CBR14Bingo: Camel (the camel is an exotic animal, and there are photos of exotic animals in this book)
The title’s sentiment isn’t one I completely agree with, having seen great circus in an arena setting, but the experience of sitting in a tent does elevate the experience and bring a more elemental feeling. I recently got to see Paul Binder talk about the circus and he pointed out the core nature of a round ring, and that there is a fundamental power in sitting in an audience looking together into the center of the ring. Through Sun, Rain, Wind, and Mud is a very short photo book that captures scenes of Bill Carter’s time working as a publicist for the Cole Bros. Circus. Carter is a competent photographer who selected these shots from 14,000 he took over four years. Some are very striking, others were more straight forwardly workmanlike, but all capture the experience of living and working on the road and performing.
The book takes you through setting the tent up, behind the scenes life, the animals, clowns, the show itself, and then teardown and moving on to the next town. I think my main downside here was how short this was — I almost considered not reviewing it since it’s such a fast read, but I think the effort that went into making this and the insight into working on Cole Bros. made this worth an addition to my circus book reviews. I didn’t necessarily learn any new facts, but it was nice to spend some time looking at circus photos.