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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » Adventure Photographer

Adventure Photographer

1 rating: 5.0

A book by James R. Holland

Award-Winning Photojournalist, James Holland Publishes Memoir Adventure Photographer (A Bit of Boston Books/ 2009) by James R. Holland. Looking at a photo of the white turban-clad James Holland on location in Libya is like seeing Lawrence of Arabia step … see full wiki

Tags: Books, Photography Books, Photojournalism

Author: James R. Holland

Genre: Photography

Publisher: A Bit of Boston Books

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Award-Winning Photojournalist, James Holland Publishes Memoir

Nov 28, 2009

by KellyF
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

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From Basil & Spice

FirstLook Review By Kelly Jad'on

Looking at a photo of the white turban-clad James Holland on location in Libya is like seeing Lawrence of Arabia step out of a black and white film and into a modern technicolor photo shot. The only difference is the sleek Nikon strung around Holland's neck while he poses in the blistering sun on the rooftop of the walled oasis city of Ghadames--deep inside the Libyan desert.

Cataloguing his career as a photojournalist, James Holland has published a distinguished book about his dream-become-reality as a professional adventure photographer.

The author of many notable photo books: The Amazon, Mr. Pops, (about Boston Pops Maestro Arthur Fiedler), Tanglewood, W.O'K's Weird Wacky Wonderful World: The Art of William O'Keefe, Diamonds Are Waiting For You: Crater of Diamonds--Where Dreams Can And Do Come True, Klan Rally: A Photographic Essay, and Fisheyes, Holland introduces his readers to the origins of his desire to become a photographer, explains his education, and highlights the major points in his career.

Going where few Americans had previously ventured, Holland traveled the globe for National Geographic, and worked as a stringer for both United Press International and Associated Press. His award winning photographs have been regularly published in the media for nearly fifty years.

Holland's photos and writings take readers back to the evocative 1960s and `70s, when the East Berlin wall still stood and Russian soldiers marched inside the city's streets, to illuminating images of KKK cross burnings in Ohio. Holland records the events on film and in writing, but also defines his own feelings, "Some of the images showing the perversion of family values I saw through the viewfinder of my Nikon F made me want to throw up." {KKK Rally}

In the South, Holland visited religious snake handlers at Scrabble Creek, West Virginia. Most interestingly, he describes what he saw as the benefits of such extreme worship--though it tempted fate mightily.

Holland photographed bleeding icebergs, U.S. Presidents, the pyramids at Giza, and giant anacondas (the world's largest snakes) James R. Hollandpulled from the Amazon. He climbed to Machu Picchu, spent time with the Yagua tribe along the Brazilian border with Peru, and searched for the underwater city of Atlantis.

As the first American to ever visit Jaghbub in the Libyan desert, he was then allowed to photograph the tomb of Imam Mohammed Ibn Ali Es-Senussi, founder of the Senussi religion and grandfather of King Idris.

Fascinating photos of lives, homes, and happenings are how Holland has captured the memories of his life-preserving them as a testimony of a tremendous career and an ever-changing world.

James Holland continues his work today as a photo diarist and film consultant. His children follow in his footsteps as photographers and filmmakers.

Adventure Photographer (A Bit of Boston Books/ 2009) by James R. Holland

Copyright © 2006-2009, Basil & Spice. All rights reserved.

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