Déjà View: Bologna, Italy; The Cultural Rephotographic Survey of Bologna, Italy Second Edition, July 2002 By Willie Osterman Most photographic monographs are books that invite a quick scanning of images before they find a permanent resting-place on a library shelf or join the stack on a coffee table. Willie Osterman’s Déjà View: Bologna, Italy is a delightful and serious exception that compels rereading and restudy—which is, after all, the subject of the book. The skill, sensitivity, and sensibility of this fine photographer is echoed throughout a book that merits a wide audience. Willie Osterman started his career as a landscape photographer in Yosemite National Park. At that time his view was focused on the natural landscape. Years later, in Bologna, his view changed. It became Déjà View, a view and review of scenes past, discovered in old photographs. With some study and research, sites were rediscovered and rephotographed. He began his rephotographic “archaeological dig” by researching photographs in libraries and collections and by walking the streets of Bologna with camera in hand. After viewing hundreds of old photographs, he decided on the ones he wanted to rephotograph, and with the help of many local residents, identified their locations. The paired photographs provide an opportunity to compare Bologna as far back as the late 1800s to the Bologna of 1998. There is a variety of scenes to view: aerials of the city from high towers, cobblestone streets, piazzas with people moving about, horses and ox-drawn vehicles, architecture, statues, monuments, churches, partially bombed-out structures since renovated and repaired, and portraits. Each image is reproduced in warm duotone with captions in Italian and English. Willie Osterman is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Graduate Fine Art Photography Department at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York where he has been teaching and working as a active artist since 1984. He has taught and photographed extensively in the U.S. as well as Europe. His work is included in collections around the world. He has been nominated for the Imogen Cunningham Photographer of the Year Award in San Francisco and holds advanced degrees from Ohio University and the University of Oregon. From top [right]: Cover; pages 88-89, 110-111, and 114-115; Historic photographs of Bologna and Osterman's contemporary re-photographs. All images © 2000 W. Osterman. Photographs © Willie Osterman and Cineteca Archivio Fotografico. Please note: the discounted price reflects some minor damage to the covers of these books. Publisher: Edizioni Pendragon Pub Date: 2002, 2nd edition Size: 9.5 x 11 in. Pages: 136 pages Binding: Laminated paperback ISBN: 88-8342-131-0 Price: $19.99