The Rouge

Rating:
Summary: Impressive black and white industrial photography
Review: "The Rouge" by Micheal Kenna is a wonderful compilation of photographs taken by Mr. Kenna at the Rouge Steel Plant in Detroit, Michigan. Kenna has a remarkable eye for composition and an outstanding mastery of light. Most of Kenna's photography is based on the abstraction of everyday objects; composing a picture so that the viewer can make his or her own inferences about the subject. This also has the effect of making Kenna's photography seem more personal. Also, Kenna's photographs of the Rouge Steel Plant make the plant seem as though it were alive; as if it were a self-sustaining organism: Kenna's photographs emphasize the activity of the plant, but they never show humans. The only thing I could have asked more from the book is more photos

Rating:
Summary: The Center of a Modern World
Review: I am a collector of photo books, and a former art writer, and this is one of my all-time favorite books. I'm here at Amazon to buy it as a gift (again). At the time it was built, the Ford Rouge Plant was the single most technologically advanced place on the face of the planet--essentialy the Microsoft of its day, when the Industrial Age was hitting full stride. Raw iron ore would come in on endless RR tracks on one end, and cars would pop out the other. In between, the world's most advanced industrialists were employing revolutionary manufacturing techniques. As a former Detroiter I can tell you that the Rouge is no longer the gleaming, chugging hub it once was--all the better for Kenna's grand eye. I hate to sound cliche, but he does for industrial landscapes what Mr. Adams did for Yosemite. His mostly nighttime shots are spooky, majestic stuff. And I applaud the publisher for tracking down a Ford historian to write a truly compelling preface which adds context and depth to one's understanding of the images. One last thing--Kenna's grew up in an industrial quadrant of England, and one of his primary galleries is located in a Detroit suburb, which is how he found out about The Rouge. It's a cool collusion of coincidence and personal history.