An early collection of photos by Winogrand - self-published. Apparently, quite a flop when it came out in 1969.
Especially for that time, a disturbing collection of photos - nothing romantic or ennobling in his representation of the animals in the New York City Zoo. As photos, you can see his style of flirting with chaos within the frame, however, in many of the photos I don't see the one element that brings a focus to the photo, or else the element is not strong enough, or doesn't carry enough meaning or emotion or surprise to support the weight of the rest of the chaotic frame. There are some good moments, however.
A good accompaniment is to read John Berber's essay, "Why Look at Animals?" at the same time.
Maybe what you see in these animal photos is the same alienation, the same sense of loss and hopelessness that can be found in some writers of the 50's and 60's - for example Sylvia Plath, Gwendolyn MacEwen.
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