D-Day Normandy Revisited: A Photographic Pilgramage - Hardcover

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9781904449294: D-Day Normandy Revisited: A Photographic Pilgramage

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1904449298 ISBN 13: 9781904449294

Publisher: Chaucer Pr, 2004

This book takes a fresh look at the crucial twenty-four hours of the Allied landing of June 1944 and revisits the beaches of Normandy where it took place. Today, the landscape is still crisscrossed by the bunkers and anti-tank defenses of the Atlantic Wall, and by the infrastructure brought in by the allies. Like dinosaurs, they contrast starkly with the quiet beaches and the lush countryside, and bring to mind the thousands of lives lost on that day. Richard Bougaardt is a young and talented photographer who has been interested in WWII since his childhood. He has made an impressive photographic study of the sites of the landing and his images are both beautiful and strangely haunting. Being roughly the same age as the British, American and Canadian soldiers, who fought and often died there in the name of freedom and, of course, the German troops who had felt safe behind their defenses, gave him a special empathy with his subject. Richard Bougaardt wrote the commentary and edited the personal recollections of soldiers on both sides, and of the French civilians who waited and hoped. Whenever possible, the modern images are matched with archive pictures showing the same structures or locations in 1944. The book is a moving tribute to human spirit and to a beautiful and tragic part of France.

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About the Author:

Ricky Bougaardt was born in London in 1976, of Anglo-south African parentage. As a small boy in his grandfather's house, he developed a fascination for WWII, by looking at pictures in an old encyclopedia. At the same time he discovered photography by experimenting with his father's 1960's Russian Leica camera. Richard studied French and consolidated his knowledge of photography while at University. Over the last two years he has made numerous visits to Normandy. His long solitary walks along eerily empty beaches, home to the remains of the D-Day landing in 1944, gave rise to the remarkable series of images found in this book.

Review:

"contains 100 b/w photographs of landmarks taken to contrast with archival images from the immediate aftermath of the landings." -- Soldier

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