Paul Chesley: A Photographic Voyage - Hardcover

Paul Chesley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1939621046 ISBN 13: 9781939621047

Publisher: ORO Editions/Goff Books, 2014

Synopsis

From Bhutan to Bali, from China to the Ukraine, from Micronesia to Cuba, Paul Chesley has photographed not only the romance of illusions but the magic of reality in thousands of instants, as said by Joseph Conrad. This memoir of an artist's life will highlight the best images of his career from a geisha on a phone in a limousine, to the chromatic lifestyles of Havana, the forbidding ranks of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the faces of post-war Vietnam and the volcanic island of Iceland plus countless other countries in the past four decades. Chesley often focuses on the mercurial aspects of cultures in transition. He is drawn to those places where life seems to be on hold for just a fraction of time between the past and the future. His goal has always been the fleeting moments of the present before it is swept away in the never ending tide of history. While this book takes us to a score of faraway places, it is not attempting to be an ethnographic record. The accompanying, informal essays and the Introduction by Keith Lorenz intend to furnish a personal vision of history and place. These perspectives do not encourage facts to overwhelm the narrative. The aim of photos and text is to provide a mood, not an explanation.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul Chesley is an American photojournalist born in Red Wing, Minnesota, who is best known for his work as a photographer for the National Geographic Society. He was introduced to the art of photography by his father at the age of three when he was given his first camera. He grew up taking pictures on family vacations and developing film in his dad's darkroom. Chesley s early work focused on natural subjects and landscapes, and in the early 1970s he began taking photography classes at Colorado Mountain College as well as participating in workshops at the Center of the Eye in Aspen, Colorado. Chesley also participated as a student on a National Geographic workshop led by Robert Gilka, the society's director of photography. He began shooting assignments for National Geographic in 1975 and has since completed more than 35 projects for the society. His photography has focused primarily on people and cultures in Oceania, Asia and Europe. In 1984, Chesley helped found Photographers/Aspen, a photo collective of four National Geographic photographers. In 1989, Chesley met and became friends with Hunter S. Thompson while producing a story on Aspen for Life magazine.

About this edition

• Publisher: ORO Editions/Goff Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1939621046
• ISBN 13: 9781939621047
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272