Down In The Garden

Rating:
Summary: For nature AND baby lovers alike!
Review: Adorable! This anthology by New Zealand-based Anne Geddes is the most wonderful book ever madeabout babies. In this haven of diapered (and non-diapered, too!) babies has the little angelsposing as everything from waterliles to teddy bears. My personal favorite is the waterlily baby, who goes by the name of Tayla (I discovered this through a bit of research). If you read it, you'll recognize her as the one by this description: a lovable, chubby infant poised in a pool of water, surrounded by lilypads (and even a little green frog), a little purple and yellow flower "crown" ringing her grinning face...oh! I love her! Well, enough about what I like. All in all, this is a beautiful book that will bring a smile to your lips whenever you look through it. Even though amazon.com does not currently have it, you CAN get it at Books-A-Million, Wladenbooks, and other bookstores. A special offer: when you read it, e-mail me at [e-mail] with a short description of your favorite picture. I'll look forward to your response, so buy the book today! Your heart will lift, and your day will be made by this beautiful collection.

Rating:
Summary: For people who still want to believe in a beautiful world
Review: Do you wonder often about the miracle of life ? Buy this book and every time you open it, you will be delighted by the wonderful pictures of babies, which will take you to a dreamy, sunny, fairy tale-like little paradise...it will bring a smile on everybody's face, even the most cynical - "the world-is-going-to-pieces-anyway" - people. I am convinced this book opens all the hidden, subconscious feelings we had when we were still in our mothers' womb...Having a bad day ? Looking at Anne Geddes' little elfins, flowerbabies or the cutest little faces you have ever seen, will make you realize life is STILL a miracle. It will bring some of your long lost innocence back...you never realized you still had it, didn't you ?

Rating:
Summary: High Kitsch
Review: Geddes' manages to degrade and isolate her subjects. Her prehistoric "cutsie" images, though appealing to a kitsch market, do not allow for a social comment to transcend the visual confines of her exploitive commercial "photography". In some senses, she could be seen as a radical post-modernist artist, as she abstracts the subject from social normality and removes any dignity from the development of the child, if that was her so calling in contemporary art. Yet it is frightening to be in an age where people will grasp such superficially degrading images. Geddes has made a personal fortune off photographing babies, subjects usually positioned in inhumane circumstances (ie: babies in flowerpots or dipped in custard), which removes human dignity and allows us to question Geddes moral intent.

Rating:
Summary: Really Creepy
Review: I would give it no stars if that were possible. A really creepy approach to babies. Makes my skin crawl.

Rating:
Summary: High Kitsch
Review: Ms. Geddes fills her large, oversized color pages with stunning pictures of a whimsical garden populated by babies. Her tiny models appear as fairies, flowers, insects, birds, and other small animals in the garden. Her imagination will transform the way you see babies . . . and gardens forever. You'll be glad to have experienced her magical touch.

The images are enlivened by simple texts of a few words just to help create a mood or a thought.

The compositions are quite elaborate. One contains dozens of children dressed up in worm outfits, and then transposed onto an image of them all in tunnels underground in the garden. What an amazing effort this must have taken!

One of her presentation techniques is to have a photograph inside a photograph. For example, there is a two page spread of a basket. Then, you can unfold the middle of the basket to reveal its babyish contents! In another place, she plays peek-a-boo with you by hiding one image within the photograph under a flap which you can open. When you do, the photograph's meaning totally changes.

As wonderful as her imagination and compositions are, I think her finest gift is to capture the baby's personality while awake.

The quality of the reproductions is extremely high, particularly considering that she is working with squirming infants in many cases.

Here are my favorites in the book:

Moth Orchid Triplets; Monica; Christopher; Aisha, Tayla and Grace; Wet Sparrow; Magnolia Bud; Sarah; Potting Shed; Starring Triplets -- Jim, Flora and Pearl; Window Planter; Strawberry Planter; Canterbury Belles; Ruby; Tea Pot, Watering Can and Milk Jug; Birdhouse; and Jessie.

This book would make a wonderful gift for expectant parents. They would suddenly feel their budding love for the developing baby evolve in new ways.

After you enjoy this book, consider where else a little magic and a dash of fantasy can create good feelings that will lead to more love and caring. How can you add those elements?

Enjoy the perpetual freshness of birth and youth around you!

Rating:
Summary: Baby Got Book!
Review: The Perfect Gift for boring Secretaries and receptionists!
Listen, office workers have boring terrible lives, so they of course love babies! It's all they can talk about and almost pee themselves when they find out one of them is pregnant. So what better gift than this book?
They will love you, might even treat you to a blooming onion at TGI Fridays!

Rating:
Summary: Cute Baby Book!
Review: This is the ultimate baby book. Filled with big colorful photos of infants & toddlers bedecked in whimsical costumes set in charming scenes that will bring chuckles, smiles & even tears to your eyes. So healing to see these sleeping babes cocooned in glorious fabrics or adorned with petals. Gorgeous!