Andreas H. Bitesnich India [Hardcover]

India, by Andreas Bitesnich is a master class in photography and the fine art of publishing photographs.

This book has left me in awe. The photographer uses few words to introduce his work. The words sound like this will be a tourist's snapshot view of India. The book is a compilation of three very short trips to India, how could anybody in that little time begin to understand that complex country and produce fine photographs? After forty pages of some of the most incredible black and white photographs I have ever seen, did I realize how wrong that prediction could be (how in the world did Bitesnich create so many incredible photographs in such a short time).

India took me on a trip to an alien place where I died and then returned. It is an other world journey.

The majority of the images are black and white. At first look those photographs appear to have way too much contrast, most are a solid ink black with sharp intense whites. But on closer inspection, these are the most perfectly executed images with great subtle tonal range. The illusion is that my eye is attracted to the ink black and the bright white eyes or other highlight - the photographer has accomplished exactly what he set out to do, notice those areas first. There is a stunning photograph about one fourth of the way through the book, it is of an organic building on a sea of a huge black page. The image is set in the upper third of the page. Just below the picture is this faint gray area, at first glance it looks like a misprinting - as if the plate had slipped and accidently smeared a lighter version of the main image. Oh no, that gray detail is a reflection of the building in ink black water. The shades of black are amazing.

The most memorable images are of people trapped in their environment with their eyes, brilliant white highlights, escaping. The images of children are remarkable. Every single picture is so sharp; it's possible to count the hairs.

The other worldly part appears in the color images. These images have a 1950's composition, but the hand colored look of the turn of the century. He uses corroded blues, ghastly smog yellow, and burnt sky reds to great effect. It's possible to smell and feel the pollution, the burning in my lungs from these images. There is a message in here somewhere with the color photographs of people. Several of these people have eyes that are blurred ghastly yellow or their mouths blurred. I have to imagine this was done on purpose, every other picture is so perfectly exposed and focused, Bitesnich had to do this on purpose.

There is a short introduction to the final pages of the book. These are the most documentarian of the book, an area where bodies are burned and the ashes spread in the river. As Bitesnich mentions in the first introduction, he hopes the viewer can smell the odors. Two urinals covered in mess assure that I understood the odor of these final pages.

This is a large format book, 11 x 14, printed on very heavy paper. This is the first time I have seen photographs published on matte paper with such perfect registration and perfect solid blacks. The editors and Bitesnich were careful to use facing pages in exactly the right way. Some pictures are 28 x 14, spanning two pages. Others look to be a single image, but in reality are two very careful matched and placed images. There are no white pages in this book.

There is nothing on any of the pages to distract from the images, no page numbers, no captions, no text. The chapters were divided by the location of the pictures. There is one simple dark gray page with a very light gray name of the location.

This is an interesting project for Bitesnich. Most of his work is of nudes. He has published a good number of beautiful books. I was curious to understand how the pictures in India could be so perfect, no grain, perfect exposure, and perfectly sharp. After visiting his website, it is clear he honed his skills in remarkable black and white studio photography. These are perfect digital images. I am convinced that he was a student of Ansel Adams' zone system, but could now teach improvements on that technique. These images are just so perfect.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book for review.

India is a magnificent land full of incredible contrasts. From frigid tops of Himalayas to sweltering heat in the lowlands, from the stunning architectural elegance of Taj Mahal to decrepit shantytowns on the outskirts of the major cities, from the advanced technology and opulence to oppressive poverty and backwardness: India has it all. The combination of a millennia long history and an advanced and sophisticated culture creates a fascinating and infinitely permutable set of scenes and vistas.

In pursuit of unique photographic opportunities Andreas Bitesnich traveled widely all across India. He visited many big cities, as well as smaller but culturally significant places. The book is arranged geographically, with a separate section for Agra, Bangalore, Delhi, Dubare, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Mysore, Samode, and Varanasi. Despite this wide extent of journeys, this is not really a travel book. Bitesnich takes liberties with lighting, focus, and exposure, creating a unique artistic and visual signature. Most of the photographs are rather dark, and if you didn't know any better you might have guessed that they were taken somewhere in northern Europe. This gives an entirely new perspective on India.

Most of the pictures present scenes from the gritty urban environments, teeming with people, vehicles, and even animals. The pictures of people in particular are in my opinion the most fascinating ones in this collection. Indian people are the most colorful aspect of India and they provide one with an inexhaustible source of subject matter. Bitesnich really knows how to capture his subjects' expressions and features.

This coffee table book is also exquisitely well designed and printed. It is rather large and heavy, and easily dominates any table or a bookshelf on which it is placed. I highly recommend it.

Viennese photographer Andreas H. Bitesnich, who is known for his photographs of the human form (Nudes, Erotic, More Nudes, Woman: Andreas H. Bitesnich) has produced a unique photographic perspective of India in this oversized (14"x10.5") book from teNeues publishers. It's not a tourist's perspective, even though the first few photographs are of the Taj Mahal. Very little color is to be found among the pages, and when it does appear it is almost a shock: no primaries, just bottle green, muted saffron, and dusty violet. This is an India of shadows, washed almost clean of color by the annual monsoon rains.

Foregrounds of oil-stained cement, crumbling steps, and muddy streets are often employed to draw a reluctant but fascinated viewer right into the lives of ordinary citizens, who are waiting for customers in their rickshaws, burning their dead, or seated around an outdoor stove in Samode, where an open drain separates the diners from a weary, cud-chewing camel.

Men sleep wherever they can: sprawled on their fishing nets; between the shafts of a rickshaw; slumped in a plastic chair. A series of photographs depict Kushti wrestlers practicing their ancient sport, rubbing themselves with dirt, and posing for the camera. One of the most striking portraits is of a guard at the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur. His beard is parted, then curved back up into semicircles that end in the corners of his eyes. He is dignity personified. Another, much more disturbing portrait is of a leper in the holy city of Varnasi. His face is partially wreathed in smoke, but you can still see the ruins of a jaw that looks as though it is melting away in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. The following photograph is an even more gristly shot of the leper's hands and feet.

Andreas Bitesnich states in his introduction that India "...is a land full of extremes, surprises, contradictions, and scents. Capturing those scents in photographs is nearly impossible, though that didn't stop me from trying."

If I could substitute the word 'textures' for 'scents' then I believe this photographer succeeded very well, indeed. You can touch the pictures in "India" and almost believe you are feeling the splash of water pouring from a woman's pitcher, the worn stone of an ancient fort, the dry crust of paint on the elephant's hide, or the grittiness of the dirt that a young wrestler is rubbing into his forehead.

***review copy supplied by publisher