Jörg Photobook Review: Mona Lisa's of the Suburbs

The Real Mona Lisa

One of the "Mona Lisas" from the book

This was an interesting book and concept.  The authors approached young women who weren't outright beautiful but were interesting looking in 5 cities around Europe.  They weren't superficially beautiful but had a mystique about them like the original Mona Lisa.  The models posed on a specially constructed chair that had a headrest. There are also a few landscape photos throughout the book but these coincide with the idea because they are portraits of the city itself.

All the photos in the book are framed well.  The subjects are surrounded by a background that doesn't compete with them but adds to the photo.  Each person is posing in a different way as well and doing different things with their hands and their faces.  None of them are actually smiling but it shows how different each of these people are by showing the different things they do with their bodies.


Mona Lisa's of the Suburbs

Through the Looking Glass: Evolution of Self Through Reflections

This portfolio is about reflections and the evolution of the selfie.  With all different types of photo editing software you can totally lose who you truly are in an image.  This portfolio shows that idea as the progression of the reflection overtime becomes more and more blurry.

The American's Robert Frank

           Robert Frank was an American photographer born in Switzerland in 1924.  He also dabbled in filming and video editing later in life but he was most know for his photos particularly the book The Americans.  Frank learned photography to escape the confines of his business-oriented family.  He trained under a few photographers in Switzerland before immigrating to America in 1947 where his real career began and where he started his journey for his most famous book.

Robert Frank began his photo tour for his book The Americans in 1955 after securing a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation.  His idea was to travel across the United States and photograph layers of society.  He took 28,000 photos during his time but only 83 were selected for the book.  It was published first in France in 1958 and in the USA the year after.  His book was different than other photographers at the time because of his technique.  He used unusual focus, low lighting and cropping style that was not usual for photographers of the time.  His book was popular because it showed a different kind of America.  It showed that not everyone was living the American “Dream.” His book became an important part of American photography history and became his defining work.