The search for physical perfection began with the Greeks, who first competed nude in athletic games in the 8th century BCE and created their gods in the ideal human form. Peak of Perfection celebrates the universal fascination with the nude and the power of beauty. The richly detailed, black and white, fine art photographs portray the apex of youthful vitality and the sublime architecture of the body. Alternately meditative and exhilarating, these dynamic performers express their sensuality and acrobatic skills so dramatically that the images leap off the page and grab you by the heart. Couples express the passion of romantic love and soloists display their virtuosity, the result of countless hours of training. Meticulously selected quotes from poets, artists, and philosophers throughout history complement the intimate portraits. This deluxe collection is a compelling invitation to contemplate beauty and to share with someone you love.

Peak of Perfection: Nude Portraits of Dancers, Athletes, and Gymnasts

Arts & Photography

Ortner, Jon

Photography & Video

Schiffer+publishing Ltd

From one of the largest photographic pin-up collections in the world comes a stunning showcase of more than 350 commercial pin-up images, many never before seen, from the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s. Reproduced with meticulous attention to detail, the evocative images include some of the most alluring and spellbinding women of the 20th century. From playful "girls next door" to Marilyn Monroe's first pin-up, this is a must-have for any collector and is a classic tribute to the legendary pin-up queen.

Calendar Girls, Sex Goddesses, and Pin-Up Queens of the '40s, '50s, and '60s

History & Criticism

Schiffer

A colorfully illustrated tour of Asia's most sacred locales takes readers through Nepal, India, Cambodia, Thailand, Java, Myanmar, and Bali in search of ancient temples and other sanctified places.

Sacred Places of Asia: Where Every Breath Is a Prayer

Kurtis, Bill

Sanday, John

Abbeville Pr

Built between the 9th and the 13th centuries by a succession of 12 Khmer kings, Angkor spreads over 120 square miles in South-East Asia and includes scores of major architectural sites. In 802, when construction began on Angkor Wat, financed by wealth from rice and trade, Jayavarman II took the throne, initiating an unparalleled period of artistic and architectural achievement, exemplified in the fabled ruins of Angkor, centre of the ancient empire. Among the amazing pyramid-and mandala-shaped shrines preserved in the jungles of Cambodia is Angkor Wat, the world's largest temple, an extraordinarily complex structure filled with iconographic detail and religious symbolism. Perhaps because of the decline of agricultural productivity and the expansion of the Thai Empire, Angkor was abandoned in the 15th century and left to the ravages of time. Today many countries are working to conserve and restore the temples, which have been inaccessible until recently. Now that the civil war has ended, Angkor is being reborn and is an increasingly popular tourist destination. Undaunted by the difficulties of travelling through Cambodia and eastern Thailand, Jon Ortner, accompanied by his wife, Martha, photographed 50 of the most important and unique monuments of the Khmer Empire. His images include spectacular views from the rooftops of its temples, glorious landscapes, and details of inscriptions and art that few have ever seen. Reproduced in this publication, the photographs are accompanied by a text written by a team of experts, providing historical, architectural, and religious analyses of Angkor and the Khmer civilization.

Angkor: Celestial Temples of the Khmer

Mannikka, Eleanor

Goodman, James

Mabbett, Ian W.

Mabbett, Ian

Abbeville Press

For the past ten years, renowned photographer Ortner has been documenting Manhattan in its best light. Often spending weeks at a single location to capture the perfect moment, Ortner has produced a body of work that is unsurpassed in the annals of city portraiture. 200 full-color photos.

Manhattan Dawn and Dusk

Harry N. Abrams

For twenty years, renowned photographer Jon Ortner has been devoted to exploring the wonders of the most haunting and mystical of all regions on earth - spiritual Asia and the ancient lands of the Himalaya. Following in the footsteps of holy men and shamans, Ortner has trekked thousands of miles - many remote and dangerous - through Nepal, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Java, and Bali, to rediscover and record sacred topography, archeological and architectural marvels, and people whose lives are focused on enlightenment and growth. Where Every Breath is a Prayer is the culmination of this lifelong adventure and his gift to the West. Witness the world's highest peaks and deepest gorges of the Himalaya; the world's oldest city, Varanasi, on the holy Ganges River; the once forbidden temples of Myanmar and Cambodia; the Grand Palace of Bangkok, and the magical landscape of Java. Here is sacred Asia - her spiritual glory kept alive by wandering mendicants, sages, and monks, religious artwork and artifacts, entrancing dancers, gold and jewel-encrusted shrines, ascetic rituals of devotion, and countless other visions few Westerners have seen. Accompanying these evocative images are compelling factual and mythological narratives that trace the evolution and diffusion of the Hindu and Buddhist religions. From the primitive beginnings of animism, to the Hindu Creation Myth, to the birth of the Hindu prince, Siddhartha Gautama, and his legacy of Buddhist enlightenment, Ortner leads us down a path unbroken for thousands of years.

Where Every Breath Is a Prayer: A Photographic Pilgrimage in the Spiritual Heart of Asia

Stewart. Tabori & Chang

Manhattan Postcard Book

An unprecedented collection of photographs celebrating one of America’s great treasures, now available in a midsize format. Straddling the borders of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico is a magnificent wilderness known as the Colorado Plateau. Encompassing more than 130,000 square miles, this spectacular tableland of rock, canyon, and desert covers the greatest concentration of national parks—ten, including Bryce Canyon, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, and Grand Canyon—national monuments, state parks, wilderness areas, Bureau of Land Management holdings, and Native American tribal lands in America. Canyon Wilderness of the Southwest presents more than 200 photographs accompanied by quotations from authors, travelers, and nature enthusiasts. Featuring the most extraordinary collection of multicolored landforms found anywhere on earth, this remarkable assemblage of geologic diversity and spectacular beauty attracts more than ten million visitors annually. Jon Ortner’s photographs reflect the power and stunning beauty of these incomparable monuments, presenting a wonderland of colored stone.

Canyon Wilderness of the Southwest

Welcome Books

Visions of Paradise: American Wilderness

Individual Artists

Images Publishing Dist Ac

Visions of Paradise: American Wilderness Limited Ed

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Books by Ortner, Jon