The Sunlight Print Kit: Materials, Techniques, and Projects for Homemade Photography

Book Description

Sun prints, also known as cyanotypes, are some of the earliest forms of photography, and are exquisitely detailed images created using just three basic ingredients: light-sensitive paper, water, and sunlight. This kit provides everything you need to make versions of these masterpieces. Create impressions from found objects like leaves or coins, or use the included templates to make more fanciful images.

Includes:
- 80-page booklet
- 10 sheets light-sensitive paper
- 2 printed and 2 blank acetate sheets
- Black felt-tip pen

Camera Obscura
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Inspiring

Sublime and Intriguing

Wow again!

Camera Obscura
Abelardo Morell , and Luc Sante
Manufacturer: Bulfinch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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A Book of Books

Abelardo Morell (Monographs)

Pinhole Photography, Third Edition: Rediscovering a Historic Technique

Adventures with Pinhole and Home-Made Cameras

I am Not This Body: The Pinhole Photographs of Barbara Ess

ASIN: 0821277510

Book Description

Abelardo Morell's magical camera obscura images blur the boundaries between interior and exterior worlds.

Customer Reviews:

Inspiring.......2005-08-15

Abe was my first photography professor at massachusetts college of art, he's an amazing photographer and an amazing and inspiring teacher. Pick this book up and get inspired too!

Sublime and Intriguing.......2004-09-29

Photography is a fascinating art form. What is more fascinating is when a photographer transcends the photo to create artistic imagery that invites on in to spend time viewing the image. Abelardo Morell does just this. The quality of the writing and the paper just add to the overall experience. A book worthy of a special spot on the shelf or, even better, on the coffee table so many can share in the beauty.

Wow again!.......2004-09-10

Picked up Morell's newest at the Brookline Booksmith book signing the other night, where the artist gave an inspiring talk. Going back for more copies tonight. This is the single best homage to photography ever! Where does a person get such fantastic ideas and how does he realize them with such beauty and wonder? Last year, one could hardly imagine how Morell might follow up his equally elegant Book of Books. Well, now we know.

Vermeer's Camera: Uncovering the Truth behind the Masterpieces

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Well researched and tolerably convincing
Interesting, scholarly study
A Detective Story for Vermeer Lovers
Did He or Didn't He?

Vermeer's Camera: Uncovering the Truth behind the Masterpieces
Philip Steadman
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Secret Knowledge (New and Expanded Edition): Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters
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Johannes Vermeer
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ASIN: 0192803026

Amazon.com

Philip Steadman's remarkable book Vermeer's Camera cracks an artistic enigma that has haunted art history for centuries. Over the years, artists and art historians have marveled at the extraordinary visual realism of the paintings of the 17th-century Dutch painter Jan Vermeer. The painter's spectacular View of Delft, painted around 1661, and the beautiful domestic interior The Music Lesson seem almost photographic in their incredible detail and precise perspective. Since the 19th century, experts have speculated that Vermeer used a camera obscura, an early precursor of the modern camera. However, conclusive proof was never discovered, until now. In Vermeer's Camera, Steadman proves that Vermeer did indeed use a camera obscura to complete his greatest canvases. Part art-historical study, part scientific argument, but mainly a fascinating detective story, Vermeer's Camera argues:

Vermeer had a camera obscura with a lens at the painting's viewpoint. He used this arrangement to project the scene onto the back wall of the room, which thus served as the camera's screen. He put paper on the wall and traced, perhaps even painted from the projected image. It is because Vermeer traced these images that they are the same size as the paintings themselves.

Steadman painstakingly develops his argument through careful study of the history of the camera obscura, an exploration of 17th-century optics, and a detailed study of the light, optics, perspective, and measurement of a series of Vermeer's paintings. He goes to remarkable lengths to reconstruct Vermeer's studio and its furnishings, down to the angle of the light from its windows. The science is complex, but always clearly explained. This is not an attempt to reveal Vermeer as an artistic "cheat." Steadman convincingly argues that "Vermeer's obsessions with light, tonal values, shadow, and colour, for the treatment of which his work is so admired, are very closely bound up with his study of the special qualities of optical images." Vermeer's Camera is a wonderful book that shows the ways in which, during the 17th century, art and science went hand in hand. It offers an enlarged, rather than reduced, perspective on Vermeer. --Jerry Brotton. Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

Over 100 years of speculation and controversy surround claims that the great seventeenth-century Dutch artist, Johannes Vermeer, used the camera obscura to create some of the most famous images in Western art. This intellectual detective story starts by exploring Vermeer's possible knowledge of seventeenth-century optical science, and outlines the history of this early version of the photographic camera, which projected an accurate image for artists to trace. However, it is Steadman's meticulous reconstruction of the artist's studio, complete with a camera obscura, which provides exciting new evidence to support the view that Vermeer did indeed use the camera. These findings do not challenge Vermeer's genius but show how, like many artists, he experimented with new technology to develop his style and choice of subject matter. The combination of detailed research and a wide range of contemporary illustrations offers a fascinating glimpse into a time of great scientific and cultural innovation and achievement in Europe.

Customer Reviews:

Well researched and tolerably convincing.......2006-06-30

This is a very well researched book. The author has taken great pains to measure and analyze Vermeer's paintings, finding a striking feature that many of them, when back-projected through the perspective view point at the size of the painting, imply a consistent location of a back wall to the common room used in the pictures. The author asserts that the only reasonable explanation for this coincidence is that Vermeer used a camera obscura for at least some of the layout of his paintings.

This comes off as very plausible, though the analysis is limited to paintings that include a tiled floor. It would have been interesting to see this work extended through photogrammetry of objects of known sizes in the paintings (chairs, musical instruments, etc) and applied to more of the paintings.

I think the only real failing in the argument is that Vermeer could have could have had the skill to paint perspective of this quality, and therefore not needed the aid of a camera. As pointed out in the text, he was not bound to perfect accuracy; there are some deviations.

Interesting, scholarly study.......2005-03-22

Did Vermeer use optical aids, like a camera obscura, in crafting his wonderful paintings: yes or no?

That is the question being asked here. This is a technical question, only, it adds or detracts nothing in Vermeer's ouvre and career either way. It's and interesting question though, and even an important one. What choices did Vermeer make in achieving greatness?

Steadman convincingly argues that Vermeer very likely used a camera obscura, in one form or another, in creating many of his paintings. This work starts with a thorough discussion of the inconclusive written records. Vermeer was certainly contemporary to people like van Leeuwenhoek, who pioneered microscopy, even lived in the same city at the same time. He had long exposure to trades where lenses were used regularly, and lived in a time when lenses were available commercially. All that is circumstantial and, unlike other authors, Steadman declines to read more into available facts than they said in the first place.

His real contribution is in his detailed analyses of Vermeer's paintings and their geometries, and in actual reconstructions of the rooms Vermeer portrayed and tools he might have used. This is the scientific method at work: present a falsifiable hypothesis, and create an experiment that confirms or denies it. "Is shadow in 'The Music Lesson' a credible, literal rendering of an actual scene?" His experiments from the late 80s, rebuilding rooms that match Vermeer's says "Yes." This is a delightful contrast to armchair guesswork by others, such as Wheelock, who never really checked but thought the shadows looked false.

This is a worthwhile historical and technical achievement, partially funded by the BBC for a TV special in 1989. It also stands in clear contrast to Hockney's later work on much the same question, "Secret Knowledge." Hockney asked, as an artist, do these tools give me the experience captured in the old masters' art? His answer, achieved by personal immersion, was also "Yes." I respect Steadman's rigor as a historian and experimentalist, but this work comes off a bit dry compared to Hockney's first-person report.

It's an interesting book on an artist about whom maddeningly little is known. It's thorough, and gives future art historians a very high bar to clear. If not for the hands-on liveliness of Hockney's book, I might have ranked this one even higher.

//wiredweird

A Detective Story for Vermeer Lovers.......2004-05-25

This treasure is actually a mystery novel in the guise of an art book! Steadman cleverly examines the long-held debate over Vermeer's alleged use of camera-like inventions to help create his masterworks. He does so by constructing models of the rooms, examining long-overlooked clues and engaging in some very pragmatic thinking. At times Steadman almost comes across as art history's answer to Lt. Colombo, which is a compliment. This is a very readable and enjoyable book for any art lover who also loves a good mystery, brain teasers, and practical application of optics. My only quibble is that additional illustrations and plates would have helped Steadman make his point better.

Did He or Didn't He?.......2001-07-27

Did the famous Delft artist, Johannes Vermeer, use the camera obscura to create his remarkably photographic paintings? People have been asking that question for a century or more. To help answer it, Philip Steadman has written this great little book. It is truly an enjoyable investigation of Vermeer's acquaintances, studio, and style. My favorite parts of the book are Steadman's photographic reconstructions of Vermeer's paintings. Did Vermeer use the camera? If he did, would that make him an artistic cheat or a visionary? I like a book that leaves me with some things to think about, and this one does the job.

Private Screenings: Television and the Female Consumer (A Camera Obscura Book)

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Private Screenings: Television and the Female Consumer (A Camera Obscura Book)

Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0816620539

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A UNIQUE VIEW OF AN UNPARALLELED CITY

Venice: Camera Obscura
Gunter Derleth , and Pia M. Grueber
Manufacturer: Edition Stemmle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Equipment | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 3908163218

Customer Reviews:

A UNIQUE VIEW OF AN UNPARALLELED CITY.......2000-11-24

Venice, Italy, surely one of the most vaunted cities on our planet has again been exalted in this folio-size volume of unforgettable photographs.

The poet Byron remembered Venice as he stood on the Bridge of Sighs, "A palace and a prison on each hand." Another bard, Shelley, described it as "Ocean's nursling......A peopled labyrinth of walls, Amphitrite's destined halls."

More contemporaneous writers may link Venice with Harry's Bar, a watering hole for the wealthy, or perhaps with the legions of pigeons that shroud St. Mark's Square.

Now, German photo-designer Gunter Derleth captures Vicenza with unerring eye and unique vision in photos remarkable for their quality of light. This effect is achieved by the camera obscura, which is "basically a box with a very small hole in it.....Light comes through the hole and is placed directly onto the paper." The results in this volume are dreamlike, sometimes almost surreal but always beautiful.

Derleth opens with fog cloaked figures from Carnevale, the celebration that calls for Venetians to dress in elaborate costumes and masks. We find the facade of Florian's, a restaurant bordering St. Mark's Square recognizable by its battery of miniature tables and decorative chairs. Whether a view across the Grand Canal of the glorious island of San Giorgio Maggiore or a simple apartment building, each photo embraces both the beauty and mystery of Venice.

Brief accompanying texts are excised from the works of great writers who were entranced by the city. Each amplifies and underscores its partner photo.

Italophiles will relish this lush volume, and photography buffs admire Gunter Derleth's art.

Book Description

Examining constructions of gender, nationalism, and modernity in films produced in China and Japan in the 1920s and early 1930s, this special issue of Camera Obscura is the first collection of feminist research on Asian cinema of the silent period. Actresses emerged for the first time in the Asian public sphere in the late 1910s, making the convention of the female impersonator obsolete and giving human faces to the many social transformations of urban modernity. During this period, filmmaking started to establish itself as a product of mass culture that circulated globally, creating conduits of cultural exchange in which the modern New Woman became a principal figure of currency. In the silent cinemas of China, Japan, and Hollywood, where Asian women appeared as key representations of nativist and orientalist ideology, early women stars became the focus for competing discourses of gender and modernity and played a key role in the construction of modern Asian identity.

The collection includes an essay on the actress Pearl White and how the emergence of the New Woman on Asian screens provoked extensive discussions in the media about the norms of gender and femininity. Hollywood orientalism and Asian nationalism converged in the images of Asian American stars Anna May Wong and Tsuru Aoki, who were criticized by both American and Asian constituencies for transgressing cultural norms. Other essays offer a feminist critique of films by the Japanese directors Yasujiro Ozu, Heinosuke Gosho, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Mikio Naruse, whose work often captured the position of women in a patriarchal system. Trapped between the progressive paradigms of the New Woman and traditional expectations of appropriate gender roles, and between competing notions of Asian modernity, Asian women stars of the silent cinema constitute a dynamic site for feminist film research.

Contributors. Weihong Bao, Chika Kinoshita, Sara Ross, Catherine Russell, Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano, Yiman Wang

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Camera Obscura: Of Ideology
Sarah Kofman
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0801485932

Book Description

Marx, Freud, Nietzsche--in vastly different ways all three employed the metaphor of the camera obscura in their work. In this classic book--at last available in an English translation--the distinguished French philosopher Sarah Kofman offers an extended reflection on this metaphor. She contrasts the mechanical function of the camera obscura as a kind of copy machine, rendering a mirror-image of the work, with its use in the writings of master thinkers. In her opening chapter on Marx, Kofman provides a reading of inversion as necessary to the ideological process. She then explores the metaphor of the camera obscura in Freud's description of the unconscious. For Nietzsche the camera obscura is a "metaphor for forgetting." Kofman asks here whether the "magical apparatus" of the camera obscura, rather than bringing about clarity, serves some thinkers as fetish. Camera Obscura is a powerful discussion of a metaphor that dominates contemporary theory from philosophy to film.

Early Women Stars (Camera Obscura : Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, Volume 48)

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Early Women Stars (Camera Obscura : Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, Volume 48)
Diane Negra , and Jennifer M. Bean
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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Feminist Theory | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0822365154

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A rose, by any other name, would still be a great author
8 out of 8 for Octave
What a ride...

Camera Obscura (Doctor Who)
Lloyd Rose
Manufacturer: BBC Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Time Zero (Doctor Who)
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ASIN: 0563538570

Book Description

The Doctor's second heart was taken from his body -- for his own good, he was told. Removed by his sometime ally, sometime rival, the mysterious time-traveller Sabbath. Now, as a new danger menaces reality, the Doctor finds himself working with Sabbath again. From a seance in Victorian London to a wild pursuit on Dartmoor, the Doctor and his companions work frantically to unravel the mystery of this latest threat to Time... Before Time itself unravels.

Customer Reviews:

A rose, by any other name, would still be a great author.......2004-06-17

Lloyd Rose's debut Doctor Who novel, City of the Dead, was a magical adventure with such lyrical prose as had not been seen in a Doctor Who book for a long time. The question would be whether or not she could follow up such a stunning debut novel and avoid the dreaded sophomore jinx. I'm pleased to say that she does an excellent job. Not only is Camera Obscura just as good, but it's good in a much different way. Gone is the mysticism that City of the Dead had in spades. Gone is the magical reality. Gone is the New Orleans atmosphere. However, she captures the atmosphere of Victorian England with vivid descriptions and the same style as she did in the first book. It all adds up to a wonderful book.

Back in The Adventuress of Henrietta Street, the Doctor had one of his two hearts taken away, supposedly for his own good. It was the heart that was linked to Gallifrey, a planet that had been destroyed by his own hand and then wiped from his memory. His sometimes ally and sometimes enemy Sabbath removed it to save his life, but implanted it in his own chest so that he could time travel too. Both he and the Doctor have been on a mission ever since to heal the wounds in of the timestream that were caused by the destruction of the Time Lords, to police the time travel that they used to police. A rogue time machine has appeared in Victorian England, the use of which has already caused some temporal disruptions. Whoever has used it has been fractured in different ways. One person has been split into eight separate but equal beings, all sharing the same mind and perceptions. Another has been split into two individual beings, one good and compassionate, one dark and mutated. And one has been split inside her own mind, with multiple personalities inhabiting one body. The Doctor is trying desperately to stop the machine before it's used again. Sabbath has the same goal, but for much different reasons. The Doctor has discovered that the heart Sabbath stole has created an inseparable bond between them. Through that bond, the Doctor discovers Sabbath's horrifying vision of the timestream, causing the Doctor to have yet one more person to watch out for.

Rose has quite the way with words, both dialogue and description. Her England oozes atmosphere, with a mad chase through dank and dark Dartmoor or a dark and eerie mansion that somebody's trying to break into. You can feel the darkness of the dungeon the Doctor is kept in, almost feeling claustrophobic despite being in a well-lit room reading a book. The streets of London are just as crowded as they are in the 21st century, but this time with horses, carriages, and boys paid to run through the streets and pick up dung. Everything is quite vivid.

The characterizations are wonderful as well. This is the Doctor and Sabbath's book, and everybody else takes second billing. The banter between the two is electric, trading barbs and trying to convince each other of the rightness of their cause. The Doctor is horrified when he finds out what Sabbath ultimately wants to do to safeguard time itself, refusing to believe that the ends justify the means. The Doctor is at his most compassionate, almost crushed when he realizes that he's led someone to his death. Sabbath accuses the Doctor of the ultimate arrogance while demonstrating that he's even more so. The book is filled with these scenes, and I don't think there was one false note in them. They realize that they need each other this time and that they have to put all of their past animosities behind them. The final act gives Sabbath a human quality that he's lacked the last few books he's appeared in, an act of compassion that also, as always, has an ulterior motive.

The rest of the characters fulfill their function but aren't anything special. Rose does just enough to avoid making them caricatures without making the reader that interested in them. Unfortunately, both Fitz and Anji fall into this category. Don't get me wrong. They're characterization is spot on, but they are relegated to the sidelines and have almost nothing to do with the entire story. They're bit players that take up screen time, do some small part to move the storyline forward, and then run offstage. The Doctor is not telling them what's going on, which isn't really anything new. This time, however, it makes them surprisingly ineffective. They show up to point the Doctor in the right direction once or twice, set events in motion that will result in the Doctor's rescue occasionally, but that's it. Ultimately it doesn't matter, though. Rose captures the Doctor and Sabbath so well that it doesn't matter that nobody else does anything much of interest.

I really enjoyed Camera Obscura. Despite the fact that it was about the nature of time itself, I found it to be a lot clearer then City of the Dead. While Rose handled that magical realism very well, I think she excelled even more doing a science fiction story this time around. The plot is straightforward, though it's never boring. It's a lot easier to understand, and it has the added benefit of not annoying those Doctor Who fans who don't want even a hint of magic in their Who. While it is part of the ongoing Eighth Doctor storyline, Camera Obscura could easily stand on its own feet if it happened to be the first Who book you've read. So what are you waiting for?

David Roy

8 out of 8 for Octave.......2003-10-21

Unbelievable! A good 8th Doctor book. Even more unbelievable, after literally years of bland, boring and/or just plain bad BBC books, two excellent books (Camera Obscura & Suns Of Caresh) come along in the same month.

Camera Obscura has a plot. Well written, interesting characters that have a purpose - they drive the plot, they don't just go with the flow, wherever the plot may take them. A great setting. Doctor Who always seems to fit so well into Victorian London. In this case Lloyd handles the period extremely well. I could almost believe I was at the Crystal Palace? This book was generally a joy to read.

It was nice to read a book that can surprise me. I'm referring here to the 'unique' character of Octave. I assumed he was 'flitting about in time' for his stage act. The revelation of his true nature was quite a shock - obvious in hindsight. Unfortunately this brings up my first criticism of the book - I can understand the need for the different Octaves to take differing routes to and from the theatre. He can't afford for anyone to know there are more than one of him! But all 8 versions of him are living together in a small apartment, and none of the neighbours noticed? Again, all 8 Octaves are at the theatre every night and no-one noticed? Ridiculous.

Oh dear. Making the Doctor 'unable to die' (just because his 'old' heart is still beating elsewhere) is a bit far-fetched! But it gets even worse.

How to ruin a good book in one easy lesson, Get the Doctor to purposely get himself killed, so he can go to hell and ask the dead Dr Chiltern where the live Dr Chiltern may be hiding the time machine, knowing that since he can't die, he'll be resurrected by Sabbath's new heart (his old one), then go to the destination told to the Doctor by the dead Chiltern, only to find it's a wild goose chase, so go back to London and uselessly waste 2-3 chapters on a ludicrous premise that Hell actually exists and the Doctor is immortal!

Simple, wasn't it?

Do yourself a favour, when you read the book, skip the 2-3 chapters immediately following where the Doctor gets stabbed. They serve no purpose and the book is much better off without them.

9 out of 10. Read without the two offending chapters, 10 out of 10.

What a ride..........2002-12-23

CAMERA OBSCURA is a very good novel. It's not as good as Lloyd Rose's previous offering, CITY OF THE DEAD, as it lacks that story's rich attention to detail. On the other hand, while it may be lacking overall in comparison, it has some brilliant individual sequences that surpass the first book, and rival anything seen so far in Doctor Who book fiction. It has a few problems, but what the book does well more than outweighs the novel's few missteps.

I found many passages in CAMERA OBSCURA to be completely riveting, surprising and fantastic. There are sequences in which it is absolutely impossible for the reader to attempt to put down the book. And yet (and I do feel a little greedy for complaining about this) I'm not quite sure that the book flowed as well as it could have. Loads of the individual set pieces are amazing, but the glue holding them all together just feels a little lacking. Instead of the portions combining together to a gigantic crescendo at the conclusion, it seemed as though the book was forever starting and stopping, without really building on any of the brilliance. Again, this does feel a little unfair of me, because those standout pieces are indeed fantastic, but overall I couldn't help but believe that the sum was just a tiny bit less than all of the parts, given how wonderful some of those parts were.

As for what those wonderful parts were. Well, there are some absolutely fantastic sections of prose here. Chapter Twenty (the Doctor's decent) is as magical as anything I've ever read in Doctor Who. The Doctor's conversations with Sabbath, while occasionally coming across as gimmicky, are nevertheless penetrating in their insight as to how the two men see their place in the universe. The setting adds a lot to the story, although it doesn't feel quite as overwhelming as the New Orleans of CITY OF THE DEAD did. The carnival sequences work, not only because of their description, but, more importantly, because of the way the outlandish freaks and geeks react to the Doctor.

The humor in this story is something that I haven't seen much written about, but there were a handful of sequences that had me laughing out loud, and that's a wonderful thing that happens all too infrequently in Doctor Who books. Overall, this is a really good book that comes recommended. Comparisons to Rose's previous book are no doubt inevitable, and while I found CAMERA OBSCURA to be vaguely lacking in contrast, that doesn't take away from the book at hand. Occasionally magical, and never less than enthralling, its minor flaws don't stop this from being a required read.

Blue Opium, Panta Rhei, Camera Obscura
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Blue Opium, Panta Rhei, Camera Obscura
Daniel Pantano
Manufacturer: Buy Books on the web.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0741405547

Book Description

To read this book is to put the reader in the position of the creative observer who creates by reading. These poems represent empty spaces along with a myriad of transient doors. Every door is a facet of an insect's vision--a partial distortion without the exhaustion of it's inner luster.

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