5 comments about Ancient Marks: The Sacred Origins of Tattoos and Body Marking.

1. This book has some incredible photos. it would have been nice to have a bit more description but the photos look great.



2. Ancient Marks contains absolutely stunning photography. It was great to see some rock markings from Western Aus. This book delievered way more than i expected. It is so beautiful i was wasnt sure how to turn the pages without touching them and getting marks all over them. I was absolutely blown away at the quality
   Great stuff



3. This is truly a wonderful book. Rainier's other book, "Where Masks Still Dance: New Guinea" was fabulous in its presentation and images, but this book goes one better with a dvd enhanced with music by Anoushka Shankar which can be viewed on its own. The music perfectly complements the starkness of the haunting images. Tattoos,scarification, and other bodily modifications of many cultures are showcased here without calling unecessary attention to these adornments as bizarre/freakish as in some other books which are designed to shock/titillate.



4. Beautifully photographed portraits of wearers of tattoos and body markings in many locations around the world.
   A must for the library of anyone interested in the topic.



5. I bought this book as a gift for my girlfriend but stole it back. It isn't all about tattoos, which it may lead you to believe, but includes bits about all types of body modification techniques. The photographer is a well known National Geographic photographer, and his work certainly doesn't fail here. Good coffee table book if you have stuck up inlaws like I do that would be made uncomfortable by the sight of it.

5 comments about Warhol by Galella:That's Great!.

1. As a fan of Ron Galella and Andy Warhol this book is a must have! It's so wonderful to see Andy and all the glamorous superstars again! I would also highly recommend Ron Galella's The Disco years, I bought it last summer and it is still on my coffee table!



2. Andy and Ron, a perfect team who delivers stunning celebrity photography of the last 40 years or so. One feels Ron Galella was not just recording these moments as he was living them with the famous and infamous. He gets emotions from happy to bored from people we all read about in 'Life', 'People' and 'The Enquirer'(C'mon, you know you read it in the market checkout). If you lived through this time frame, Ron's book is an imaginative walk through the decades. It makes the current papparazzi glitter globe pale in comparison. Give us another Jackie O, Andy Warhol or Liz Taylor and their jet set pals again--that would be great! We're bored with teen idols who get arrested for DWI and get caught naked on their patios!



3. I love Galellas photos and his books are simply gorgeous,The Disco Years was my first and recently the Warhol book,cant wait for more!buy this book!!



4. Ron Galella just keeps on keepin on! This time he very admirably salutes Andy Warhol with a heartfelt compliment -- a sleek book of photographs in relation to Warhol and his Warholian World - it's a sentimental and sensational tribute to Andy's initial compliment about Galella. This is in some ways a thank you gift from an artist Andy Warhol called his favorite photographer. Who wouldn't be flattered? And that includes Ron Galella! Following The Photographs of Ron Galella, Ron Galella: Intimate Diary, and Disco Years - this brand new book takes its rightful place in the Ron Galella coffeetable photography books Hall of Fame.



5. Galella was Warhol's favorite photographer---not Steichen, Adams or Weegee, but the celebrity chasing, exploitation-driven paparazzo. This tome celebrates this fame with 200 of the photographer's pictures of Andy, alone and with the famous and infamous cast in his life. Larger than your average coffee-table book---add legs and it could serve as a coffee table---That's Great! offers a fascinating take into a rarified atmosphere. Warhol himself was terribly shy and suffered from several acute skin conditions, so he did "paint" himself, then adding a wig before being seen in public. Some of these photos, taken late in the evening, or rather, early in the morning, do not necessarily show Warhol at his best. However, Galella's signature photos document an era gone by, a decadent, selfish period of superstars and sluts, beauties and beasts, of media mad mavens recreating themselves to make a buck. Warhol is in all of the photos, as, indeed, the touchstone of the times, but it's the supporting cast, from Liza to Bianca to Jackie O to the complete cast of Studio 54 and the Warhol Factory that powers this collection. Galella's photographs suggest a toxic past that had to end; by some magic, only Warhol himself seems comfortable and at home in these pictures, while his friends and fans seem striving much too hard to have fun.

5 comments about The Photographer's Guide to Marketing and Self-Promotion.

1. This book sounds like a sales person yelling in your ear. The author is NOT an experienced photographer, nor does the author offer any resonable, useful tips. Very outdated material also, from 1995-1999! Its not helpful for the serious digital or medium format photographer or even for an amateur. Its simply a waste of money. Amazon has better books for serious photographers for sure.



2. I really like this book a lot, and would recommend it to ANYone who is interested in learning more about photography marketing; more specifically, the different types of marketing.
   
   It's written by a marketing specialist who works with photographers on marketing their own businesses. As a result, the book doesn't have many pictures, or a very interesting layout, but then again, it is a marketing book. I liked the testimonials given by professional photographers. They were very pertinent to the information provided, and gave the book more depth and application to real-life situations.
   
   I would like this book a bit better if I were more interested in marketing, or if it made marketing sound a little more fun. It also wouldn't have hurt to add more photographs and color to the book. I'm a visual learner, and I think that may have helped me.



3. Even a novice with only a little bit of understanding of how the marketing and business aspects of life work, will find this book easy to understand. Its stragit forward approach with real life examples and situations makes me understand it and look back on the information for later.
   
   The price of the book with the photographers market 2005 book makes it a deal!



4. This book has some good information, but I was expecting a lot more. I would recommend "The Business of Studio Photography" by Lilley instead.



5. This book offers sound practical advice that will help you take your business to the next level. Sure... you may be a great photographer, but effective marketing will get your work in front of the right people.
   
   This book will help you achieve this goal. I occasionally re-read it and it's invaluable.

5 comments about The Film Editing Room Handbook, Third Edition: How to Manage the Near Chaos of the Cutting Room.

1. This is a very comprehensive overview of all the details that a prospective assistant editor should be aware of.
   
   But the field of digital editing has changed tremendously since the book was last updated in 1999, and I found the sections on digital editing dated to the point of being useless.
   
   Hopefully the author will update the book soon to include current processes for telecine and handling digital film and audio sources.



2. If you want a book that takes you through EVERY procedural aspect of assisting (film or NLE) then this is probably the book for you.
   
   One drawback is that it might not be as specific as you may like, as it caters for Film, AVID, Lightworks... and it won't tell you which buttons to press. But conversely this adds to its longevity, as it isn't version specific, and so doesn't out date.
   
   What it does tell you is how to work in the edit suite, what work practices are important and how to establish them.
   
   It hundreds (and hundreds) of pages can seem a bit dense and imposing at first, and without some hands on experience you might get lost in the explanations, but this book isn't meant for a casual reader, it is a professional document that will widen your understanding. It might even help you blag your way into a cutting room.
   
   Buy this book if you are serious about starting a career in drama editing (or any type of editing for that matter) as it will lay good foundations,
   
   Well worth the cash.



3. This was a great book! You should write more.



4. Mr. Hollyn (Editor of "Hair", "Network", and others) provides essential insights into the world of cinematic editing and how it will apply to a prospective Assistant Editor. The third edition includes additional chapters on digital editing.



5. This is the third and extensively updated version of Norman Hollyn's fantastic in depth review of what really goes into both working on and in the film editing industry. Presented in a format that puts you in the role of an apprentice editor, it covers so many of the details that one would learn only with on the job experience. This is more than just a how to book, it is also a "how it is" book with practical information from first starting out, to first job.

No comments about Fashion Photography: A Complete Guide to the Tools and Techniques of the Trade.

5 comments about Hugh Morton's North Carolina.

1. I gave this book to my Brother and Sister in law for Christmas. They are with the State Department therefore they are stationed in countries all over the world. In each country they have lived in they have a book to remember their time there. They originally hail from North Carolina, so when I saw this book I knew it was the perfect gift. I was correct! They love seeing all the places they remember, and sharing those memories with their daughter who has never been "home" to North Carolina. The photos are wonderful. The book is not an oversized coffee table book, but one you can store in a book shelf or on that coffee table. They can't stop thanking us for the book and the memories that it has brought to them.



2. I learned a valuable lesson with the purchase of this book....go to a bookstore and see the book first. We love North Carolina. I purchased the book for a family member who is from there but is currently living in California. Though there were some pictures that reminded her of her childhood, it seemed more of a retro look at North Carolina. I was disappointed that there weren't very many contemporary photos, very little of the Outer Banks. Hugh seemed stuck on Grandfather Mountain, then I found the following information on website: http://www.grandfather.com/about/history.php....................."In 1952, Hugh MacRae Morton inherited Grandfather Mountain from his grandfather Hugh MacRae. He immediately widened the road to two lanes and extended it to the summit where he built the Mile High Swinging Bridge. In 1968, Morton purchased one male and one female black bear with the intention of letting them loose into the wild. The female bear, named Mildred, refused to revert to the wild and Grandfather Mountain was required to recapture her and keep her enclosed for her own safety. At first, Mildred met the public at a roadside amphitheater four times every day. Then, in 1973, a beautiful Environmental Habitat was built for Mildred and her family." No wonder. There must be a better book I could have chosen for those that miss their home state of North Carolina.



3. Destined to become a classic, Hugh Morton has captured the true essence of North Carolina. He includes the physically beautiful and the rich endowment of people the state has been blessed with. Chronologically, it covers an extensive period of time and mixes color with black and white photography. An excellent selection for the native North Carolinian or someone who has visited and was awestruck by its beauty, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Outer Banks.



4. I am so happy that Hugh Morton decided to share his photos with North Carolina and the rest of the world. This book is a true gem and records and reflects a history of a proud people and state.



5. Stunning photographs of a beautiful state and it's wonderful flora and fauna.

1 comments about Vivienne Westwood (Va).

1. We caught the Vivienne Westwood retrospective traveling show at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, and were blown away by the inventive, fun, nutty clothes this woman produced. This book serves as a exhibition catalog, although many of the pieces in the show are not in the book, and nothing matches seeing the wild shoes, hats, dresses and frocks in person. The book design is a minor annoyance, as it can be a little hard to find the garment pictured, who was wearing it, or when it was created. And I think frankly the girl has her best work behind her, but the glory of it cannot be exaggerated, or, to put it another way, her exaggerations were truly glorious. Over The Top in the very best way.
   
   Thoreau would no doubt disapprove....

3 comments about Ansel Adams: Our National Parks.

1. The Ansel Adams book put together by Barry Pritzker is a nice arrangement of Ansel's great landscape photography. I like the large format of this book, roughly 14" x 12". The photos are gigantic and very beautiful. The size is representative of the work. One of the complaints I have is about the images themselves and the darkness of them. Ansel's work is full of contrast, which I really like about his photographs. However, the shadows in these prints are almost pure black. They should have been enhanced just a tad bit, maybe dodged in the shadow areas for reproduction purposes only. Viewing original prints and reproducing originals are going to have extremely different outputs of tonal range. I do like that the author created an introductory section to familiarize the readers a little more about photography and its roots. It shows pioneers such as Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand. It's a segway into the work of Ansel Adams.

   I would have loved to see maybe some type of commentary about each image and how it was captured, a type of "Mind's Eye" insight for other photographers to understand the ideas behind the actual work. The title of the book is Ansel Adam's, so I really would have liked to see a little more diversity of his work. I'm pretty sure he must have made a portrait here and there in his entire lifetime. I know he couldn't have devoted his entire life to just landscapes alone. There has to be some other images, that even an Ansel fan like me, has never previously viewed before. I purchased the book because it was Ansel Adam's and his photography is very beautiful. I must be honest, when I opened the book and flipped through it, I was disappointed at the design of the book. It left me wanting more from the book itself. Out of a possible five stars, I would have to say the book is about two and a half stars.




2. Ansel Adams was our photographer-advocate laureate of the national parks. This outstandng volume combines a look at his efforts both to capture the meaning of the parks and to lobby on their behalf. Fortified with a Guggenheim Fellowship in the 1940s, Adams was able to travel throughout the U.S. to visit the many national parks outside of his beloved, native California. This volume greatly benefits from those travels in creating his ideas and the 80 black and white images contained in it.

   As Ansel Adams reminds us, "The National Parks, are, indeed a phenomena of an advanced society . . . ." When Yellowstone was established by President Grant in 1872, it was the first national park in the history of the world. Since then, we have been in a race between despoiling our wilderness environment and retaining some of it in national parks. The challenge is heightened by the pressures to commercialize and increase access to wilderness areas. How many people should visit Yosemite each year? These are the questions that Ansel Adams anticipated and helped us address. These questions are even more relevant and important today than when he first raised them. "Possessions, both material and spiritual, are appreciated most when we find ourselves in peril of losing them."

   "There is a constant erosion of the concept and the reality of wilderness." Unfortunately, Adams was much more successful as a photographer than in achieving his environmental vision. Will his final epitaph of the future be of someone who captured images of what does not exist any more? I certainly hope not.

   I recommend the preface by William A. Turnage very highly to understand Ansel Adams' vision and its effects on our society. The preface also contains a delightful section by Nancy Newhall on what it was like to be Ansel Adams' assistant for his dawn photography treks.

   This book contains much more written material by Ansel Adams on conservation and the national parks than in any other book of his photographs that I have seen. I enjoyed reading about his ideas, and they helped me understand his photography better as well. He is trying to show us "the clear realities of Nature seen with the inner eye of the spirit [to] reveal the ultimate echo of God."

   As I mentioned in the title to this review, the publisher put these images on pages that are too small to capture the detail of Adams' work in most cases. In fairness to the publisher, I should also point out that remarkable efforts have been made to reproduce these images well in the small format. Compared to other small reproductions of these same images, these are by far the best I have seen.

   Some compositions in fact succeed in overcoming the limitations of the page size. These include:

   Cliff Palace Ruin, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, 1941

   Leaves, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, 1942

   Forest, Early Morning, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, 1949

   Leaf, Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, 1948

   Forest, Beartrack Cove, Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, 1949

   Teklanika River, Denali National Park, Alaska, 1947

   Mount McKinley from Stoney Pass, Denali National Park, Alaska, 1948

   Cinder Cone in Crater of Haleakala, Haleakala National Park, Hawaii, 1956

   Mount Lassen from Devastated Area, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, 1949

   Mount Clarence King, Pool, Kings Canyon National Park, California, 1932

   Many of the other photographs will be familiar to Ansel Adams' fans. If you have seen them reproduced in larger sizes, you can use your memory to add the missing detail. In this size though, the details being indistinct is like erasing chapters from a novel. Adams often accentuated reflections of details between different natural features in his compositions. When some details are obscured in small size, the reflections thus are not available to stimulate your mind.

   In keeping with the spirit of Ansel Adams, I suggest that you consider becoming active in organizations (like the Sierra Club, which Adams belonged to for many years) that fight to save wilderness areas. If your great grandchildren are ever to experience the spiritual cleansing of the wilderness, we each must act now.

   "Solitude, so vital to the individual man, is almost nowhere."




3. This book is really beautiful. The pictures have been really well selected. I think this book would make a perfect gift for almost anyone, since it has pictures from all over the United States.

5 comments about Mrs. Ballard's Parrots.

1. Mrs. Ballard's Parrots
   
   The most amazing book and story. I love it



2. A book filled with parrots dressed up in costumes and photographed in appropriate settings. I would have loved to be in the room when this was proposed to the publisher.
   
   The result is page after page of hilariously enchanting, fun, and meticulously created scenes. So meticulous that once you stop laughing, you kind of HAVE to sit back and wonder about the person who clearly dedicated many months of long, long days to get these just right. It's very existance is a reason to smile through your day.
   
   If you have any sense of humor at all, get this book today. You will never regret it.



3. There are photos of parrots dressed as famous actors and actresses. Great little coffee table book. I gave one to my neice who loves dressup as I thought she would really appreciate the costumes on the parrots.



4. Not only lots of photos..but the history of how they came about. Being a fellow parrot owner, it was delightful.



5. Mrs. Ballard is truly gifted! As an artist, I am impressed with her obsessive devotion to her wacky vision and to producing her costumes and sets. As the owner of two parrots, I am amazed at her ability to enlist their cooperation in her endeavour. We have owned Zeppo, a Mexican Red Head, for almost thirty years, and I can't even get him to wear a hat.

5 comments about The Fairest Fowl: Portraits of Championship Chickens.

1. This book has great pictures but I had to return it because the pages were falling out. The binding was loose. When Amazon replaced the item. The problem was the same. I will be returnng it this time for a refund. FIX THE BINDING, THE PAGES ARE COMING OUT OF THE BOOK. IT'S BUSTED AT THE SEAMS!



2. This book is printed on nice paper stock. It is full of many great photos of chickens. There really isn't too many breeds of chicken pictured here, but the originality of the photos makes up for that. Very good pictures of chickens. Personally, I didn't care for the written part by Ira Glass. It was the typical 'make fun of the ignorance of chickens' that makes country people squirm. Otherwise, I enjoyed this book very well.



3. This book has amazing portraits of chickens with some imformation about each one. I wish the author had told us where each breed is from. Also is was not comprehensive of u s chicken breeds, but still an outstanding book.



4. This is a gorgeous book. The pictures are breath taking and as Ira Glass said the birds really do "look" like they have personality. It's amazing. The pictures are clean and crisp and the description pages having interesting information about the birds. This is not a reference book though, it's purely for fun and for admiring.



5. This is one of my most favorite books of all time to include those books which mostly contain pictures. These chickens are turly 'sharp' birds and this book gives them due respect. Ms. Staples did a excellent job - let's have another edition...