Book Review: 'Sessions!'

It would seem that Seeff's black-and-white, caught-in-the-act photographs of pop icons (Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, and Jodie Foster among them) attained their apotheosis with his 1974 session for Carly Simon's album Playing Possum: The singer, in black teddy and thigh-high boots, squirmed obligingly for Seeff's camera as the ultimate willing photo object. Seeff has long had the gift of making nearly all of his subjects appear hot (even scraggly Willie!), but he seems unable to expose the soul that great photographers can extract from their subjects. B