Fantastic Photographs
Text by Attilio Colombo
Pantheon Books, 1979, 146 pages
ISBN 0-394-50733-9

Photography is generally used to record images of the world we live in, but it can also be used to create images from the world of the imagination. Those photographs are the subject of this book.

The book presents the imaginative works of nearly 60 photographers from around the world. Some of the photographers, such as Jerry Uelsmann, are well-known, but many lesser known photographers are also featured. These photographs are mostly black & white, but there are 8 pages of color photos.

It's pointless to provide any description of the photographs, as they are all so varied in nature. Suffice it to say that they are all rather bizarre and often shocking. Many are quite good, but I suspect that every reader will have a different opinion as to which ones are good!

The illustrated text traces the development of fantastic photography, including the influence of artistic movements such as Dadaism and Surrealism. A bibliography for further reading is also provided.

There are no technical or descriptive notes for any of the photographs; captions are limited to just photo credits.

This book is a good introduction to the world of imaginative photography.