the country’s estimated 800,000 Rohingyas have been allowed to gain Burmese citizenship. They cannot travel without permission, their marriages require government approval, they cannot enroll their children in regular schools, and their men are sometimes forced into conscripted labor. The Rohingyas have for decades been largely ignored by the international community except for the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

All of that changed in early June of this year when fatal communal clashes broke out between the Rohingya and the Rakhine ethnic group in western Myanmar. Both the Muslim Rohingya and the local Rakhine Buddhists suffered serious casualties. In late October, the violence erupted again.

Constantine’s book focuses on the nearly 300,000 Rohingyas who have fled to neighboring Bangladesh. These refugees are unwanted by the Bangladeshi government, which has periodically attempted to shut down the refugee camps in which they have sought shelter.
It’s safe to say that many Burmese despise the Rohingya, making any reconciliation difficult. But the government has also set up a commission, which includes a number of respected intellectuals and religious leaders, to investigate the causes of the June violence.

Constantine’s book goes a long way toward showing the human face of the Rohingyas through more than 80 black-and-white photographs. The photos show not only crowded conditions in Rohingya refugee camps, but also the resilience of a people willing to take some of society’s lowest-paying jobs: $3 a day to work in the salt fields and $1.50 a day to dry fish at local Bengali markets.

Most compelling perhaps are the faces of those of all ages – from infants to grandparents – whom Constantine has captured on film. In one of them, a grandmother holds a small child, who almost certainly faces a future without education. Another photo shows nine refugees – a mother, father, and grandmother among them – holding and comforting several children. Their expressions mingle a sense of loss and confusion with their humanity and beauty.
Dan Southerland is executive editor of Radio Free Asia, a former Monitor correspondent, and a former Beijing bureau chief for The Washington Post.

2. 'Underwater Dogs,' by Seth Casteel

Underwater dogs? Really?
Two things are surprising about Seth Casteel’s new book, "Underwater Dogs." One is that pictures of – well, dogs underwater – drew 150 million viewers on social media sites this February. The other surprise is that Casteel thought of doing this series of photos in the first place.

It all started with a client named Buster, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, who kept dropping his ball in the pool and disappearing underwater to retrieve it during a photo shoot. Instead of shooting the playful pup on land as planned, Casteel realized that better shots could be captured underwater. Buster’s hilarious faces were just the beginning of his project.

When someone posted a few of Casteel’s soggy-pup photos online, the shots went viral. Casteel’s website, littlefriendsphoto.com, crashed because of the increase in traffic, and offers for shoots poured in – including a publishing deal from Little, Brown. In the resulting book, more than 80 portraits capture canines of all shapes and sizes as they doggedly (sorry, I couldn’t resist...) retrieve balls and toys in their own chaotic underwater ballet.

Personalities emerge from the dogs’ different techniques: some leap and dive, others paddle on the surface. Bared teeth look ferocious, reminding us of primal origins. Many expressions and body positions are comical.
One of my favorite shots is of Lulu, a Jack Russell terrier, gracefully paddling underwater, a bright orange ring in her mouth. Rocco, a Boston terrier, legs splayed, has a wonderful surprised expression on his face.
In the back of the book, Casteel, who is a prize-winning animal photographer and animal rights activist, has small posed portraits of all his subjects, so we get to see them on land as well. Looking at adorable Olde English Bulldogge Coraline, you’d never expect her underwater alter ego: her wide-open jaws and bared teeth look like a shark’s.
Casteel’s photos made a big splash. If you’re as much of a sucker for great animal photos as I am, you’ll love this different take on man’s best friend.
Melanie Stetson Freeman is a Monitor staff photographer.

3. 'Ori Gersht: History Repeating,' by Ori Gersht

Ori Gersht is an Israeli-born photographer/filmmaker whose oeuvre is as deeply embedded in political history as in art history. Schooled in the great pictorial masters, he employs saturated colors and fine detail. But instead of a paint palette, he incorporates the latest digital technology, regaining the richness of the past through high-definition photography. The result is a visual continuum that marries past with present to underscore historical landscapes. Gersht’s images work on many levels, pushing the eternal human quandary of creation and destruction beyond merely imitating the old or simply toying with the latest gadgetry.
Gersht, who has earned a retrospective show at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, collaborated with the MFA in producing the monograph "Ori Gersht: History Repeating." Now living in London, Gersht spent his childhood in Tel Aviv during four Israeli wars. His relatives were victims and survivors of World War II, perhaps the reason his work often explores war-torn landscapes.

In “Pomegranate 2006,” Gersht riffs on 16th-century Spanish master Juan Sanchez Cotan’s “Quince, cabbage, melon, and cucumber” by replacing the quince with a pomegranate, which symbolizes prosperity but also shares an identical spelling with the word “grenade” in several languages, including Hebrew. In the same series (and film), he also borrows from Harold Edgerton’s famous photo of a bullet shot through an apple. Gersht sends the bullet through the pomegranate.
Resilience is a part of Gersht’s narrative. For his photo series “Chasing Good Fortune,” he traveled to Japan where he photographed cherry blossom trees growing in the irradiated soil of Hiroshima. “Isolated” was taken at night with a minimum of illumination, producing bold images of blossoms dissolved into their elemental state.

“Hide and Seek” explores the hidden places where people sought refuge from political turmoil in Poland and Belarus. The views, obscured by fog and mist, are almost monochromatic. In “Boatman, 2009” the tiny undefined figure is swallowed by the blue landscape. He is hidden but in plain view. It is a poignant visual expression of escaping to safety.
This book makes a fine introduction to Gersht’s work. Curator Al Miner’s introduction and Ronnie Baer’s interview with Gersht give the reader a compelling sense of why this photographer’s work matters.
Joanne Ciccarello is a Monitor staff photographer.
Source:Here