California Trip

by Dennis Stock

VERY GOOD stated FIRST PRINTING softcover, free tracking number, clean NEW text, solid binding, NO remainders NOT ex-library, smoke free; slight gentle shelfwear / storage-wear; slight soiling WE SHIP FAST. Carefully packed and quickly sent. 201613155 Introduction by Dennis Stock. 99 photographs in black and white. Iconic images of the trippy generations and side of road faces, all nostalgia and sometimes sooo funny. A great work, for reference and as a memoir from a great photographer. From the "Every idea that Western man explores in his pursuit of the best of all possible worlds will be searched at the head lab -- California. Technological and spiritual quests vibrate throughout the state, intermingling, often creating the ethereal. It is from this freewheeling potpourri of search that the momentary ensembles in space spring, presenting to the photographer his surrealistic image. However, to the Californians it is all so ordinary, almost mundane. The sensibility of these conditioned victims is where it is all at, right, left, up and down. Our future is being determined in the lab out West. There, a recent trip blew my mind across this state of being, as I collected images along the way to remember the transient quality of the Big Trip" . 8vo (cm 28x35,5) pp. 112 Please choose Priority / Expedited shipping for faster delivery. (No shipping to Mexico, Brazil or Italy.)

Genres: Photography, Art and Photography, Art

Paperback

First published June 25, 1970

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ninety-nine black and white photos from California at the end of the '60s. Captions given at the end mostly identify only the location, and then broadly: Santa Monica, Encino, Monterey.
The marketing of this reissue suggests that it focuses on the hippie / counterculture side of the state and time, but that's not really accurate: there are several pictures from the 'McCoy commune, Novato, with long hair and peace'n'love-style nudity, but there are about as many, maybe more (I didn't count), from the set of the 'Planet of the Apes' movie; also several from space research stations and quite a few standard genre pictures: architectural light and shade studies, cute kids on benches and goshdarned ol' ladies on pushbikes, storefronts and hoardings... etcetera.
It makes me reflect a bit on what is and what isn't a good way to design a photo collection in book form. This seems to veer at random between apparent haphazardness and sometimes over-obvious wacky juxtaposition.
It doesn't really tell a story or make an argument or a point or even, I think, depict a moment in time; it just says "here are some photos I made that I like." That's probably fair enough, and I like quite a few too. I think it accompanied an exhibition at which, probably, visitors could buy individual prints, and put them on their walls and enjoy them individually.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some are really striking and very OF THE TIME (California 1968).

[Jon]

Yeah, I know this is a photo book, but I read the introduction too. (It was lousy--are photographers ever good writers?) The pictures themselves are good though, proving Stock deserves to be known for more than just his James Dean portraits. Some were taken on the set of the film PLANET OF THE APES. Intriguing stuff from both northern and southern Calif. as well as a few areas in between, famous spots like North Beach and Sunset Boulevard and obscure ones like the town of Cool. Very 60s but not dated, definitely worth a look.