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.

No comments about The Essential Lighting Manual for Photographers, Revised Edition.

4 comments about Rugby: The Golden Age: Extraordinary Images from 1900 to 1980 (Golden Age).

1. Classic rugby in black and white, large format film glory!
   
   This is a great photo book. It's interesting to see how the game used to look: twentysomething men in tweed suits, often smoking pipes, with hair styles that suggest one's grandfather. They hold huge rugby balls, wear huge shorts and long socks. They don't appear anywhere as fit and muscular as today's pros, but they were stroppy, tough and admirable men... rugby just doesn't look like this anymore.
   
   You also get images of some of the greats: Napier, Wakefield, Prince Obolensky, etc. I once wrote an article about some of the old school ruggers depicted in this excellent coffee table book - [...] - read it and you'll get a taste for the content in this book.
   
   Tennant mentions that in the photographic era before modern digital photography the game was depicted differently than today; you can certainly see this in the photos in this book, and it's fascinating.
   
   Qualified recommendation: my wife only paid $[...] for it, not the $[...] plus I see right now. Not sure it's worth more than $[...]...



2. What a better gift to offer in Rugby World Cup Year? Great pics that take you back to the days of the glorious amateur sport of rugby football. The communal baths were all the players would bathe after the game, the muddy pitches with any signs of grass, etc. etc. This is the sole high level sport that resisted the calls of professionalism into the last decade of the 20th century. Enjoy the Rugby World Cup, the world's third biggest sporting event!



3. If you love rugby you will love this book. It is a coffee table tome full of fantastic photos from the 1800s to the 1980's. These are not mainly photos of match action, but cover the ethos and spirit of the sport with sensitivity, artistic value, and imagination. For its size and content, this book is a great value. A must!



4. This is a great coffee table book, filled with pictures you might not otherwise see. It shows the rugby that most of us as players know- having to work a real job, deal with the home life and the kids before lacing them up on Saturday afternoons.

5 comments about Astrophotography for the Amateur.

1. Micheal Covington's book covers all aspects of astrophotography starting from objects, from camera selection to films, exposure methods, mounts and drives, guiding of the mount & guiding accuracy/errors, and of course the CCD imaging. I also gives ideas on how to build a simple barn door mount. It does not end at taking exposures. After an exposure is taken we have to convert it into an acceptable quality print or into a computer file. Images can be greatly improved by digital processing. So it also covers image processing ideas. The only point to be noted is that one must look at his website and download the errata. The book has many printing errors, some of which are trivial though. That, of course, must not deter any user. I consider is my best field guide book on this topic. I believe his recent edition has got over these errors - not mine. I bought mine in 1999.



2. This book is a must in doing amateur astrophotography if you are going serious. It has lots of information which is very useful.For example it teach you to calculate the focal ratio using diferent techniques of takig pictures with the telescope, it help you calculate the exposure times in order to photograph the moon or a constelation on a tripod.
   It is an excellent source but you have to do calculations(formulas).If you don't like numbers, this book is not for you, but if you do like numbers this book is very useful.



3. I've bought a handful of books on the subject, and this one is head and shoulders above the rest. Some of the other books have lots of pretty pictures, and very little information on actually taking photos. I found the instructions easy to follow, and when I had a question, or needed to figure something out, this book always had it. Two big thumbs up!



4. I've been trying my hand off and on for the last year at astrophotography with my Meade LX-200. In that time I've scoured the internet, devoured newsgroup, and emailed enough astrophotographers that you'd think I was trying to get elected to NASA or something. In all that time, one name and reference guide kept coming up as a "must have". Astrophotography for the Amateur by Michael A. Covington.
   
   
   Everywhere I turned, everyone I asked, their answers always seemed to come down to "...because Michael Covington does it this way" or "Yeah I tried doing it that way but after reading Astrophotography I tried it this way and received better results". That attitude actually "put me off" this book. Here I wanted to learn how to do astrophotography, not follow some recipe in a book. After finally browsing through a friends copy I was immediately impressed with the book as a reference guide, and when comparing it to my own notes and conclusions found several area's where I had erred, resulting in poor photo's. Of course, the flip side is true as well.
   
   
   Some of the info in this book (even though it is a second edition) is dated such as film types and recommendations. I've found his exposure calculations for Lunar photography to be way over exposed.
   
   
   
   I have to make a correction here, originaly I (and others) noted the lack of CCD imaging information in the book and I need to note that the first addition makes no mention of CCD, while the second edition has a section detailing the diffrences between CCD and film work. It also has a brief section devoted to CCD work. Its not as indepth as his discussions on film work.



5. Unless you're extremely fluent in advanced mathematics, calculus, etc., this book is not for the faint of heart. For those of us who never got past shop math - forget it. The formulas and calculations are enough to knock you out or at least put you to sleep. I'll give it a re-read again, but first drive through, just blew me away - sorry, math was never my strong point! Overall - 2's the best this rates for non-mathemeticians.

No comments about The Dynamics of Architectural Form.

3 comments about Stretch: The World of Panoramic Photography.

1. Thoroughly enjoyable. Makes me want to drop everything and run out and buy a pano camera. Binding, as described earlier, is not the best and probably will have to be nursed a little to maintain its longevity but a lovely book full of inspirational material.



2. This is a very helpful survey of Panoramic Photography. It covers the broad history from the earliest days of photography to today. He has portfolios from a collection of current panormaic photographers that gives a good sense of what people are up to.

   There is a comprehensive discussion of panoramic cameras, including obscure hand-built models.

   My only suggestions for improvement are:
   1. A greatly expanded discussion of digital panorama hardware and software.
   2. More careful editing of the text. It is repetitive at points and seems a bit rambling.
   3. A discussion of how to mount and display these images would be helpful.

   I don not agree with Barry Schmetter's review
   He blames the publisher for not having a bigger, more expensive book. Panoramas are an odd shape (wierd aspect ratio) that complicates printing. I think this book works well. Wonderful color reproduction in a well-made book.

   All-in-all I highly recomment this new book on Panoramic Photography.




3. Stretch is a great introduction to the field of panoramic photography. Nick Meers not only showcases some amazing examples of panoramic photography, but describes the wide variety of cameras and working techniques used to make the photographs. This is probably the best treatment of panoramic photography I've ever read and it makes me want to run out an purchase a horribly expensive panoramic camera.

   Shame on Rotovision for printing an undersized version of this book on cheap paper stock more suitable for a magazine. The book would be spectacular in the larger format it deserves and on a decent paper stock. As it stands the photographs are unsatisfyingly small, the printing mediocre, and the binding suspect. Nick gets 5 stars for his efforts, but the substandard Rotovision presentation knocks off two stars with its shabby publishing job.

No comments about Simple Lighting Techniques for Portrait Photographers (Amherst Media, Inc.).

4 comments about Sexy Girlfriends Absolute Amateurs.

1. I like the way Simon Nikolai sees his natural beauties. A very nice collection of unbelievebly erotic amateur photography. 190 black & white photos of innocent girls next door. Raw & Real!



2. From a photograpic standpoint, this book is not a 1, but 0. If one merely wants to look at naked women, there are web sites with much better for free. Publishers must be desperate for books.



3. If, like me, you're a fan of Roy Stuart, Jan Saudek, Newton, Mapplethorpe, etc, you might naturally be drawn to this book. However, the photography here is pretty uninspired, the models (perhaps six in all) aren't particularly beautiful or interesting, nor are they doing anything interesting. It's more like a guy with a camera taking stock black and white photos for High Society or Genesis, circa 1984. Pretty boring. The book "Naked In Apartment 7," by Peter Gorman was FAR more engaging, with interesting-looking women, doing interesting things, in interesting places.



4. This is one of the better books I have seen and own in this genre. The photography technically is very good and consistent, and I must say I found all the girlfriends to be VERY sexy. Man my life should be so rough! It might be a bit explicite for some, but if you like provoctive, ...and pretty girls doing the posing, this book is worth the few bucks. It's not porn but it's not lightweight either. Enjoy!

5 comments about The Professional Photographer's Legal Handbook.

1. When I first started Nancy Wolff's book I was expecting, given its subject matter, a dry and slow read of its ~240 pages. What I got was an interesting, fairly quick and enjoyable read on a subject that is not the sexiest. It almost made me think that I would enjoy being an intellectual property lawyer.
   
   I agree with the other reviewers here that this book is not an all encompassing legal guide for professional photographers as the title might lead one to think and that another book like the one mentioned in another review here (Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington or maybe the ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography) would be necessary to more fully cover all the legal areas that a professional photographer may face.
   
   While Ms. Wolff's book may not cover every legal area that a professional photographer may face, it does cover some important ones and does so very well. My only suggestion is that I would have preferred if there were a glossary of the legal terms used in the book. While most are defined somewhere in the text, I did need to look back a few times to remind myself of what they meant. In any case, I highly recommend this book.



2. This book is the one that anyone who makes their living in the image business, be they a professional photographer, image licensing agency, designer or publisher has been waiting for.
   
   Nancy Wolff is one of the leading copyright lawyers in the country and what she doesn't know (and generously share with her readers) is probably not worth knowing.
   
   The most significant issue facing anyone who makes their living in the creative world today is how to protect their copyright. It's getting harder and harder as digital manipulation and copyright infringements increase, together with general ignorance on the subject.
   
   In fact this book could save your livelihood if you are a photographer hoping to continue to make a living by your camera! Shooting the greatest pictures in the world is not going to help if you don't understand the basics of your rights and how to protect them.
   
   I manage an international picture library and have read this book from cover to cover and found it completely invaluable.
   L Dives



3. I bought this book because I wanted a better understanding of the legal aspects of photography. I expected to get a better understanding of contracts, property and persons release forms, but instead got a book that dealt mainly with copyright law. It's a boring book, I couldn't get past the first chapter. I skimmed through the 150 pages of 200 and something page book to see how copyright law is written, how the law is interpreted, the history of the law, cases of copyright violation. Basically 150 pages of information that could be found in the one page form after putting copyright into a search engine. I will be searching for a better book, I guess this one will just sit on the shelf and collect dust.



4. This is an excellent book. It's too bad its title is so misleading about its contents.
   
   Wolff's book is divided into three sections. More than half of the book is devoted to copyright law, with an explanation of the statutes and cases affecting copyright in the United States. It includes a section on registering one's photographs for protection under these statutes. The second section is on basic trademark law, and here the author almost dismisses such law as it relates to photographers' work. The final section deals with the law of privacy and publicity. Wolff examines two states at the extremes in this area, but acknowledges that the law varies in each state and doesn't try to provide any across-the-board rules.
   
   One inescapable conclusion that photographers who read this book will reach is that although it is not necessary to register one's works to preserve one's copyright, it may not be worth pursuing one's remedies for non-registered works. That's a good lesson to learn, and well worth the price of this book
   
   What is misleading is to suggest that this book is a general legal handbook for professional photographers. Most photographers will want to know about other legal subjects not covered in the book, like contracts and leases and of these there is no mention. Indeed, this book seems more like the texts for lawyers that I read when starting my research when I was a lawyer involved in intellectual properties. It will also be of interest to stock agencies and photo buyers more than photographers. I suspect that photographers' eyes will glaze over as they start to read about particular cases and the courts' logic in deciding them. Most photographers will be looking for something more practical, like a discussion of what rights to give to someone purchasing or leasing a photograph or what to include in a model release. For photographers looking for this kind of information, John Harrington's " Best Business Practices for Photographers" would be a better choice. Then, if the photographer felt he or she wanted to learn still more about the limited areas covered by the book, this would be an excellent choice.
   
   On the other hand, for those in the image industry like photo buyers and archivists, who are most likely to go astray, this is probably an excellent resource. Wolff's interpretations of the law and the cases seems accurate, to the best of my knowledge, without doing independent due diligence (darn that legal background!) and she reports on current cases. One should be careful however, since many of the most recent cases are still wending their way through the appeals process. And to my delight, she does mention one of my favorite concepts, changing the nature of the photographer's rights by contracts and licenses. Although she doesn't dwell on the topic, she is the only writer on the subject that I've read who mentions this aspect.



5. Nancy Wolff has produced an up-to-date and extremely useful resource for those whose careers depend upon a working knowledge of copyright law, trademark protection and rights of privacy issues. And this is everyone working in the field of photography.

2 comments about Prague Then and Now (Then & Now Thunder Bay).

1. As a resident of Prague for many years, this book won me over as a rare find, especially for non-Czech speakers. The writer has obviously invested quite a lot of research, and the text is a pleasure to read: informative and interesting, combining insights of social and political transformations with a keen appreciation for architectural details. The well-selected images cover a wide span of the city, from the much-touted tourist favorites to equally significant sites off the beaten track. I found myself looking with renewed interest upon places I had passed often and typically taken for granted in this city of wonders. Whether you are a long-time resident or first time visitor, this book will be an invaluable guide to revealing one of Europe's most fascinating capitals through an informed historical perspective.



2. I cannot tell you how happy i was after looking through this book. I have been to Prague and loved it. This book made me fall in love with it all over again. The photoes are excellent and the text is informative with being over the top. I cannot recommend this enough to people that have been here and i cant tell you (if you have never been to Prague) how much you will want to go after reading this book.
   Everyone says how great this place is and I can assure you, no matter how much they build it up, it will not dissappoint.