Basic Information
Title: “No Words”
Published: November 2012
Pages: 224 (MultiArt Silk 170g paper)
Review
Every year, since 2008, 1x.com, the premier website for fine art photography and one of only a few photo-sites that is curated by professionals, has been publishing a yearbook featuring the best approved photos from the past year.
This year (2012) they have decided to call the book “No Words”. As the title suggests, there are no accompanying headlines, descriptions or other information about the featured photographs. Only the names of the photographers are included. The editors explain their motives behind this decision in the following way: “The true power of a photograph lies in its ability to make you draw your own conclusions and to give it your own meaning. That’s why the images in this book don’t have any titles. A photo which speaks for itself doesn’t need any words to describe it. A picture says more than a thousand words and this book says more than a million.”
I personally feel that this purposeful lack of information makes the viewing experience much more enjoyable, and gives the reader a chance to view each photo on it’s own, without the preconceptions that titles and descriptions often create in us.
The book itself has been organized in a way that makes the viewing experience interesting and enjoyable. The book starts off with photographs of animals, then moves to motion and action photography, and from there it continues with some amazing landscape photography. After that the viewer sees some great creatively edited photographs. And the list of categories just keeps going on: documentary, minimalism, symmetry, macro, conceptual fine art, children, portraiture, black and white photography… The full spectrum of photography seems to be represented in this book (except fine art nude).
All in all, this 224-page book includes 220 full-size photos, printed on a really high-quality 170g MultiArt Silk Paper. When I first took the book into my hands, I didn’t want to let it go. The whole feel of the book, is just so authentic. It almost feels like the book should cost even more than the $99 (89€) it is sold for.
If you are still desperately looking for a gift to that photographer/photography-enthusiast in your life, then this is the perfect solution to that problem. I found myself looking at these photos time and time again, and was greatly inspired by the photographs that were selected into this book. I would have appreciated getting this book as a christmas present, and I’m sure other photographers will feel the same way.
CONCLUSION
The talent of the photographers, and the great diversity of images that the editors selected, make this book a must have to all serious photographers and fine art enthusiasts. I highly recommend adding this book to your library before they are sold out, like all previous yearbooks have. 5/5 stars.
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To purchase the book and see a preview of what’s inside it, navigate to:
https://1x.com/nowords/#sample
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