Virginia Heckert

Mario Giacomelli by Virginia Heckert served as an eye-opening introduction to this photographer and to what can be done with seemingly simple images.

I admit to being almost completely ignorant of Giacomelli and his work with one or two exceptions. While I realize that photographs will speak to different viewers in different ways, I think a lot of people will find these photographs to be quite moving. When I looked at them as art, I looked first at the things we're told to look for compositionally and such. My knowledge here is limited but not absent. Yet when I let myself really inhabit the space within many of the pictures, I became both curious about the subjects and to a large extent emotionally connected to them.

I would recommend this to both lovers of photographic art as well as those who enjoy losing themselves in images and letting their imagination run wild. I was brought almost to tears a couple of times and any photographer who can do that likely put their own heart into what they were shooting.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (more)