Women, Heroes, and a Frog
Nina Leen
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1970, 130 pages
ISBN 0-393-08624-0

This book does not make a good first impression. The cover features a crude composite image created from four of the included photographs. It looks rather cartoonish... an impression that is reinforced by the nonsensical title. But this is a case in which a book should not be judged by its cover.

Former Life magazine photographer Nina Leen has taken a selection of classic quotations and paired each of them with one of her black & white photos. The result is a unique, quirky, and sometimes surreal book that can, at times, be surprisingly thought-provoking.

Of course, some of these pairings work better than others; some didn't work at all for me, but your mileage may vary.

Many of the photos appear to be snapshots: the sort of photos that you might not expect to see published in a book or magazine, but they mostly work well in this context. Several of the photos are way too dark, but I don't know if this was the photographer's intent or an issue with the book's production. Other photos intentionally include motion blur or soft focus.

This is certainly not a book that will appeal to everyone, as the quality of the photos, and the quality of the pairings with the quotations, varies significantly. But if you are in the mood for something different you may find it entertaining.