What I Thought I Saw: New York - London

Rating:
Summary: For perhaps three photographs alone...
Review: I'm thinking that three stars might perhaps be too harsh, but, seeing as how there are no half stars available to us, it shall have to do.

Perhaps I should explain my motivations in wanting to get this book. I've recently become quite the Neil Gaiman fan, and having read *Neverwhere* a matter of months ago, I was very eager to see how the book might have been interpreted by a camera or, rather, a person with a camera. I was, um, surprised by the photographs in this collection.

Now, I haven't seen the filmed version of *Neverwhere* so I'm not sure if this in alters my reaction to the photography. But I found that the photos that I had the most affinity for(with the exception of one entitled "Penetration," which I've yet to determine its connection to the whole Neverwhere thing, if indeed there is one)are the ones that depict Neil Gaiman himself. There's a remarkably beautiful one of Gaiman holding one of his children when she was a baby. It's an image that adds a piece to the puzzle that most authors tend to be.

There are only ninty-five pages in *What I Thought I Saw,* a photograph on every other one. The introduction by Gaiman is, as always, charming. And the afterword by Bickman herself is infectious. So, I'd say it's a very nice book to flip through once, maybe twice, but not necessary to a collection.

Rating:
Summary: An intriguing, personal photo journal
Review: This is an amazing collection of photographs taken by Ms. Bickman while on the set of 'Neverwhere' while being filmed in London last year as well as in an 'underground' New York. Deeply personal and candid, this book so accurately depicts the wide array of characters presented in this enigmatic tale of a post-techno metropolis of fantasy. One feels detached, like the photographer, yet simultaneously--even irresistably--drawn to this motley crew of folks. Bickman tells just enough, and leaves the rest to one's imagination. With a forward by Neil Gaiman himself, this publication is absolutely necessary to all fans' libraries