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STEPHENSON PRESS|YES EDITIONS
Luke Stephenson: An Incomplete Dictionary of Show Birds
Foreword by Michael Smith.
It all started very innocently I suppose, but then it gradually turned into an obsession .... The first inkling of this obsession came when British photographer Luke Stephenson (born 1983) met an artist who photographed pigeons--side on, against a blank background. Impressed by the simplicity of these images, Stephenson began to photograph birds. His first subjects belonged to the treasurer of the UK Budgie Society, who deemed his portraits "crap" because he had omitted the legs and tails. He subsequently developed an eye for the nuances of bird photography, and, making a specialty of photographing show birds of all kinds, developed the body of work gathered in this volume. While Stephenson's photographs depict these birds with apparent neutrality (against a variety of colored backgrounds), Michael Smith observes in his foreword to this volume that "they live in an overlap between the natural and manmade worlds, and say as much about the culture that created them as they do about nature."
"Chinese Painted Quail (Excalfactoria chinensis)" is reproduced from I.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Wallpaper
Ellen Himelfarb
"an obsession, with each new conquest, from finch to parrot, more alluring than the last."
"Pekin Robin (Leiothrix lutea)" is reproduced from An Incomplete Dictionary of Show Birds, British photographer Luke Stephenson's captivating book of purebred bird portraiture. The ideal gift for lovers of cuteness, it is also a serious photographic study and a record of the artist's evolving passion. Essayist Mike Smith writes, "Luke gradually became more and more knowledgeable, more and more completest, more and more a collector of sorts, in his case through photographing the animals. He started to subscribe to Cage and Aviary Magazine. Ticking ever more exotic breeds off his list became an end in itself. The Pekin Robin, with its yellow, purple flecked breast, was a specimen he particularly wanted to capture. One day he went to photograph a robin that belonged to a man named Ken but realized he’d forgotten the right lighting equipment. Upon his return the following week – 'I’ve got some bad news, lad. The Pekin Robin’s dead.' No amount of Red and Yellow Bishops, and a whole host of rarer birds, could relieve the feeling of disappointment in the months that followed – two years passed by before he finally managed to track down another Pekin Robin. A very different position to the vague and naive intention to start photographing 'canaries, budgies and parrots' that initially started the whole project off. Like many explorers of a strange and intriguing culture, he’s ended up going native." continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 6 x 9 in. / 80 pgs / 60 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $35.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $47.5 ISBN: 9780957434103 PUBLISHER: Stephenson Press|YES Editions AVAILABLE: 2/28/2014 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Luke Stephenson: An Incomplete Dictionary of Show Birds
Published by Stephenson Press|YES Editions. Foreword by Michael Smith.
It all started very innocently I suppose, but then it gradually turned into an obsession .... The first inkling of this obsession came when British photographer Luke Stephenson (born 1983) met an artist who photographed pigeons--side on, against a blank background. Impressed by the simplicity of these images, Stephenson began to photograph birds. His first subjects belonged to the treasurer of the UK Budgie Society, who deemed his portraits "crap" because he had omitted the legs and tails. He subsequently developed an eye for the nuances of bird photography, and, making a specialty of photographing show birds of all kinds, developed the body of work gathered in this volume. While Stephenson's photographs depict these birds with apparent neutrality (against a variety of colored backgrounds), Michael Smith observes in his foreword to this volume that "they live in an overlap between the natural and manmade worlds, and say as much about the culture that created them as they do about nature."
