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Photo Book Reviews

Fish Face by David Doubilet (Phaidon Press) Underwater photographer David Doubilet's collection of fish, sharks, and other underwater creatures makes the perfect addition to any coffee table collection. Article rating: 8.25

When I was growing up in England, calling someone a "fish face" was somewhere in between a term of endearment and an insult. In his appealing book of fish portraits, underwater photographer David Doubilet approaches his subjects with a similar mixture of affection and humor. No wonder he called the book Fish Face.

Doubilet is often referred to as one of the world's greatest underwater photographers. Born in New York City, he took extraordinary mesaures as a child to pursue his calling, putting a Brownie Hawkeye camera in a rubber anesthesiologist's bag from his father's hospital and diving off the New Jersey coast. You've got to admire that kind of drive. For sure, it's made Doubilet what he is now: a frequent contributor to National Geographic magazine (over 60 stories to date) and the author of seven books on ocean life.

Compared to Doubilet's other books, Fish Face is modest – and that's what makes it so charming. A little smaller than the average paperback novel, the book contains hundreds of portraits of our scaly friends, showcasing the amazing biodiversity of marine life. All manner of fish, from bug-eyed blennies to spiky puffer fish and sleek barracudas, survey Doubilet's camera with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. If you think you know roughly what fish look like, check out the Bandtooth conger eel, with its teardrop-shaped eyes in a round, grey face. This fish looks as though it just landed from a universe far, far away.

Naturally, given Doubilet's caliber of work, the colors in these portraits are stunning. More surprisingly, many of the fish are lit exquisitely, as though Doubilet has taken a couple of softboxes and spotlights underwater. Taken in close-up, the images can't match the majestic sweep of Doubilet's most dramatic and stunning shots, which show fish and crustaceans in their environment. But that's not the point. These are pictures of rare, intimate moments with subjects who normally shy away from the camera lens. "Fish hate to have their portraits taken," Doubilet writes in a forward. "It is virtually impossible to be a Karsh of the coral reef."

And yet, however exotic these fish get – from the hotlips triplefin to the yellow hairy angler fish – their expressions often seem to mimic ours. Recognizing this, Doubilet isn't shy about anthropomorphizing his subjects. "Fish are caricatures of humans – floating cartoons," he writes. "Groupers look like everybody's Uncle Max and should be smoking cigars. Parrot fish, with their protruding teeth, all seem to be named Lou."

First published in hardback in 2003, Fish Face has been reissued in paperback this year by Phaidon. Perhaps not the most dignified celebration of marine life, it's almost certainly the most fun. It would make a perfect holiday gift for Uncle Max.

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colorful, interesting & charming Posted by: marian froehlich Apr 25, 2008 @ 11:41 AM EST

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