From Kirkus Reviews
Australian photographer Geddes (The Twelve Days of Christmas,
1995) is well known for her, well, strange pictures of babies. Now she
sets the tots Down In The Garden ($49.95; Sept. 15, 1996; 160 pages;
ISBN 1-55912-017-7). In full-page color photos (even some gatefolds), we
see babies as pea pods, babies in cocoons, one newborn with butterfly
wings resting on a mushroom, babies in flowerpots with bouquets on their
heads. Mostly, all you see of them are their baby faces: with happy,
isn't-this-a-riot expressions; astonished, how-did-I-get-in-here
expressions; and, occasionally, perplexed, how-do-I-get-out-of-here
expressions. A sweet bouquet of babies. (First printing of 150,000;
author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights
reserved.
Ingram
An exquisite coffee table bookthis volume incorporates ingenious
design and gardening wisdom to showcase Anne Geddes' fanciful images.
From pots to plots, in flowerboxes and fields, Geddes' unique photos of
babies and children show readers the profusion of life and joy to be
found in a garden. Readers see the wondrous transformation of buds to
blooms, and caterpillars to butterflies; find adorable baby faces amidst
petals and pods; see birds in the bath, bees abuzz, and all kinds of
critters at rest and play. Full-color throughout.
Review Ms. Geddes fills her large, oversized color pages
with stunning pictures of a whimsical garden populated by babies. Her
tiny models appear as fairies, flowers, insects, birds, and other small
animals in the garden. Her imagination will transform the way you see
babies . . . and gardens forever. You'll be glad to have experienced her
magical touch.
The images are enlivened by simple texts of a few words just to help
create a mood or a thought.
The compositions are quite elaborate. One contains dozens of children
dressed up in worm outfits, and then transposed onto an image of them
all in tunnels underground in the garden. What an amazing effort this
must have taken!
One of her presentation techniques is to have a photograph inside a
photograph. For example, there is a two page spread of a basket. Then,
you can unfold the middle of the basket to reveal its babyish contents!
In another place, she plays peek-a-boo with you by hiding one image
within the photograph under a flap which you can open. When you do, the
photograph's meaning totally changes.
As wonderful as her imagination and compositions are, I think her
finest gift is to capture the baby's personality while awake.
The quality of the reproductions is extremely high, particularly
considering that she is working with squirming infants in many cases.
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