Having traveled the breadth and depth ofYemen's scenic landscape, I have come to expect that most photographsof Yemen need no professional touch to communicate to the viewer whata grand land this part of Arabia is. Even my own photographssometimes surprise me with a breathtaking element, but I lay no claimto being anything other than an amateur enthusiast behind the lens. No doubt I have been spoiled by several excellent photographicvolumes on Yemen, especially those of Pascal and MarieMaréchaux, so I must admit I was initially excited when Ireceived a review copy of a new photographic volume entitled
Salma Samar Damluji is an architect whoworked with the famous Hasan Fathy in Cairo during the 1970s andearly 1980s. She first visited Aden and Hadramawt in 1981 as aconsultant for ECWA regarding plans to preserve the historic towns ofShibam and Tarim. The author now teaches at the Royal College ofArts and the Architectural Association School of Architecture inLondon. According to the liner notes, this book is the first to bepublished on her recently completed architectural research project insouthern Yemen. Unfortunately, little information is presentedspecifically about the author's research, which included study ofcurrent master builders in the south. The introduction to thepresent volume (pp. 1-8) is basically an expanded discussion of heritinerary. The photographic journey runs through thirteen chapters,geographically defined for Aden, al-Dali, Yafi', Abyan, Shabwa, WadiHajr, Wadi Daw'an, Wadi Hadramawt, Shibam, Tarim, al-Mukalla,al-Shihr, and al-Mahra. A glossary gives simple definitions for over150 terms, but there are a number of transliteration errors. Thereis some inconsistency about the author's understanding of terms. Hadramawt is more accurate than Hadramut. Also, the Yemeni plasterknown as qudadin the north is given for Habban as qatat (a misreadingor a dialectical observation?) but quddah for al-Dali'. One canonly hope that future volumes will concentrate on the results of thefieldwork.
The current volume contains over 650 colorphotographs. One would think that this would represent a gold minefor Yemenophiles and a must-buy for anyone captivated by the beautyof this part of Arabia. In that the publisher is charging $130 forthis admittedly large book, those of us with less than unlimitedbudgets must take a second look.
Unfortunately, with this volume the problembegins with the first look. The photographs are for the most partpoorly taken and even as poorly developed. The graininess is so badon many of the photographs that one wonders if the author was usinga Polaroid. Or is it that the publisher was using printing pressesfrom the depression era?
In that a lot of time and effort went intoputting this book together, I have no qualms about giving a detailedcritical assessment. My critique is overwhelmingly negative. Thisis not only a poorly done book on a subject that is hard to dopoorly, but it is so overpriced (given the lack of quality) as to beabsurd. The specific problems with the photographic quality can besummarized by the following examples, according to the type ofproblem or lack:
1. Poor cropping: #27 crops out part of aman's body. The printer's cropping mark still shows on#81!
2. Indistinct faces: #2 is a prime exampleof two men whose faces are a dark-brownish blur, giving theimpression the photograph is actually out-of-focus. Compare thepeople in #11; they almost look like cut-outs. The sheikh in #73 ispoorly reproduced. The women in #159 are unrecognizable. Would theyoung girl in #453 recognize herself as having a face? What wouldthe man say in #617?
3. Greyish tint: #4 looks like the kind ofcolorization found in the 1950s. If National Geographic can do sowell, why can't this publisher?
4. Poor contrast: #7 shows men in darkshadows. #19 almost looks like a black-and-white production. Toodark: #60, 108, and many more. The flash was poorly set for theinterior in #103. The fields in #114 are washed out. #164 looks likeit was taken by infrared photography at night; why is this poor printpublished? The shadows blacken the noses excessively in #193. Werea photography student to hand in #200, would that student expect adecent grade? I have been to Bi'r 'Ali and the colors do not looklike #288. The colors are washed out badly in #332. The flash wasaimed improperly in #338. I realize that #348 is at sunset, but thisis not well communicated here. The lighting is not only poor in#358, a mosque interior, but it is far too small in the layout. #382simply is too poor to be produced in the collage on p. 216. Thelighting is off in the scenic shot of #416. Note the inconsistencyin the color of the sky in photos #417 and #418; this is symptomaticof the lack of quality control for the book as a whole. #421 issimply too dark; this looks like a tourist shot. The two photographsof people on p. 243 show an incredible lack of appropriate contrast. How can these amateurish portraits be published? The photographs onpp. 248-49 are far too dark! Try and make sense of the figures in#440? The women in #573 are lost in shadow. #577 is far too dark;this looks like a postcard in its thousandth printing. Thephotograph #621 is bad in almost every respect. If you can make outthe design in #631, you must have very good eyes.
5. Graininess: One of the worst examplesis #206; this is not even newspaper quality. #232 looks far morelike a painting than a photograph. Is there a sandstorm envelopingthe photographer in #367? The beauty of Shibam is sandblasted awayin #429.
6. Sloppy developing: There appears to bea chemical stain on #287. A hair has made its mark either on thenegative or print in #416. The sequence of #243-#245 appear to havebeen poorly developed, given the reddish tint. There is somethingradically wrong with #541.
7. Out-of-focus: The worst examples are#323 and #340, but #474 is almost as bad.
To be fair, I find a number of photographswith redeeming qualities: #13: The washed-out quality of the skyworks here with the whitewashed facade of the mosque. #43 isinterestingly framed, a man surrounded by metal barrels. #51 is anice vignette, but would have been more striking if larger. #117 hasan excellent angle; if only it were enlarged. The portrait of twoboys in #223 is exceptional, although poorly reproduced here. #454is a lovely design. #471 would make an intriguingpainting.
In one sense it is good to have anyphotographic documentation of Yemeni architecture, although thisvolume goes beyond that limited goal with a variety of portrait andscenery shots. But the poor quality of the photographs and theirinferior reproduction are not compensated by an outstanding andinformative text. The author/photographer no doubt has documentedworthwhile information on architectural practices in southern Yemen,but these are not presented here except in piecemeal comments. Thisis, in my opinion, not a volume worth having on the bookshelf orcoffee table. Given the price, I could not even justify having auniversity library order it. It can, of course, be ordered. Thiscan be done from Paul & Co., c/o PCS Data Processing, Inc., 360West 31 Street, New York, NY 10001. A mere $130 (plus postage) willallow you to compare notes with mine listed above. If you do buy acopy, send along your comments and I will gladly publish them in thisbulletin.
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