Book of the Week
Book of the Week: A Pick by Melanie McWhorter
photo-eye Book Division Manager Melanie McWhorter selects Touching Strangers by Richard Renaldi as photo-eye Book of the Week.
This week's Book of the Week pick comes from photo-eye Book Division manager Melanie McWhorter, who has selected
Touching Strangers by Richard Renaldi published by Aperture.
"Richard Renaldi showed me an advance copy of
Touching Strangers at a book signing for his previous book
Fall River Boys at Society for Photographic Education in March of this year. When presented with a book at a fair, rarely do I take the time to look through an entire book. I do a flip-through and I usually know right away if I like the book or not. With all the activity surrounding our booth, I still took the time to sit down and block out all the noise around me to look at each image in
Touching Strangers. His large-format portraits engaged me with their detail and intimacy; I was so captivated with Richard’s photos of complete strangers wrapped in each others arms, touching as if they had known each other for life. I looked at every individual in the shot knowing that they had just met and I tried to imagine what their relationship would be if they actually knew each other. I build my own narratives around his images and also realize that the narrative that I build speaks more about me than the people in the picture."—Melanie McWhorter
Melanie McWhorter has managed photo-eye's Book Division for 16 years and is a regular contributor to the photo-eye Blog. She has been interviewed about photography in numerous print and online publications including PDN, The Picture Show and LayFlat, has judged the prestigious photography competitions Daylight Photo Awards and Fotografia: Fotofestival di Roma’s Book Prize, has reviewed portfolios at Fotografia, Photolucida, Review Santa Fe and PhotoNOLA, and taught and lectured at numerous venues.
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