Previews

s Visual Poetry ’62 tells s ervice stories through his photos

hotographer Tod Papageorge’s hic p hic p hotogra Pdefining moment as an artist hap- pened when he was a senior at UNH. “I was flipping through some art guides and saw Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photo-

Perry H Smith/UN graphs,” he recalls, “and my life changed. It was like being struck by lightning.” Papageorge has vivid memories of UNH as a place of discovery. “English teacher Joe McElroy was the first person to suggest that I might be gifted intellec- passing through eden author Tod Papageorge ’62 tually, and John O’Reilly in art history was a mentor in conveying what it meant was the curator of photography at the meander aimlessly, while at their feet, to pursue an artist’s life,” he says. . a group of pigeons do the same; a thin, He studied poetry with English pro- Papageorge’s new book, Passing barefoot man lies crumpled in the grass fessor Tom Williams, who encouraged Through Eden: Photographs of Central while some girls jump rope nearby; a his passion for writing, but Cartier- Park (Steidl, 2007), demonstrates his young woman sunbathes in a bikini, her Bresson’s —candid love for what he calls the “poetic image.” white skin luminous, and gestures to a shots of people in public spaces— The 105 photos included in the collec- white-haired, elderly woman resting in a captivated Papageorge. tion were taken from wheelchair in the shade. He took a technical 1966–1992 and are Since 1979, Papageorge has been the photography course at mostly of people sitting Walker Evans Professor of Photography UNH, and after gradu- on benches, reclining in at Yale, where he also directs the gradu- ation developed his craft the grass, and gather- ate program in photography, and his by walking the streets, ing. Papageorge’s tal- aesthetic has influenced many of the taking photo after photo, ent lies in his ability strongest American photographers first in Europe, and then to capture a gesture, a practicing today. in . There, pose or a juxtaposition “Good photography transforms the he formed friendships of unrelated elements world into a different thing,” he explains, with important photographers like the that suggests a relationship, and there- “just as putting words together to make a late Garry Winogrand, fore, a story (or at least a comment): poem creates something new.” ~ and the late , who four men in stone-colored trench coats —Anne Downey ’95G

Not by a Long Shot: A Season at East Boston’s Suffolk aimed at marketing profession- charming third novel a Hard Luck Horse Track, by T.D. Downs, including the als, this authoritative examines family Thornton ’90, PublicAffairs, 2007. lives and obsessions of book will interest any dynamics as protago- Thornton, a journalist and race- the jockeys, trainers, consumer curious about nist Claire Gallagher

Overviews track announcer, owners and pressbox a cutting-edge model struggles to redefine has written a “degenerates.” Kelly calls “conversational herself. gritty, engaging marketing.” narrative on Beyond Buzz: The Web Extra: For additional recent the world of Next Generation of Word-of- One for Sorrow, Two for books by UNH alumni and fac- thoroughbred Mouth Marketing, by Lois Kelly Joy, by Elise Juska ’97G, Pocket ulty members, see unhmagazine. racing and ’77, Amacom, 2007. Although Books, 2007. Juska’s clever, unh.edu/f07/bookreviews.html.

Fall 2007 • University of New Hampshire Magazine • 39