David Hurn: Arizona Trips

David Hurn is one of Britain's most important reportage photographers. His documentary photographs are distinguished by their quiet observation and remarkable insight. Released to coincide with Magnum photo agency's seventieth birthday, this is the first book dedicated to Hurn's photographs from Arizona. "In 1979/80 I was awarded a 'U.K./USA Bicentennial Fellowship'. This was a one year award to photograph in America. I chose Arizona – it is the most right wing state in America, plus it is the driest State in America. The exact opposite of my home country Wales. The contrasts appealed to me." Hurn fell in love with Arizona and made several trips back between 1979 and 2001. Hurn's greatest subject is ordinary people pursuing ordinary passions and in Arizona he turned his inimitable eye to ordinary Arizonians in their daily life, their schools, exercise classes, holidays and their landscape. "I love to observe what people – or, better still, groups of people – are doing. I've always been nosy, I suppose, and having a camera allows one to indulge one's curiosity and record it. The incredible pleasure of photography is that you have to be there to do it. You have to get outside and meet people. And being there can be extraordinary." AUTHOR: In 1955, while undergoing army officer training, a young David Hurn saw Henri Cartier-Bresson's photographs of Russian life in Picture Post. These groundbreaking photographs emphasised the warmth and humanity of ordinary Russians and gave a completely different view of the 'enemy'. 'What I saw in my viewfinder and in published images made me profoundly pacifist,' he later said. Hurn resigned from the Army and moved to London, where he got a job selling shirts in Harrods before joining a photo agency as an assistant. In 1956, fascinated by the Hungarian Revolution and mass demonstrations against the Soviet-controlled government, Hurn hitchhiked to Budapest, to photograph the city during the uprising and the resulting pictures were published in Life and Picture Post. On his return to London, Hurn became a freelance photojournalist, supplementing his income with glamour shoots. He began shooting a series of documentary projects on difficult and gritty subjects such as strippers and drug addicts in London. Hurn's natural inclination was less towards hard news stories and more ordinary people in their everyday lives. In 1965, Hurn became a member of Magnum Photos. SELLING POINTS: • Hurn's inimitable talent for making the ordinary extraordinary radiates from every page. • Captures everyday life in Arizona - landscapes, schools, the elderly, holidays and more. • Hurn visited Arizona several times between 1979 and 2001. • Released to coincide with Magnum photo agency's 70th birthday. • Exceptional observation photography from one of greatest living photographers. 150 b/w photographs

Review :
A two-decade love affair with Arizona, in photos-- "Huck" Amazing and Absurd Photographs of Life in Arizona.--Daisy Woodward "Another Magazine"