Samys Camera Samys Camera Guest Register: Penny Wolin – Hardcover Book Books

When Penny Wolin Created Guest Register In 1975, She Was Twenty-One And A Recent Transplant To Hollywood From Cheyenne, Wyoming. You Can See The Residents Of The St. Francis Hotel As People Who Could Not Fit In Elsewhere, Or You Can See Them, As Wolin Does, As People Whose Dreams Are Bigger Than Their Rooms. She Moved Into The 1920S Hotel, A Five-Story Pay-By-The Week Building On Hollywood Boulevard And Began Photographing Her Neighbors. She Could See At Once It Was A “Milieu Of Dreamers,” Both Those Who “Had Not Yet Realized Their Dreams” And Those Who “Had Left Them Behind.” Wolin Suspended Judgement. She Was Not Categorizing The Residents As She Made Her Rounds, And Her Project Was Not Intended To Fix Anything. This Generosity Of Spirit Is The Defining Quality Of Guest Register. The Book Is Arranged As A Tour, One Image Per Spread, With Residents Identified By Their Room Number And An Insightful Caption. The Tour Begins On The Ground Floor In Room 105, Vacated By The Death Of A Former Stuntman, And Rises To A Barbell Aficionado In The Penthouse, Before Returning To Earth By Way Of An Artisan Welder In The Basement, Who Seems To Have Lit His Cigarette With A Flaming Torch. Guest Register Is A Both A Culmination And A Relaunch For An Endeavor That Is About The Possibility Of A Second Chance For All Of Us. This 14”X11” Casebound Book Includes A Foreword And Afterword By The Author And 51 Photographs. First Edition: Isbn: 978-0-9676357-4-3 88 Pages, 51 Tritone Plates Size: 14 X 11 Inches Portrait Language: English First Edition Press Run: 2000

About The Author:

American Photographer Penny Wolin Has Been Honored To Photograph Such Great American Icons As Annie Leibovitz, George Burns, Ansel Adams, And Dolly Parton. Wolin’S Seminal Book And Exhibition, “The Jews Of Wyoming: Fringe Of The Diaspora” Was Hailed By Library Journal As “A Unique And Important Contribution To Our Understanding Of Jewish Life In The United States.” Kirkus Reviews Bestowed Upon Wolin’S Exhaustive Book, “Descendants Of Light: American Photographers Of Jewish Ancestry”, The Coveted Kirkus Star, One Of The Most Prestigious Designations Of Excellence In The Book Industry. “The Entries, Arranged Alphabetically, Offer An Intriguing Range Of Opinions, Styles, Eras, And Insights, Together With Large, Beautifully Reproduced Photographs… A Rich, Well-Documented Collection For Students Of Photography And Jewish Culture.” “Guest Register” Brings Wolin’S Career Full Circle With A Never-Before-Published, Rarely Seen Document Of Her Time Spent Living In A Single Room Occupancy Hotel On Hollywood Boulevard In 1975 At Age 21. With Words And Photographs, She Has Bridged The Differences Between Her Neighbors, Regardless Of Race, Income, Education And Gender Identity. Without Judgement, She Shows Us That Each Of Us Have Dreams And Desires And Share The Same Feelings Of Love, Hope And Despair. Think Of That The Next Time You Walk Past An Old Hotel.

Wolin Is The Recipient Of Two Grants From The National Endowment For The Humanities And One From The National Endowment For The Arts. She Has Exhibited Solo At The Smithsonian’S National Museum Of American History. Her Work Is Held In Such Institutions As The Smithsonian Institution, The New York Public Library And The Santa Barbara Art Museum. Wolin Received Bfa From Artcenter College Of Design, Pasadena, Studied Visual Anthropology In The Graduate Program At The University Of California, Los Angeles, And Was Awarded A Directing Fellowship To The American Film Institute, Los Angeles. Wolin’S Commercial Clients Include Y&R Advertising, Hasselblad, Condé Nast Magazines And The Peter Michael Winery. She Is An Adjunct Professor At Artcenter College Of Design And Is A Visual Consultant At Meaningful Works Consultancy In Los Angeles. She Divides Her Time Between A Small Farm In Northern California And The Greatest City In The World, Los Angeles.