Beard

"Manages to sidestep any hint of kitsch, instead offering honest portraits of hirsute men sporting looks from sublime to decidedly odd and over the top." —The Dallas Morning News

Hundreds of bearded men strutted their stuff at the World Beard and Moustache Championships in Anchorage, Alaska, and photographer Matthew Rainwaters was there to capture it all. This resulting collection of portraits features the bushiest, most stylish, and downright weirdest beards from around the world. Taken straight on, the photographs are stark and stunning, and the beards speak for themselves. Alongside the images are essays by several of the championship competitors, including $teven Ra$pa and his beard Prepostero. A magnificent showcase of chops, bristles, and whiskers, this book belongs on the shelf of any true facial hair connoisseur.

"A stunning series of stark, visually articulate portraits. Alongside the formidable chops, bristles and whiskers, ranging from the classics to freestyle fare, are essays by prominent competitors that crack ajar the door to a fascinating subculture . . . Playful and poetic in a delightfully offbeat way, Beard is at once a portal to a weird and wonderful alternate reality and an invitation to revisit, with a smile and a wink, our relationship with patience, character, and nonconformity." —The Marginalian

"Beard does a great job of documenting the experiences of some of the competitors, (including Rainwaters' friend, Craig Steckbeck, who grew out his beard for 2 years in preparation for the event) and of showing the rest of us just how inadequate our beards really are. If you don't get the book for the amazing photos, you can get it as a guide to your next beard style." —Chubstr

© 2012 Chronicle Books LLC (Ebook): 9781452110349

Release date

Ebook: 2 March 2012