I have the book and Holy and Sroyon have done us a service in their review, it is hefty and tells many stories. It does not so much "drop" through the letterbox as be handed to you with the warning that " it is heavy"….

If you are sitting on the fence about purchasing this book, or picking it off the shelf, like me, I heartily recommend you do. I’ve found the process of scanning my negatives and checking the full roll over a lightbox has massively improved my photographic knowledge. This landmark publication provides the reader with a depth of understanding and a critical analysis of the story behind a photograph, the process of editing it, and the places and ways in which the selected photographs were used. The entry for Patrick Zachmann in 1990 in which his roll of just 11 shots shows the moments leading up to him being shot by a white policeman.Magnum Contact Sheets presents the work of 69 photographers – 139 contact sheets featuring some of the most famous photographs in history, along with enlargements of individual photographs.

No longer an active working tool for most photographers, the contact sheet is relegated to the archive, of interest as a historic document.This books allows us to see the mixture of talent, chance, watchfulness and diligence behind each successful picture. You know your process from reviewing what you shoot, and then to see it from what other people have shot helps you understand the process is different for all of us, but, yet, the visual path of other photographers is readable. Looking at the contact sheets made me feel like I was walking with the photographer as they shot the subject. The contact sheets are mostly from black and white negatives like the one shown below, but we also get some colour negatives (like Jonas Bendiksen’s magic-realist Satellites) and transparencies (like Stuart Franklin’s iconic images of Tiananmen Square). Presenting a remarkable selection of contact sheets and related material by 67 Magnum photographers, Magnum Contact Sheets lays bare the creative methods, strategies and editing processes behind some of the world’s most iconic images — was the final image a set-up, or a serendipitous encounter; did the photographer work to extract the potential from a situation, or was it the fabled ‘decisive moment’?

The yellow tabs are photographers I want to go back and explore further and the blue tabs are quotes or thoughts that I wanted to share. For anyone with a deep appreciation of photography and a desire to understand what goes into creating iconic work, Magnum Contact Sheets will be regarded as the definitive volume. Fascinating content with the contact sheet,chosen frame,that frame full size and a small piece about why the frame was chosen. com are the exclusive property of the named author (except where stated otherwise) and are protected by copyright. And then Sroyon asked me if I would be up for a joint review and that was the kick up the backside to actually get it out.

Further insight into each contact sheet is provided by texts written by the photographers themselves or by experts chosen by members’ estates. Thus, contact sheets can provide a “sense of walking alongside the photographer and seeing through their eyes”, a “uniquely intimate glimpse into their working process” (p9). The presentation and chosen scale allows for an experience close to viewing actual size contact sheets allowing the reader to view individual frames easily. In the middle-distance, a woman in a bikini is sunbathing on a white tiled floor which gleams so bright it almost makes you squint.

We end almost at the beginning – on page 77, with a photograph from the city where Magnum was founded.Often, just one or two photos from a roll are chosen for publication, if that; the rest never see the light of day.