The Bottom Line: Images seem to reflect 'my' Iowa. Cover the spectrum of work, play, worship, excitement, times of calm and reflection. Definitely worth 'checking out' your home state collection.
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During the week of May 12 through May 18, 2003 a mind-boggling digital photographic sampling of the people of America and their lives was collected. From a pool of tens of thousands of photographs, project creators Rick Smolan and David Elliot Cohen led the creation of a family of books that present these images as a snapshot of life in America over those 168 hours.
The images, collected during that week in May, led to one grand effort, America 24/7, and 52 'children' if you will. One for each state of the Union and one each for Washington, D.C. and New York City.
Iowa 24/7 is one of those 'children'. An important facet of this '24/7' effort was that, claimed to be the first time, all images for this photography book were collected in a digital format. Images from professional photographers, stringers, and amateurs across the nation were acquired, identified, transmitted, collected, sorted, and compiled into the various volumes of this '24/7' effort.
I have not seen the America 24/7: ... collection but if the images captured in Iowa 24/7 are representative of the family of books, I would think each would stand strongly on its own merits.
Images of people dominate the Iowa 24/7 coffee-table book. People at work, at play, at worship. All those activities that you might imagine happening in your own '24/7' are captured . . .well...almost any activity.
Some images—an aerial view of the Iowa Capitol from an upper floor of a downtown hotel, teens dancing at their senior prom, a gravedigger deep into his work...shoveling by hand, and more—span both pages, margin to margin. 21 by 13 murals of Iowa.
Other images are spread throughout the book, 1, 2, or three images per page. Across the top margin of these pages runs a string of thumbnail images of other pictures collected for the work.
While Iowa 24/7 is roughly divided into sections highlighting work, play, home, religious belief, home town; the presentations of the images really seem to simply flow from one full color image to the next.
None of the images are 'tricky' to understand, none seemed staged. In a less structured presentation they might seem to be just snapshots of your family and their activities over a week. That they do present so well in this book simply confirms the beauty that is all around us, the beauty that we sometimes fail to notice as we rush from one task to the next. I am sure that presentation also reflects the art of photography that raises a photograph above a snapshot.
The inside covers of the book feature the cover art of the complete series of 50 state books. They all look very interesting. It is also possible to create an personalized cover for any of the 24/7 books. Instructions are included in the book.
Also included in the book is a schematic of the entire process of collecting, preparing, and publishing the images in the various books. Short profiles of the many companies that assisted in the project are also included.
Perhaps the only complaint I have about the book is that I seem to recall the word-of-mouth talk that it was very heavy on amateur photographs. When in reality only a 4 pages of content are clearly identified as amateur photographs. I would think they could have been more represented without compromising the final product.
The Bottom Line
The images of Iowa 24/7 seem to reflect the Iowa that I know and love. They cover the spectrum of work, play, worship, excitement, times of calm and reflection. Definitely worth a bit of your time to check out the collection for the state you call home.
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Certified 'Lean-n-mean' review
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sleeper's reviews of Everything Iowa, my thoughts on 'stuff'
about my home.
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"Just the facts, ma'am"
Title: Iowa 24/7
Created by: Rick Smolan, David Elliot Cohen
Publisher: DK Publishing, Inc.
Copyright: 24/7 Media, 2004
Pages: 144
ISBN #: 0756600553
Ages recommended: pre-teen and older
Reference site;
http://www.america24-7.com/
Recommended:
