Hi!

My pick for this week is a man we all know for his pointed ears (No, not Legolas!), but Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy himself.

I remember when this book came out in 2002 (I was working at Barnes & Noble at the time) and of course his name is what drew the immediate attention. I didn’t really know much about photography at the time (arguably I still don’t) but I remember being unimpressed. It struck me as a case of someone known for one thing trying something else and it doing well because of the name, not what it was.

Fast forward to earlier this year. I’m always looking for a new photo book to pour over and find something new or captivating to hold my attention and touch me deeply. I forget why exactly I decided to try this volume again, maybe just because this copy was signed by the late artist, but this time I read Mr. Nimoy’s artist statement. I cannot do it justice in summary, but it made me remember that someone said, in effect, that photographers as artists show the world a way that we see some part of it. With that in mind these images were no longer merely a novelty, but a small glimpse into the mind and spirit of a man most of us know better as the logical Vulcan character.

It may still be a novelty and may have succeeded based on the artist’s name and fame, but it’s a volume that I’m pleased to have in my collection, especially since it’s the closest I’ll come to meeting him in this life.