The recently published coffee table book from Orange Frazer Press is, as usual, full of large well printed pictures. As is Orange Frazer's style, though, it is also a typical desktop publishing disaster. Well, not a disaster but not exactly a qualifier for any best practices award. It's busy. Too many cross page images with the focus right there on the seam. Probably looks great on a computer screen in Quark, but when it hits the bindery? not so good. Also hard to read. Tiny reverse type on busy backgrounds, not much to say & a number of fonts that don't seem to have much to do with one another. Not a ransom note but still....
Not much in the way of info, either. Names of some sculptors are listed. Who the deceased were is skimpy. Photos of descendants are kinda weird. Other than Mr Bruckmann, most don't seem to have much to do with the deceased. There is a lot of info straight out of the front office of the cemetery like it's list of notables that excludes, oh, I dunno, Israel Ludlow ??
sheesh
Overall, the writing credit doesn't seem to be much of a deal.
One of the photographers is Charlie Gast. I never met him in person, only online through the newsgroup:
alt.binaries.pictures.cemetaries
(Don't bother with alt.binaries.pictures.cemeteries - it's spam central)
He seems to be a great guy & his pictures that are not in this book should be in one of their own.
While my review might not seem exactly glowing, he and two other photographers make the book worthwhile.
Orange Frazer has also published Beautiful Ferncliff chronicling Springfield, Ohio's Ferncliff Cemetery.
Beauty in the Grove should be at The Ohio Bookstore.
No comments:
Post a Comment