Moods
Robert Farber
American Photographic Book Publishing (Amphoto), 1980, 112 pages
ISBN 0-8174-4900-0
Fashion photographer Robert Farber calls the images in this book "mood" photos: personal work designed to evoke specific feelings in the viewer. Included are landscapes, nudes, and still lifes, all in color.
Many of these photos include a diffusion effect, created by shooting through a filter coated with hairspray or petroleum jelly, or shooting through a white gauze material. When this technique works it can create a wonderful dreamy effect, but when it doesn't work it can overpower the subject, creating a photo that looks faked or flawed.
That's the problem I had with this book. While there are indeed some beautiful photographs here, there are many more that just look bad to my eyes. In addition, Farber often pushed his film 2 stops or more, which can do strange things to the colors. Sometimes this works; other times not so much.
Most of the photos include captions where Farber talks about the image and gives some partial technical information. I found the nine page Introduction by Donald Goddard to be overwrought and tedious to read.
It's difficult to recommend this book because the quality of the images varies so much, but anyone who enjoys soft-focus, diffused photos may want to check it out.