Visions of Ophelia [Hardcover]

Emerging womanhood carries heavy weight of meaning. It encompasses all the invisible changes that turn a child into an adult - anyone, man or woman, has some kind of experience (though maybe not understanding) of girls in that ambiguous age. It includes the visible transformation into adulthood, too, a change that doesn't happen overnight. The conversion begins and end in surprisingly few years, so all of the steps between compress into that brief moment of a woman's life.

Small wonder that so many artists find inspiration in that magical and maddening moment, or that they subdivide it so finely into so many grades of maturation. David Hamilton has devoted his artistic life to an earlier stage. Others, Gilbert included, find themselves fascinated with phases closer to adulthood. This collection of lush black and white photos tries to capture the instant at which young adulthood takes over from childhood. There is no such instant, of course, but that's no reason to stop trying.

Whenever models appear undressed, erotic overtones exist - and in different amounts for different viewers. Gilbert does a creditable job of presenting the young ladies in their native beauty, neither adding fetishisic props nor hiding their physical details. I imagine many responses to this collection of photos, from sanctimonious revulsion to unhealthy fascination. That is not Gilbert's problem, or the models'; it is that viewer's. The fact remains, this moment arises as every woman grows up, and deserves to be documented as much as any other. Gilbert presents it in these beautiful and sensitive photos.

-- wiredweird

As is the case with most photography books, the best image is on the cover and it goes downhill from there. In the case of this book, I would say that maybe 10% of the images inside are close to or of the same quality of the image on the cover. I always go through a photography book as if I were judging each photograph on it's merits. I also look at these images as if I were the one who took the photograph and say to myself, is this an image that I would put up on the wall and be proud of. Most of the time they're just not that good. Anybody can take a picture of a naked girl, but it takes time and talent to take one that is well lit, has good composition and has the kind of impact that makes you say to yourself, wow, I wish I had taken that picture.

I bought this book after seeing the content that J.C. Gilbert had posted on his website. I titled this review refreshingly fantastic for the following reasons: Anyone can grab a camera - any girl can pose - but that's not what you have here. His pictures contain "soul" - carefully done to portray very real and beautiful young women without making them slutty. It takes one to the edge of sensuality without being exploitative. I look at the images in this book and would be proud to have my name on any of them. As a beginning photographer, I hope that over time I can also have my "vision" and that it is even half as good as his. Thank you for producing such a great work of art.