The Sea/Day by Day Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Sea/Day by Day
Book Review: Stunning
Summary: 5 Stars
Artists everywhere - put down your brushes, fold your easels and burn your canvasses: you will never be able to capture the capricious majesty of the sea in a way that matches this folio by Phillip Plisson.Expensive, large format (this book is A3 sized) photographic collections do not tend to be best sellers, often being relegated to the role of coffee table conversation pieces. In order to minimise publication costs, pictures are often excluded and reams of cheaper text are included. To their credit, Plisson and Thames and Hudson (the publishers) have completely rejected that format. The text, which is traditional in its pointlessness and pretension, has been mercifully restricted to a few scattered pages. This has allowed the inclusion of a greater number of photographs - 197 in all (190 colour), 16 of which are magnificently reproduced foldouts (ie 4 x A3 size).
And what photographs they are. Plisson ('official artist to the French navy' - only in France!) has brought together a collection of seascapes unrivalled in their luxury or composition. The images are initially stupefying, admirably demonstrating the marine extremes of tranquility, tempestuousness, light and dark. But more than that, the viewer finds that, on second glance, the photos are far more complex, illustrating both the relative insignificance of humans in comparison to the scale and power of the ocean, and the lonely disquiet that such insignificance engenders. The book cover, for instance, astounds the reader with a scene of chaotic beauty during a swell off the coast of Brittany; on closer inspection, a small fishing boat can be seen, yawing among the wave crests: we can float on boats, hide in lighthouses and think we're safe - but in fact we're merely tolerated and toyed with by a whimsical master.
Plisson is famed for his views of lighthouses, photos which have formed the basis of many a calendar and 'inspirational' poster. Together with the rather more generic pictures of sailing yachts, these images form the commercial end of Plisson's work. However, it is the purer seascapes that impress the most, particularly 'Biarritz' (p24-25) and 'Ireland' (p107-110), which depict brooding foretastes of the violence to come. Images of waves crashing against coastlines ae rendered even more effective by the quality of the photography and the scale of the reprints. My favourite? p118-119 Achill Island in Ireland - a truly remarkable photo of sunlight breaking through a stormy sky in the aftermarth of a storm.
Bravo, Mr Plisson - a maritime tour-de-force!
Book Review: Why does it have to be so big and heavy ???
Summary: 2 Stars
Yes, there are some stunning photographs, but the weight and size of the book makes it a pain, literally to enjoy. The size means that quite a few images are over-enlarged, with grain being over emphasized. Furthermore the practice of putting the photographs double spread across the spine is deplored. It is impossible to enjoy the image, with a fold down the middle. If the book was A4 size, landscape format with a page to an image, then it would maerit 5 stars. The designers have done this edition a grave disservice.Book Review: Fantastic photography - beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
A magnificent book of the most incredible photograhy. Plisson obviously makes the most of being associated with the French Navy and many of these shots are taken from positions that would normally be impossible. Cliff tops from the air in a force 10? Not many people are going to get a helo pilot to take them into position for a shot!One or two shots are spoilt by the inexplicable use of what looks like Photoshop's 'watercolour' filter, which just looks horrible, ruining what should be a colourful and interesting photgraph - the worst example of which is the shot of France's new 'stealth' frigate, which is reduced to a blob of ship-shaped grey mush.
The idea of the book is that each shot is a 'day' of the sea, with the month at the bottom of the page - this is obviously not true as some shots from the summer say 'it's 5pm and getting dark'. In July? A small thing, but a little irritating!
The descriptions of the photos are not written by the photographer, which is disapointing, I'd like to have heard from Plisson himself.
None of this can distract from the stunning photo's in this book though, incredibly sharp, detailed and colourful. Anyone with a love of the sea would adore this book.
Book Review: stunning but thin on info
Summary: 4 Stars
I loved this book from the moment I opened it. The photographs are fantastic and wide ranging, from shipwrecks on tropical shores to tiny figures dwarfed by the gigantic tankers they are working on. My only nitpick is the lack of information; as all of the pictures are in the main book and all of the information is at the back, each picture is afforded one sentence at best. I had no way of finding out where a picture was shot or what was happening if I was curious.
Book Review: Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is absolutely stunning - the photography is briliant. The full color full page and multipage photos are not ruined by text being printed on or around them - you are left with only the picture to take your attention and imagination. The bonus is that there is an iindex at the back with details of each picture for those who want the hard facts.
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