Venice Carnival Unmasked: Carnival Unmasked

Rating:
Summary: Venice Carnival Unmasked
Review: I was looking for a book that would give me ideas for a Venice Carnivale themed party. This book turned out to be a disappointment. The photos were all black & white (not advertised as such) and were not what I was looking for at all. There is also no text in this book, and a lot of wasted white space on the back of each photo. If it wouldn't cost me time and postage, I'd have mailed it back.

Rating:
Summary: Venice Carnival Unmasked
Review: I was looking for a book that would give me ideas for a Venice Carnivale themed party. This book turned out to be a disappointment. The photos were all black & white (not advertised as such) and were not what I was looking for at all. There is also no text in this book, and a lot of wasted white space on the back of each photo. If it wouldn't cost me time and postage, I'd have mailed it back.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: The stark wide angle lens photographs in revealing black and white are NOT the picture postcard shots Venice's chamber of commerce whould chose to promote lucrative tourism. Boutos, a resident of this city for several years,does indeed "unmask" carnival, His unsettling images, all taken at the cafe` Florian, unveil the annominity inherent in the masque.

Rating:
Summary: Not a Picture Poscard
Review: The stark wide angle lens photographs in revealing black and white are NOT the picture postcard shots Venice's chamber of commerce whould chose to promote lucrative tourism. Boutos, a resident of this city for several years,does indeed "unmask" carnival, His unsettling images, all taken at the cafe` Florian, unveil the annominity inherent in the masque.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: This wonderful book is about artistic expression with photography, and not a printed shopping catalog of costumes for your next bal masque. An old fan of Boutos, I enjoy his ability to blend with his subjects, capturing their mood as they communicate openly with the artist's camera. The Venice carnival offers the photographer and the reader a unique opportunity to capture the fuzzy boundary between the subjects' imagination and reality, the mix of people who appear as themselves despite their costume with the people who participate as their masked fantasies. Are the subjects representing their real self or their carnival impersonation? Is the medieval maiden with the video camera on page twentyfour an observer or a participant of the carnival event? Is the server on page twentyfive a real waiter or a costumed guest? Is the nose on the face of the person on page thirty real or an add on? Buy this book if you enjoy the challenge of capturing moods with photography, don't buy it if you are shopping for costumes.