Peter Beard: Scrapbooks from Africa and Beyond

Great photos but not what I expected.

This book has mainly black and white photographs of Peter Beard: working, taking shots of/directing either Kenyans or models on photo shoots, standing alongside the models, working on his great collages (which is interesting), injured, talking during an interview, a few photos of the coast and his house in Montauk and some others. The photos in this book are not necessarily fabulous photos, but they are growing on me, because they show Beard in action on the other side of the lens.What makes this book stand out to me is the long 30 page interview with Beard at the center of the book and the 54 minute dvd at the back. They make "Scrapbooks" worth buying if you're a Beard fan.In the interview you get an insight into what makes Peter Beard tick: his mind, passions, thoughts on his career, work, luck and life, people he has met, inspirations, opinions on Africa etc..The accompanying dvd (a pleasant surprise as I was not made aware that it was included) shows a film, which is celebrated in many parts of the world, but which I had never heard of in the U.K., and which is "the definitive interview of record on Peter Beard."Initially I expected more images of Beard working out in the bush photographing animals (not models); glimpses of his famous scrapbooks; or of his home Hog Ranch (i.e. does he collect tusks and bones? Is he a spartan man or a collector? I respect that he is a private man, though and I am probably just too nosy). When I first leafed through this book I was mildly disappointed and felt somewhat cheated. HOWEVER, once I discovered and read the interview and watched the dvd, I did not regret buying "Scrapbooks" at all.It's not every day/year that you get a hold of an interview with Beard. You have to know where and in which country to look if he ever gives one etc. etc.. As a fan of his work I find "Scrapbooks" insightful and fascinating. I see this book as a necessary part of my collection of his books, even if the photos aren't what I expected [...]. I believe that in years to come this, too, will be a Peter Beard classic.I should add that this book has a great blood-red hardback cover with a mock-lizard design.