1 comments about The Best of Wedding Photography.

1. Bill Hurter's CHILDREN'S PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY covers all the basics of how to photograph children, from using studio lighting for formal and informal results to posing tips for all ages, age-specific psychological insights for talking to kids, and design techniques for making albums polished keepsakes.

5 comments about Guide to Postproduction for TV and Film: Managing the Process, Second Edition.

1. Now in a fully updated and expanded second edition, Guide To Postproduction For TV And Film: Managing The Process continues to be a seminal work for aspiring film and television production producers and managers. With extensive new material on high definition as it affects dailies, editing, and delivery, this step-by-step guide to managing the postproduction process is an essential reference. Aspiring producers will learn how to stay on budge and on schedule by utilizing the helpful forms, flowcharts, and checklists provided them. Of special note is the chapter of the film laboratory which has been expanded to include discussions on troubleshooting film damage. Also not to be missed is the latest information on film restoration, maintaining film assets, digital technologies, acquisitions, and the chapter on what's on thee horizon for postproduction technologies and trends. The Guide To Postproduction For TV And Film is a core addition to personal and professional filmmaker instructionals, as well as film school library reference collections.



2. I was suckered into buying this worthless book for a survey class I took on Post-Production for Film and Television. What I hoped would be an enabler to my education turned out to be a hurdle: the book is poorly organized, the concepts aren't clearly explained, and the entire text is fraught with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. When the authors aren't clogging the text with jargon, they're giving you advice on how to do business in this industry. If you work in the industry, as I do now, this book won't tell you anything you don't know already. If you want to learn about the process, this book won't enlighten you. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this editorial disaster!



3. Susan Spohr and Barbara Clarke have created nothing short of a post-production bible. BRAVISSIMO to them both!! I would not have survived the last year in my job without their brilliant book!!! Everything flows in a clear, concise way, bringing the reader visually into the post-production process. Read this book and keep it with you as a reference tool! I guarantee you it is well worth your time!



4. The Guide to Postproduction for TV and Film: Managing the Process is an excellent resource for anyone working in the entertainment industry. I haven't been able to find another book that so effectively takes you through the nuts and bolts of post production, from scheduling all the way through to delivery. If you are an entertainment executive, a film student, or anywhere in between, this book will be an invaluable resource. I've been working in the film and television industry for twelve years and this book has helped me in jobs at two major television networks and in feature post production at several studios. The new edition provides accurate and up to date information and is the only book I've been able to find that adequately covers the film laboratory. The Guide is the one book I always have at my desk. I strongly recommend it.



5. The Guide to Postproduction for TV and Film: Managing the Process is an excellent resource for anyone working in the entertainment industry. I haven't been able to find another book that so effectively takes you through the nuts and bolts of post production, from scheduling all the way through to delivery. If you are an entertainment executive, a film student, or anywhere in between this book will be an invaluable resource. I've been working in the film and television industry for twelve years and this book has helped me in jobs at two major television networks and in feature post production at several studios. The new edition provides accurate and up to date information and is the only book I've been able to find that adequately covers the film laboratory. The Guide is the one book I always have at my desk. I strongly recommend it.

5 comments about Cindy Sherman: Retrospective.

1. A good retrospective of Cindy Sherman.
   Decent printing and good editing.



2. I saw the Retrospective show at the Art Gallery of Ontario back in 1999 and bought the book right after at the gallery bookstore. I later went back and saw the show two more times and also read the book from cover to cover. IT IS FABULOUS. It is no wonder Cindy Sherman is considered to be one of the top ten most influential artists of the 20th century. I especially love the notes in the book, showing how she arranges her ideas, how she deliberately uses feminism and ideas that are disgusting in order to make her social statements. Her artwork is deliberately controversial and its not for all people. (Jerry Falwell once said that Sherman was "spawn of the devil", but who actually listens to him?) But if you like controversy and if you like artwork that makes you think, buy this book. - A Fellow Artist.



3. The images protrayed in the book come form a warped and sick mind and I believe that they are very degrading to women. No way would I recommend anyone to buy this book, or even call it art. Ever heard the saying "if you lay with dogs you get fleas" well if you want to sink into the gutter this is your book!



4. Just recieved this item, the book gets 4 stars for layout and image quality, a good art book. The book gets 2 stars for the quality of the work it contains.

   If you like Sherman than this is a good book for you,though I'd suggest re-evaluating you asthetic awarness :) If your looking for great art look elsewhere. Sherman is an overhyped artist. Popular because her work fits into the politically correct agendas and philosophies of the contemporary artworld, not because the work is good. Just read one of the reviews here. The book contains some good peices, some that are atleast interesting but far to many fall into the just plain bad category as represented in this book.

   While recently attending a group critique an undergradute ceramics major stated she was a "process orientated" artist(said with artsy fartsy flair to make up for the fact she really didn't have anything to show). Sherman reminds me of her, a bad contemporary cliche masking itself behind feminist artworld dogma. If thats what you want, look at Jenny Saville, atleast she is a good painter, even if her content is often trite.




5. I can't believe it's taken this long for a compilation of Cindy Sherman's body of work to appear. But maybe that's the real measure of a major artist in this place at this time. Sherman is one of the strongest,most meticulous and most original artists to appear since the early 1930s. I'm not going to analyze the photographs, they've been analyzed to death and are far beyond analysis in any case. Suffice to say the quality and layout are excellent. A thrilling book! I do have one reservation which has nothing to do with CS. The accompanying essays are highly ideological (which CS ain't) and serve Sherman far less than their own agendas plus at least one of them is almost unreadable mumbo jumbo.

5 comments about Erotic Home Photography: How to Take Your Own Nude Portraits.

1. This book is about the vision of a couple, to taking nude photos.



2. I found this book a good read and found a lot of good advice.
   I would recomend it.



3. My Wife and I are amateur photographers and we spend a lot of time apart from each other do to my job in the Army. This book was great for us because it had a collection of good ideas for settings and props, along with an entry level photography 101 approach to the mechanics of taking pictures.
   
   We used the book as an initial reference and as a starting point for our email based photo exchanges. The section on digital editing/correcting/styling was very useful. I would recommend that anyone even interested in buying this book should purchase a decent digital photo editing program to play around with while they explore the book.
   
   If you already know your way around a darkroom then look for another more technical book to satiate you. However, if you have limited experience with cameras and a beautiful willing partner to practice with then I recommend this book for you.



4. We found this book to be one of those that had a foot in each camp, so to speak, giving some technical and some 'psychological' tips that apply to taking nude photo's of your partner. While the concept is good, the execution was lacking, and the book was a bit light in both areas.
   
   Personally we would have preferred something a little more technical, perhaps even formulaic, showing how (settings, lighting diagrams, etc) particular shots were achieved.
   
   The writing style was another thing we found odd. It had a rather stilted, almost academic feel to it, rather than a friendly, chatty, 'hey guys, you want to take dirty pictures of your wife, here's how..." feel to it, which is apparently where this book is aimed. Feel free to disagree.
   
   Finally, the fact that the author says the entire book's photo's were shot the day the book was due at the printers speaks volumes. A book's photo's shot in a day or two ? They were average, not great, or even particularly good.
   
   Clink, clink, 2c deposited.



5. The book gave a lot of ideas. There did seem to be mostly women in the book. I would have preferred more couple photos, otherwise a good book.

4 comments about Someone Special, Just Like You (An Owlet Book).

1. This is the only book I've been able to find with actual photographs of children with different physical and cognitive disabilities. It's invaluable in helping my 4-year-old understand and discuss this important topic, and it's my hope that preparing her in this way will help her react appropriately when she encounters someone who is differently abled. Some of the photos are a little dated, but that's very much beside the point. Definitely a great book for any preschooler!



2. My little boy who is Autistic and almost 10 years old loves this book. It is very lovingly written and has such a positive attitude about children no matter what their differences are. This is a must have book for parents, teachers and librarys in schools everywhere. We must teach children that being different is okay, that there is nothing wrong with it. Great illustrations too! My son brings me this book to read nightly and has for months. When this one wears out we will get another one to replace it...



3. I loved this book! Especially the cute little boy on the left-hand corner of the cover. That's my adorable friend Jon!!



4. I volunteered to put together a group of books for my daughter's preschool (ages 3 1/2-4) which dealt with the topic of diversity and disabilities. I have ordered and read about 15-20 children's books on the subject of children with handicaps. By far this was the very best one that I came across. It had beautiful photographs of children with all types of disabilities and the message in this book (unlike several others which I read) was 100% positive. What I mean by this is that while some other books on disabilities may deliver a message that says "don't be mean, or tease children with disabilities" , etc., this one was totally focused on all children as being lovable and worthwhile people -- very focused on only a positive message. I really enjoyed it and my daughter's class also did. The message is simple, straightforward and very warm. Compared to other books on the subject, this one really was written at a good level for the 3-4 age group.

3 comments about Classic Queen.

1. This was a beautiful book,with pictures that took my breath away,many times. Well worth the hardback price. The tidbits of information were icing on this cake. A coffee table book I will enjoy over and over again.



2. The book is a great on the photo's are amzing. Also it's got some good reading in there too. all in all a very good book.



3. I Bought the original book a few years ago..Leather bound,signed by Mick Rock/Brian and roger and now the people who could not afford that get this..the compact version, still full of rare pictures of Queen in the early years, great insiders view of the Band before Bo Rhap, a Great read and well worth the price..BUY!!

5 comments about Children of a Vanished World (S. Mark Taper Foundation Book in Jewish Studies).

1. The emotion that produces Vishniac's work,in the Eastern Europe Jewish comunnities a few years before the II World War is hard to put in words, because it's really a world that vanished not because of progress but because someone, with hatred, erased it from earth.
   I feel grateful to Vishniac cause he allows us not to forget.



2. I am an amateur photographer. 90% of good photography is in finding the right subject. These photos are stirring.



3. This is a powerful book. In its pages we find starkly beautiful black and white photographs of children laughing, crying, playing, studying, working, in the course of their daily life... unaware of the horrific nightmare that will overtake them soon and destroy their world.

   The children's eyes look at you with all the innocent curiousity and wonder of eternal, universal childhood. You look again and apprehension grips you: in a few short years after being photographed, the future of many of these children will be brutally terminated in an unmarked mass grave or a crematorium. The poignancy of this harsh reality is driven home when you read editor Mara Vishniac Kohn's dramatic description of her father's desperate, futile efforts to use his photographs as a means of arousing the conscience of the world and inspiring action to save these children and their families. We learn that Roman Vishniac sent these photos to the White House, only to recieve a perfunctory note thanking him for "the excellent pictures you sent the President."

   I must express my heartfelt compliments and appreciation to the editors, Mara Vishniac Kohn and Miriam Hartman Flacks, for the way in which they have presented these precious images-- accompanying them with the lyrics of appropriate Yiddish children's songs, in the original Yiddish and English transliteration and translation, rather than the standard dry caption text. I am especially grateful to the editors for including the music and annotation for these wonderful songs.

   This book belongs in every home and library.




4. This book moved me a great deal. The black and white images convey such innocence in the children. The simplicity of the beautifully produced photographs juxtaposed with children's songs and rhymes (in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English) gives the impression of viewing the images in a gallery. The photographs, the narrative, and the publication itself are of very fine quality. And the message is unforgettable.



5. In a haunting collection of black-and-white photographs, Roman Vishniac records the lives of Jewish children in Eastern Europe in the early part of the century, before the start of the Holocaust. The text is a series of children's songs (in Hebrew with English translation), which are touching and show how much children are alike whether they're from one side of the world or another. But the shadow of the Holocaust, while never shown, shades readers' appreciation of the images. This is a book I will not soon forget.

5 comments about Dwellings: The Vernacular House Worldwide.

1. It is estimated that over 90% of the world's buildings were constructed without the services of an architect. Most of these buildings are owner or commuity constructed using traditional building technologies. They are part of a building tradition known as "vernacular" architecture.
   
   There are hundreds of millions of these traditional dwellings throughout the world and as Westerners we have a need to better understand these buildings by breaking them up into discrete and easily understood categories. There is probably no one in the world more knowledgeable about vernacular architecture than Professor Paul Oliver of Oxford and "Dwelings" is his attempt to classify these buildings into better understood categories.
   
   The strength of this book is in the many interesting photographs of vernacular buildings througout the world. They show the wide array of ingenious solutions people have come up with to shelter themselves from the elements. Of further value is Paul Oliver's broad categories into which he groups vernacular buildings. Unfortunately, in order to justify his categories, Paul Oliver turns to summarizing numerous academic articles on vernacular architecture. This need to summarize other people's work turns the text into an episodic and sometimes tedious narrative. "Dwellings" is a good jumping off point for the study of vernacular architecture. However, in depth knowledge of vernacular architecture will have to be found somewhere else.



2. A lot of text but of very good quality and wonderful pictures ! highly commandable together with Built by Hand from Steen(s)& komatsu(s) (almost only pictures of the highest quality) and Home Work from Lloyd Kahn, You get the best to study dwellings all over the world and maybe built with more simplicity healthy powerful and sacred places as all dwellings should be !



3. when we are looking for a new perspective to see architecture. this book is the one.
   paul oliver offers an inclusive, and balance view to see architecture. no more from western point of view.
   i think, this is in tune with rudofsky's 'architecture without architect'.
   i recommend those books to my coleagues as great and a must be read book!



4. I was really impressed by this careful selection of photographs by one of the most inventive photographers of the twentieth century. These beautifully printed images lead us through the life of Erwin Blumenfeld, from Holland, to Paris, to the United States. The photographs lead us through Blumenfeld's endless creativity from striking political photos (of Hitler in 1933) to pure beauty , and on to fashion in the fifties. Many of the interesting captions are taken from Blumenfeld's autobiography Eye to I which I had read with great interest a few years ago. The photographs (55) color and Black and white are placed in chronological order and some of them had not been published before.
   The variety of techniques and darkroom magic displayed here is a stunning lesson in photography and this book can be as well considered as a first approach to Erwin Blumenfeld's work as a more in-depth perception, thanks also to the excellent introduction by Michel Métayer.



5. Paul Oliver is a scholar with soul. In the early '70s, he published Shelter and Society, a wonderful book on indigenous building. He was formerly head of the Graduate School at the Architectural Association in London and is now Chair of the Master's Course in International Studies in Vernacular Architecture at Oxford Brookes University in Devon, England. Dwellings is about handmade buildings by indigenous people of the world, some of whom still thrive, others whose traditional ways of life are threatened. The photos, mostly by the author, are terrific, and the accompanying text is perceptive and informative.

5 comments about Aftermath: World Trade Center Archive.

1. I bought this book for my dad for Christmas. He is a history nut and thought he would enjoy it. The pictures were phenomonial and eerie. He has not put it down yet. It was definately the best present he received this year. Amazon was half of what the bookstore in the mall wanted. Would definately purchase from them again.



2. Aftermath: World Trade Center Archive
   Book received in perfect sealed condition,would use this seller again in a heartbeat



3. Meyerowitz his taken a step out of his usual repetoire in making these remarkable photographs. He has provided us with a devastating and incredibly imporant record of all that transpired in the Aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy. We have been staurated with images of the event itself; what we see here is the heroic and painstaking recovery work that followed.



4. I first saw photographs from this collection at the Museum of Modern Art in Salzburg, Austria. Anyone who entered the gallery was immediately struck by a panorama of ground zero on one wall, each emitting an audible gasp, then standing before it for several minutes in silence. Meyerowitz is an extremely gifted photgrapher, and I recommend other of his collections for viewing. Cape Light: Color Photographs by Joel Meyerowitz, Tuscany: Inside the Light: Inside the Light (Photography). The "Aftermath" collection is the only archive of the activities following 9/11 at ground zero, and it is quite moving. Meyerowitz had access to many vantage points to capture for posterity the many facets of ground zero and this tragic event in our history. Viewing these photos takes time and thought, as Meyerowitz has also included brief descriptions and stories about each photograph. You will be struck by many emotions, sadness, anger, shock, and awe. But, there is an eeriness and a beauty, as well as hope in these photographs, inspired by the photographer's exquisite eye for detail, composition, lines, faces, and light. Photographers, professional and amateur alike, will deeply appreciate and learn from these aspects. Anyone to whom I have shown this book has been as immensely moved as I, from the UPS driver who delivered the package, to my father, a refugee of WWII, who still cannot speak easily of the events of 9/11. This book is highly recommended as an addition for one's library.



5. Aftermath represents the efforts of Joel Meyerowitz to document the destruction and cleanup of the World Trade Center following 9/11. This is a beefy coffee table book that is large enough to give his photos some real impact. Unlike most photo essays, however, you won't find hundreds of beautiful images. After a couple of pages show what New York's skyline once looked like, you are confronted by image after image of the horrific destruction of these huge landmarks. There are also many instances where we see the people who worked the cleanup site. Many of these are the most moving images as you can imagine the emotions that sometimes overcame these men and women who were there every day for months on end.
   
   In addition to the photos, Mr. Meyerowitz also shares some anecdotes about what he went through to get these photos. He also talks about some of the people he met. I found these stories at least as powerful as his words. Most Americans were obviously distraught by the events of that day, but most of us were also able to start moving on with our lives and slowly put it behind us. But these people were there on the ground confronting the effects for months. Recovering bodies and personal objects, as well as being asked by survivors to put mementos on the pile of rubble as little memorials to their lost loved ones.
   
   This is not the happiest book you can buy. It doesn't have the prettiest photos or the most elegant prose. But it may be the most worthwhile book I've ever purchased. I would urge everyone to buy a copy and read it cover to cover.

3 comments about The Ultimate Book of Lighthouses.

1. Nice photography, nice text but too US-centric to deserve the title "Ultimate book" knowing that the worlds most interesting lighthouses are in Europe and this book only shows you US lighthouses (I have to admit, they are kinda nice too).
   
   If you are looking for a more comprehensive book there are other options.



2. The cover picture of the West Point Lighthouse on Prince Edward Island, Canada was of particular interest to me since my Grandfather Capt Michael Howard sailed his schooners out of Brae Harbor and used the light as his guide. The lighthouse is now a hotel and restaurant and reservations are a year in advance. I stay nearby several times yearly and have breakfast there regularly. it is a beautiful spot ad you have to be there to appreciate it. When I first saw the text I was so pleasantly surprised that of all the lighthouses in USA & Canada they picked the home area of my Mom & Dad!!



3. The cover picture of the West Point Lighthouse on Prince Edward Island, Canada was of particular interest to me since my Grandfather Capt Michael Howard sailed his schooners out of Brae Harbor and used the light as his guide. The lighthouse is now a hotel and restaurant and reservations are a year in advance. I stay nearby several times yearly and have breakfast there regularly. it is a beautiful spot ad you have to be there to appreciate it. When I first saw the text I was so pleasantly surprised that of all the lighthouses in USA & Canada they picked the home area of my Mom & Dad!!