Ken Schles: Invisible City

I have to agree with the reviewer who said this was unimpressive and not worth its value. I was looking for photography books related to photography of New York. I bought the book based on amazon.com recommendations and other reviews online claiming this to be a classic. The few photos I saw online seemed promising, offering a glimpse into the nitty gritty of 1980's New York. So I ignored the negative review and took a chance. I immediately found the book disappointing, turning the pages waiting to get to the "good stuff". As I browsed, I saw lots of blurry and out of focus pictures, some terribly composed, almost as if the camera may have snapped by accident. I do love textures and can appreciate blurred, long shutter speed shots with lots of blurriness, as well as experimental, more impressionistic photography, especially if it's of New York life. But I think the small size of the book kept me from appreciating these. I just kept thinking that there is a lot of bad pictures in here and that this was not a book I would ever want to revisit. Maybe blown up these pictures look more impressive and beautiful. In such small format, they look pretty crappy to me... I understand that in its time this book perhaps was "revolutionary"--a lot of people online appear to be singing its praises, anyway...but, personally, for me, for the price, it's a compilation of pretty bad pictures with only a gem here and there, and, like the other negative reviewer said, I didn't find it worth the price. I got rid of my copy right away. Much better, more inspiring and bigger photography books can be had at this price range for your visual arts book shelf.

The reason I am giving only a 3 star review is not because of the quality of the photos (they are great), but that's all there is. There is absolutely no narrative to them...or anything else in the book, albeit a few quotes from others. I'd be interested in learning a bit about the photographer and the context of some of the photos. Even just a few words. But nothing. Absolutely zero. Zilch. Nada.

This book is what I had hoped Frank's "The Americans" would be. The book is perfectly laid out and the photos are all exceptionally composed and perfectly capture the tone of the "bad old days" of eighties New York. While not sexual or graphic like Araki's work, Schles' work is reminiscent in that it captures a gritty underside of the city through a combination of portraiture, landscape and street photography. While short, this book is brilliant.

The realness and beauty of what Manhattan was before it was turned into a huge sterile mall. Alas. Bravo Mr. Schles!

Gritty ( grain ) night shots of a city ,its problems, its moods and its feel. Really makes you want to go out an shoot images at 3200 taking chances with shutter speeds ….good book.

Great photos, very noir-ish

really good

Poorly organized and over-priced, this does not reflect the photographer's work but a marketing scheme.Pass.

Most (many) photobooks and their ilk are printed on coated stock. That is, paper with a clay content, so the printed image has a satin/shiny sheen. It is refreshing to see that this book is not. Uncoated paper, the images are matte, in keeping with both subject matter and style of photography. His images are grunge. Excellent book and a fine record of what was and i dare say still is in many seedy places. Schles has an eye, a very effective one at that.

foto dai contrasti molto forti ma poca sostanza

Arrivo prima del previsto in perfette condizioni. Ottimo

I was disappointed by the small format and the print. Pictures are printed side by side, full page. Not really a photo book.The pictures themselves are powerful and the mood is quite unique.