3 comments about Memory Makers Photo Kaleidoscopes: Creating Dramatic Photo Art on Your Scrapbook Pages (Memory Makers).

1. I'd thought this book was pretty good. Although the whole book is in color which is fantastic and a lot of neat ideas, there wasn't instructions for each of the projects.

   Some of the instructions seemed a little too complicated...great ideas though.




2. Not just for scrapbookers, this is for anyone who loves to play with photos. The instructions clearly explain the angles and mirroring to create the results you want, and the samples provide a wide array of ideas to get you going. Cool stuff!



3. This book has clear instructions, and great step by step photos for creating fabulous layouts that will stand out in any book!!

5 comments about Winterreise.

1. Luc Delahaye is attempting to make a social and political statement about the suffering that he saw poor Russians enduring during the rapid industrialization after the fall of the Iron Curtain. His camera documents, in sometimes painful detail, how some people have fared under the new capitalist regime. In this he succeeds admirably. Clearly, the rising tide hasn't lifted all the boats. Much like Charles Dickens in his time and place, he is trying to tell us about the lives of those at the bottom in Russia.
   
   However, this photo essay is not a comedy. You may find yourself thanking your lucky stars you aren't living the degraded and sad lives of Delahaye's subjects, but the photos are hard to look at at times.
   
   Moreover, I think some of the other reviewers have a perfectly valid point when they state that there is a bottom end of the lowest class in every society, and the Russians depicted in these photos are no more representative of Russia as a whole than Skid Row denizens could represent all of California.
   
   Overall, this is an important, if sometimes painfully honest, work.



2. This one little book is worth more, than tons of paper waste you'll find nowdays on shelves of "Photography" section in mainstream bookshops.



3. This photographer gets close, becomes invisible to his subjects and he is able to shoot them in such a way that they forget that he is there. The portraits of people are very good. The landscapes are nothin terrific and should have been included in this book.



4. this book is itself a long, sad, visual poem. it is truly one of the best photo essays ever done, by a an artist who deserves more credit as being, in some opinion, the best photographer on the planet today. although that kind of argument is ridiculous, his books are all compelling, dangerous, edgy, and most of all honest and sympathetic for often forgotten people.



5. This book will tell you more about the author than about his subject...

   As someone who lived in the Soviet Union for 22 years, and someone who still visits Russia at least 3 times a year, I have one word for the this book - "chernucha" (Russian word for something that is deliberately made to be depressing by concentrating on the negative). The author has spent all this time in Russia, and this is all he found worthy of photographing?!?! I guess some people can only find inspiration in human depravity.

   If you like photography, you will enjoy it, because the pictures are masterful. But if you are looking for a balanced photojournalistic account, stay far away.

1 comments about Alaska's Bush Planes.

1. Purchased for my brother in law who is heavily into beaver aircraft and he loved it. Great pictures lots of informative information. Very well presented

5 comments about Lost Over Laos: A True Story Of Tragedy, Mystery, And Friendship.

1. "Lost Over Laos" offers a rare glimpse and so a compelling read into the world of the OTHER heroes of Vietnam -- the truly intrepid reporters and photographers who sent the news home to us. The story is straightforward, as one might expect from wire service veterans, but it is also poignant. Along the way, it gives us a detailed account of the intersection of the military effort, which we all feel we know, and the wire service get-it-right-and-get-right-now camaraderie that few know and that we all wish we could share if we only had the opportunity and the courage to be there. Richard Pyle and Horst Faas aren't well-known, but they should be, and their outstanding effort then, and now, shows why.



2. Before picking up this book I had just finished Requiem by Horst Faas and Tim Page, The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam, A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan (all of which I loved), A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo, and Street Without Joy by Bernard Fall. I have to say that Richard Pyle is not in the same league (except maybe with Caputo). A dramatic, tragic story, but it just wasn't captivating in Pyle's hands. Also, he seemed to be stretching to create a book out of this story. Would have been better as an article in Atlantic Monthly rather than a complete book.



3. I throughly enjoyed this book. I love history and this book gave a good insight into the press of Saigon including their risks and misfortunes. I enjoyed reading about the relationships developed at a personal level between the press core and the military. I would highly recommend this book.



4. For those of us born too late to be part of the generation that was, in the words of Richard Pyle, "educated, molded, and aged by the Vietnam experience," our second-hand knowledge of this war has been limited largely to the negative: the horrors of the battlefield, the mental anguish of the young soldiers being asked to sacrifice their lives for goals that were far from clear, and the deeply divisive debates over the agony of continued warfare vs. the humiliation of abandoning the cause. Yet this book is about journalists who VOLUNTEERED to go into the jungle. What would make an otherwise sane person want to do this? As Pyle explores the lives and deaths of the four killed photojournalists, various answers to this question surface, making the journalist's motives comprehensible even to outsiders such as myself--the lure of the exotic setting, the sense of regret that one might have felt if excluded from the most important event of the decade, and the sense of obligation to "compel the world to see Vietnam," to see it "through a camera lens that illuminated, explained, told truths of what the war looked like and how it felt to be there." As for coping with the drawbacks of death and dismemberment, there was always denial. As Richard writes: "It was part of the war correspondent psyche to recognize the possibility of the worst, but to worry or even think much about that was to invite oneself to look for work in another field"; and "there was a sense among members of the Saigon media that journalists who reached celebrity status through repeated stellar performance could become exempt from ordinary danger, passing into a realm of immunity where the worst simply could not happen to them--as if North Vietnamese gunners tracking a helicopter would receive a last-second order: 'Don't shoot. That's Larry Burrows up there.'"

   As summarized in the reviews of others, the primary focus of this book is on (1) the lives of Larry Burrows, Henri Huet, Kent Potter, and Keisaburo Shimamoto; and (2) the difficult search for the details of a crash that took place behind enemy lines (details which, for almost thirty years, were limited to little more than "helicopter shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, apparently killing all aboard"). Yet it's the tangent themes that I found the most affecting, perhaps none more than Pyle's search for meaning in the tragic loss of his colleagues and friends. These four civilian photographers went to Vietnam to share the images of war with the rest of the world, and it seems to double the tragedy "that the only monument to their commitment, their skill, and their courage should be a few bone shards and bits of metal, left out in the rain on a nameless, forgotten hillside." Five stars.




5. This book describes the world of photojournalists in the Vietnam work and focuses on the death of four photojournalists in a battle over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos during a the US government's semi-covert war against the North Vietnamese in that country (the pilots of their aircraft were South Vietnamese and their death occurred during a South Vietnamese attack against NVA supply lines). The book also describes the effort to find their remains and the authors' attempt to give meaning to their loss. The photojournalists who died included two of the most celebrated of the war and two younger men of great skill. In a relatively short text, the book manages to tell their stories and the story of Vietnam War photojournalism in a manner that is reverent without being professionally aggrandizing. By coincidence, I visited the village where the search for remains took place a few months before the authors and their time in that place was particularly evocative for me. The authors offer a perspective on the war that is complex and, in some ways, more hawkish than other first-hand retrospective war accounts, although too skeptical to really fit the conceptualizations of hawk and dove that characterized the times. Given the many parallels that some have drawn between Vietnam and our own era, this is a book that thoughtful critics and partisans of the Iraqi conflict should read. My only complaint is that book does not include enough of the award winning pictures of Larry Burrows and his fallen colleagues.

1 comments about Conformation (Threshold Picture Guides, No 19).

1. Lots of pictures and drawings to explain even to the youngest child or the most confused adult. The entire series is well done. Recommended.

5 comments about Night Visions: The Secret Designs of Moths.

1. This book is simply amazing--and I love that the emphasis is simply on the beauty of the moth. I would recommend it as a gift for anyone who will appreciate being reminded of the miraculous beauty of that which we bypass(or worse...swat at) every day. A fantastically wonderful reality check.



2. A nice pair of close-up binoculars, a flashlight and boots could be a lot more exciting and respectful of these animals than drying them up just to copy their evolutionary path and call it art. The three stars are for the benefit of those who would have never known such creatures exist, that much this book has done. Why not get a microscope and take photos of bacteria, or take photos of metal detector screens. I prefer my animals alive in their habitat, and my art to really say something. Check out naturephotographers dot net. Now there is photography of nature.



3. Joseph Sheer has used his expertise in the electronic arts-scanning and digital imaging-to produce an amazing collection of colorful, vivid images of moths. Very simply, "Night Visions" contains stupendous color plates and would appeal to anyone, especially those interested in macro imaging or the study of Lepidoptera (butterflies, skippers and moths).
   
   The book begins with three introductory chapters (like forewords), the first by Mr. Sheer explaining his interest in moths and his techniques for trapping them and scanning them for print images. Lepidopterist Marc Epstein follows with a four-page mini-course in moth types, habits and markings, after which Johanna Drucker briefly describes the evolution of image making that brought us to the scanning technology which produced this book. I enjoyed the first two sections the best since I became interested in moths upon seeing this book.
   
   There are over 70 color plates, mostly displaying the moths enlarged so that each wingspan extends to just about one full page in width (depending on the moth, that's a magnification ranging from 2.5x to over 20x). In addition, where aspects of a moth's coloration or texture is particularly fascinating, a secondary blow-up, many times the initial enlargement, is displayed alongside in order to give perspective to the detail. In every case, the result is a photograph that is amazing in terms of clarity, color and detail. I've never seen anything like this.
   
   A nice bonus can be found in the last twelve pages, which have another 150-plus 1" x 2" photos of moths, arranged by family (Sphinx moths, Tiger moths, Owlet, etc.) so that an easier comparison of characteristics can be made to introduce the reader to the different family types. I thought this added a nice educational complement to the big images. The construction of the book is first-rate, with durable, thick and glossy print stock. "Night Visions" is bound to fascinate just about anyone.



4. The front and back covers of this book are not mirror images of each other. They are continuous parts of a scan that is 12 inches tall and about 36 inches long, including the flaps in the front and back covers. The body of the moth is not clear along the spine of the book, but the light hairs extending an inch or more from dark shoulder pads are similar to the pattern of Grammia virgo on Plate 18. This print of the entire moth measures six and a half inches between spots that are shown on the inner flaps, so the cover must be zooming in with a power of five on the size of a full page moth in this book. The virgin tiger moth shown in the tiny version of that scan on page 110 has a wingspan of 6.2 cm. It is amazing how intense the colors become as the picture is electronically exploded to twenty-five times actual size, and fine red hairs can be seen crossing yellow wing membrane.
   
   On Plate 18, the antennae curve like an antelope's antler, with tiny offshoots like eyelashes. The wings look as fuzzy as moths are expected to be, with fine hairs projecting into the space between the wings and the body. The long cover scan is so well focused on the hairs at the glass of the scanner that the gap between body and wing is hardly noticeable, except on the back cover, where distinct hairs over a white background approach the rounded red shape of the moth's body. The intricate parts of the wings look flaky, but the scanning technique emphasizes the shapes and colors of discrete objects on the surface of the glass much more than how three-dimensional anything is. Legs might be blurry, as in plate 43, Magusa orbifera, or extremely hairy when they are featured, as on plate 44, Zanclognatha laevigata, looking like a combination of feathers and spiky thorns.
   
   Weird is the 11 and 1/2 by 18 inch scan of Geina tenuidactyla on plate 59, which looks like it has five or six feathers on each side, striped curvy antennae, and legs with long spines at the joints. Wingspan is actually 1.1 cm, so the scan is magnified about 40 times, and the strange features of the Pterophoridae family are explained on page 116. "They are mostly small moths with long slender legs. At rest the wings are rolled in a T-shape at right angles to its body. The forewing is deeply notched and the hindwing is divided into three fringed lobes resembling plumes." It really helps to have the small pictures at the back of the book, which more closely resemble what you are expecting to see whenever you view a moth in real life.



5. This is one of the most remarkable books that I have encountered in a long long time. An artist friend who is aware of my tripartite interest in science, technology, and the arts grabbed me in the cafeteria last months & said that I "had to take a look at this". She was absolutely right. No, this ISN'T a scientific treatise on moths or a discourse on the natural history of insects, and one certainly wouldn't want to take it into the field to identify even the moths of the relatively small area sampled, BUT THAT ISN'T THE POINT! Instead one is treated to stunning imagery of animals that most of us either ignore entirely or slaughter with "bug-zappers" and poisons & seldom if ever grant the benefit of a second glance. Thanks to Scheer my children & I have had some very pleasant sessions simply sitting & turning the pages & the most frequent comment is the title of this review. "Wow!" indeed. Also Bravo to Scheer for giving us a wonderful look at a little seen & greatly under-appreciated subject.

5 comments about New York Changing: Revisiting Berenice Abbott's New York.

1. This is a beautiful book. Perfect for anyone who loves new york city.



2. I'm fascinated by "then and now" picture compilations. That said, this book does have some really good examples of the genre, however they are surrounded by much less interesting and really unimportant locations throughout NYC. It's a mix. If you like to see how a great city changes, this will have some utility. As a former native New Yorker, I found enough to make me glad I'd bought it but not enough to delight me.



3. Then and now photobooks of American cities are steady bookshop sellers but it is not until you turn over the pages of 'New York Changing' that you'll realise that this is how it should be done. Douglas Levere, with help from Berenice Abbott, has created a brilliant photo record of the world's premier city.
   
   To start with Abbott created the perfect architectural record with the 1935 to 1939 WPA sponsored project when she shot just over three hundred photos of the city (you can see two hundred of these in 'Berenice Abbott: Changing New York', ISBN 1565845560) and Levere has retaken over a hundred of these with eighty-one appearing in his book.
   
   Unlike other inferior books of the genre Levere has taken the utmost care with his project. Not only using the same type of camera and lens as Abbott but waiting until the same season and time of day to freeze the moment six decades later. A fascinating page of technical details at the back of the book explains more. The eighty-one photos are divided into four chapters with the majority taken in Manhattan. On each spread Abbott's photo is on the left and Levere's opposite, Bonnie Yochelson writes a straightforward caption for all of the images.
   
   With the help of 200dpi printing, quality paper and elegant design these photos (and the book) look just stunning. The perfect photobook!
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.



4. In the middle of the depression Berenice Abbott began a five year, WPA funded project to document in photographs New York's transformation from the 19th century to the modern metropolis of skyscrapers. The result was published as 'Changing New York.'
   
   Sixty years later Douglas Levere went back to the same sites of 100 of Abbotts photographs and took another picture with the same angle, the same view, and usually even the same time of day (to get the same sun angle) of the same scene.
   
   The result is this book, 'New York Changing' which shows these pictures arranged next to each other. That way, the only differrence between the pictures is the changes that have come about in the basic structure of the city.
   
   This is a beautiful coffee table book, except that seeing one set of pictures makes you want to turn to the next set, and you've soon gone through the whole book.
   
   Highly recommended.



5. Fascinating book! Berenice Abbott's photographs from the 30's alongside present-day photos of the same locations shot by Douglas Levere. A great way to experience the layers of history in New York.

1 comments about Disco Years.

1. "[Galella's] strongest period was the 1970's when his reality-based photography style was in perfect sync with that decade's gritty approach to filmmaking, a time when Hollywood had largely discarded the sugar-coated schmaltz of 50's and 60's artifice....Here is a startled Bette Midler looking behind her shoulder at the Grammy Awards, her askew tiara making her look like a lost, overgrown trick-or-treater. Alfred Hitchcock at the premiere of his film Family Plot wearing a stony, zombie-like expression that recalls Tor Johnson's performance in Plan 9 From Outer Space. A pre-Saturday Night Fever John Travolta already basking in fame, a crowd of fans restrained mere inches away and behaving as if Travolta's then unadulterated charisma had driven them to fits of ecstasy. And a miniscule Herve Villechaize ducking under a velvet rope at the Golden Globe awards like a mischievous gremlin hell-bent on carrying out acts of sabotage on the glamorous proceedings. Despite Galella's cinema verite hand, there is a persistent dream-like quality that emerges throughout the book. There are moments when the images almost threaten to tumble into a vortex where reality and fantasy merge - like the spiraling narrative of the amnesiac actress in Mulholland Drive, David Lynch's savagely surreal commentary on Tinseltown. Of all the visions in Galella's work, however, the most sobering seems to be the reminder of the ephemeral nature of fame and flesh."
   
   -From my essay on Galella's work that accompanied an exhibition of his photos

3 comments about Image: Designing Effective Pictures (Amphoto Photography Workshop Series).

1. Image: Designing Effective Pictures is my favorite photography book that deals with composition. Freeman takes pains to show how things can be composed using frame, color, line, texture, juxtaposition, etc to create dynamic tension or harmony, and the strengths of various choices of lenses, focus, etc. It bears re-reading. It also is a photography book where the text and sketches are as important as the photo examples. It doesn't deal with digital cameras, but the book is hardly dated since what he's talking about is independent of the camera. If you read one book about photo composition, this is it IMHO.
   
   In looking up this title on Amazon, I found that Michael Freeman has an updated version called The Photographer's Eye. Some of the examples that I saw are in Image: Designing Effective Pictures, but I will buy this newer one as well because a reviewer had read both and thought that the second book was even better.



2. I've been searching for this book for a long ever since seeing it at the library when I was 10. The book explains easier topics such as contrast, but it delves into far more complex topics such as balance, lighting, perspective, and color. This book is meant to be studied and reread multiple times. The examples are exquisite.



3. Image is the second volume in a unique new series that approaches photography in the critical, exploratory manner of a teaching course. Many books on photography intend to provide practical information, but instead concentrate on the mechanics of the subject in question. In contrast, the unique value of this series of books is that the sound practical instruction is based on the readers' development of such skills as visual awareness, design, and the control of image quality - in short, the taking of good photographs.
   
   Design is the single most important reason for the success of most photographs and the fundamental skill needed to produce effective pictures. Without using camera technology as a prop, the greatest possible improvement that any course of instruction can stimulate is in the ability to see potential pictures and to be aware of the choices available in organizing the image within the frame.
   
   Equipment is kept at a subsidiary level in Image, although the graphic effects of lens design are treated fully. This volume teaches the dynamics of the picture frame or viewfinder, the basics of design, and the many means of directing the attention of someone looking at the photograph, of making the picture be seen in the way that you want. Problem subjects can also be tackled by applying a well-trained eye rather than extra equipment or tricks, and practical instruction is given in this. Finally, the distinction is made between the major stylistic treatments, such as the formal proportions and minimal and abstract designs. Throughout the book is a carefully worked out series of practical exercises with specially prepared examples which are discussed in detail. The reader is encouraged to criticize the work shown here, and his or her own, and to develop powers of judgement, interpretation and selection.
   
   Conceived for those photographers who have a basic knowledge of the subject and are keen to improve their craft, each volume of the series is devoted to a different topic. This is the second volume in the series; the others are Cameras and Lenses, Light and Film. The Photography Workshop Series will benefit both keen amateurs and professionals alike, and provide an invaluable guide for anyone wishing to discover the techniques for taking excellent photographs.
   
   
   Michael Freeman, an established photographer for nearly twenty years, has emerged as one of the most important authors of books on photography in recent years. He specializes in studio, reportage and wildlife photography. His work has appeared on posters and record sleeves and in numerous books and magazines. Michael Freeman's other publications include The Photographers Studio Manual, The 35mm Handbook, Collins Concise Guide to Photography and Wildlife and Nature Photography.

No comments about David Lynch: Snowmen.