No comments about Hot Rod Pin-Ups II: Gearhead Girls and Dragstrip Dolls.

5 comments about One Nation: America Remembers September 11, 2001.

1. The point comes across, but I think there is plenty of other work that should have been included.



2. Wonderful experience. Seller worked out all the details with me and I was so pleased with the purchase. Would definitely refer others to him and also buy from him again. Thanks so much.



3. Pictures. These will remind you. Haunting. Sad. Heart wrenching. Moving. These words won't do it for you. The book will give you more. Over 3000 people died that day. This book will help you to never forget what happened to them and us.



4. A message to each and every reviewer who takes time to add thoughts to a any media of memorial of 9/11, World Trade Center Towers tragedy... thank you from my heart.

   My spouse and I resided on the Lower West Side, Battery Park City, Gateway Plaza, So. End Ave. As survivors of the 9/11 World Trade Center Towers tragedy... From our Gateway Plaza apartment, facing the street and 300 yards from the Towers, we helplessly witnessed all from our apartment windows. The closeness of the Towers viewed from our windows - gave an illusion that one could reach out and touch the Towers; their beauty with night lights reaching toward the sky promoted a contemplative emotion.

   We viewed the planes entering the Towers, the overwhelming inferno, individuals jumping, the collapse of the Towers, the darkness as debris hit our windows with a fury. What occurred over a period of hours, seemed like a much shorter time span. The darkness was darker than an eclipse, darker than the darkest night; and then a momentary hush after the air cleared. Viewing the roof garden one floor below, with the human reaction of looking out to see if someone might be on that roof garden and in need of help. Debris strewn everywhere, recording tape and paper hung from the trees of the garden and oh, so much ash. The momentary hush, whether real or imagined, then the viewing of debris for a second, fantasized that a parade had just passed by on our short street. I now really understand the expression a "feeling of helplessness", I couldn't fix what had just happened.

   We vacated our apartment finally at 5:15 p.m. that day, waiting for someone to knock on our door, with only a battery radio to keep us abreast of happenings. "In a New York minute", we evacuated via the stairwell touched with ash, the result of a first floor door left open. With a few belongings, gathered with a tad of thought of what was being left behind, we stepped out of the door onto the pavement, seeing and standing in ever so much ash & debris, I wanted to turn around and go back to our home. It was one moment of reality in time, I carry to this day.

   We planned to walk up the East Side, glimpsed the tired fire, police, volunteers, and med techs in our immediate driveway and street, so instead opted to pass through the building in back of the apartment complex. We gained access to the Esplanade walking the short distance to reach the Hudson River North Cove dock. We were escorted to the New Jersey shore via New York Police boat. From the boat deck, we viewed even more damage to the Manhattan skyline, especially noting the zigzag shape of the side of the American Express building, housed in one of the World Financial Center buildings along with the glorious Winter Garden, as well as the fall of World Trade Center Building 7. We were taken to the Jersey City Hospital, attended to by compassionate staff. Then traveled by National Guard truck to Hoboken, NJ where we were housed by a wonderful family who with great trust welcomed strangers to their home.

   On Friday 9/14, our eldest son & daughter-in-law drove from New Hampshire via New Jersey routes to Hoboken for transport us to New Hampshire for temporary residence with our daughter, who along with her friend and our youngest son, greeted us with open arms & the overwhelming feeling of not wanting to let go with each hug that followed. Our daughter and son had spent that Friday in New Hampshire collecting items of clothing and necessities which the Concord community generously opened their hearts and donated by churches, stores, individuals, employers, American Red Cross, et al.

   One of our grandchildren -- he was 8 at that time - arrived home from a few days with his Dad. He hugged us so tight, understanding the depth of 9/11 events for someone so young and yet so wise. He told Grandpa & Babcia that he had something for them... his Mom was not even aware of his gift. He had spoken to his classmates about his grandparents' closeness in location of the World Trade Center Towers. Presented to us was a large envelope full of hand-made cards from each of his classmates. And if that isn't love and caring, I don't know what is - from the hearts and minds of children!

   Residing now in New Hampshire, not because of 9/11 drove us away, but circumstances just went that way as we continue to put our lives into perspective.

   We Miss - New York City deeply; events found nowhere else in the USA, the introduction to & interaction with so many wonderful cultures. There isn't a day or night over these years that we do not think of 9/11... the Lady of Liberty & Ellis Island both on the merge of the East and Hudson Rivers. And that Lady of Liberty wept, I just know it, & still stands with pride that the USA is a democracy that will prevail.

   We Remember - the victims, the survivors, their friends and families, the workers from the public and private sector, the volunteers, our neighbors in Gateway Plaza and staff in the small group of stores on South End Avenue, Battery Park City.

   We Remember - the places we visited, the book signings attended, the celebrities we met, the concerts and theater plays, the movies, the arts, the parks, the strangers we talked with, on streets, on subway and those while standing in line for an event...

   We Remember - Always In Our Hearts, Forever In Our Souls, Heroes, Victims, Survivors One and All... We Were There.

   Painfully, the lump in my throat and the twist in my stomach, the tears in my eyes and the pain in my heart, to the depth of my soul, forever reside.




5. LIFE has done a first class job of putting together a book covering this horrific act by such a cowardly enemy.Rather than to make the Americans cower as these fanatics probably thought and probably thought and hoped for;it showed what a good and strong nation it is.History will remember both 9/11 and Pearl Harbor for the terrible and misguided acts of hatred they were.
   This act conjours up different thoughts for everyone who witnessed it ,in whatever fashion,but no more so than those who had friends and particularly those who lost loved ones.
   To those who may turn a little soft on the War on Terror a review of this book should remind one of what we are dealing with.
   A great book TIME and thanks.

3 comments about Art and Photography (Themes & Movements S.).

1. Notwithstanding the promise of its title, "Art in Photography" is simply a survey of avant-garde photography of the last half of the twentieth century.
   
   The book is divided into three parts: an essay by Campany, photographs and other works, and documents consisting of excerpts of articles, interviews and statements. The essay is divided into sections with titles like "The Urban and the Everyday" with similar sections of the photographs and documents. Each essay section makes a few general comments about the new in photography and then discusses in a sentence or two the particular photographers whose works appear among the photographs.
   
   The essay's principal thesis is that while other plastic arts moved away from content toward form in modern times, photography has generally moved away from form to content. At the same time, the goal of either set of movements was always self-referential, although it seemed as if photographers were deliberately subverting the form to show its inadequacies. (The author ignores the main stream of photography during that same period, when there were many portrait, fashion and landscape photographers who clung splendidly to the combination of form and content, using form to explicate the content.)
   
   The essay is often supported by thumbnails an inch and three-quarters high, but it is difficult to see much at this small size, and the reader may be further confounded in the effort to relate the picture to the text by the fact that the captions for the thumbnails are printed vertically in small type, requiring one to rotate the book 90 degrees and then look closely to confirm the relationship of the picture to the text.
   
   The pictures themselves are difficult to understand out of the context of a particular photographer's work, although occasionally an image will arrest one's eye, like the photograph of a single woman's face turned toward the camera in a sea of black-cloaked praying Moslem women, or Chuck Close's painting of Philip Glass. For the most part the pictures, out of context, are enigmatic. Campany acknowledges that it is difficult to draw any consistent theory of photography from the pictures.
   
   The documents vary in interest from insightful articles to artistic double-speak. It pained me to see Walter Benjamin's seminal article "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" abridged to a short excerpt, but it does add the flavor of the work to some understanding of the pictures presented.
   
   Survey books are always difficult for me because they can never go into enough detail to comprehend larger movements. Still, for the individual interested in a collection of representative works of avant-garde photography, this book may fill the bill,



2. The book starts with a 35-page survey written by the editor does a very good job of covering photography's use in the arts. This is then followed by some 150 pages of photographs. The next 80 pages cover the documents, writings on and by the artists using photography in their practice. The book concludes with artist and author biographies and a decent bibliography.
   
   Both the photography and the documents are organized into rough thematic groupings. These are:
   * Memories and Archives
   * Objective Objects
   * Traces of Traces
   * The Urban and the Everyday
   * The Studio Image
   * The Arts of Reproduction
   * `Just' Looking
   * The Cultures of Nature
   This organizational structure works quite well, in that rather than overwhelming you with a whole book worth of imagery and commentary, it is divided into more manageable chunks that still allow contemplation of the whole but also allow a tighter consideration, as needed. The work and documents cover the whole time range from the 60's to the early 21st Century (2003 to be specific, the year of publication). So the book is an excellent survey document.
   
   Anyone who is serious at coming to grips with the use of photography in contemporary art practice should have this book handy. It brings together in one great resource not only great examples of the work produced but also, through collating the writings that are included, bringing together the thoughts, criticisms and analysis of the major artists, critics, theorists and analysts of the time. Very highly recommended.



3. The front free endpaper of this book says "Art and Photography is the first book of its kind to survey the presence of photography in artistic practice from the 1960s onwards. The photographic image is central to contemporary art and the debates that surround it, yet it took most of the last century for it to acquire this status. Despite the extensive exploration of photography as an independent art in the Modernist era, it was not until the late twentieth century that artists, museums and galleries began to explore its social roles as a medium of representation. This volume provides a comprehensive survey of photography's place in recent art history, further contextualized in the Documents section by original artists' statements and interviews, together with critical and theoretical reflections on the photographic and the art of the photograph."
   
   Does the book live up to this hype? I think it does. It's a handsome 304-page tome, with the first two-thirds printed on white semiglossy paper (for the "Survey" and "Works") and the last third on cream-colored uncoated paper (for the "Documents," biographies, bibliography, and index).
   
   The "Survey," "Works," and "Documents" parts are arranged into the same eight sections: "Memories and Archives" on "public and private histories"; "Objective Objects" on photos' "apparently direct relation to the world"; "Traces of Traces" on "photography as a record of the real and its effects"; "The Urban and the Everyday" on "contemporary city life"; "The Studio Image" on "fine art's traditional space of making"; "The Arts of Reproduction" on "works that reflect upon the way mass culture is experienced as fragments"; " 'Just' Looking" on "the social structures of vision and the place of the gaze in the formation of our identity"; and "The Cultures of Nature" on "how the current understandings of the natural are formed and reflected through contemporary representation." This organization is unique to my knowledge; most books on art are arranged chronologically or by artist.
   
   The "Survey" essay by David Campany places the Works and Documents into historical context and explains in some detail the eight categories. It's illustrated with small reproductions of art and photos. I found it enlightening.
   
   Within each of the eight sections of "Works," from pages 46 to 205, the photos are presented in more or less chronological order, with the earliest works dating from the 1960s. Of the dozens of photographers, the ones who have more than one photo (from different series) reproduced in the book are John Baldessari, Victor Burgin, Gregory Crewdson, John Divola, John Hilliard, Joel Meyerowitz, Gabriel Orozco, Richard Prince, Gerhard Richter, Martha Rosler, Thomas Ruff, Allan Sekula, Cindy Sherman, Thomas Struth, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Larry Sultan, Jeff Wall, Andy Warhol, Gillian Wearing, and William Wegman. I detect no significant errors of omission or commission in the choice of artists. The specifications of media (e.g., "tinted black and white photographs") and dimensions, and the lengthy captions, are valuable.
   
   "Documents" contains excerpts of writings by photographers (including ones with only a single photograph in "Works," e.g., Yve Lomax and Robert Smithson) and non-photographers (e.g., Roland Barthes, Jacque Derrida, Craig Owens, Marcel Proust), as well as interviews with photographers. These "mostly left-brain" texts complement the "half-left-brain, half-right-brain" Works.
   
   If I had to improve anything, I would say to editor Campany and publisher Phaidon only "Lay off the fancy typography, like the 'decreasing font size' effect from page 14 to page 17, and the full-page treatment of brief quotations on pages 221, 226, 235, and 283! While it makes the book visually attractive, it distracts from the book's main messages and wastes space." Buy this excellent book from Amazon.com!

5 comments about The Digital Filmmaking Handbook (Digital Filmmaking Series).

1. nice reference guide. the oldschool pinkus book is probably better, although less focused on video.



2. It is not a product specific... Not Premiere or Mac stuf only... A lot of theorya and a lot of pratices tips also.



3. If you're like me, just getting started as a hobbyist filmmaker, this is the book. I only received it yesterday and glancing through the contents, it covers most, if not all of the questions I've had about certain aspects of filmmaking. It is well written in everyday english, easy to understand.
   Since yesterday when I first opened the cover, I haven't been able to set it down for very long. It's that good. I highly recommend this book to any and all levels of individuals who want to learn about filmmaking from the ground up. It covers it all.



4. Ben Long and Sonja Schenk's DIGITAL FILMMAKING HANDBOOK THIRD EDITION pairs a fine DVD packed with project files, film clips and tutorials with an updated, revised edition of a best-selling guide to new digital video technologies. Chapters have all been revised to cover the latest hardware and software configurations and new exercises provide help with everything from writing to production. Black and white screen shots and examples throughout make DIGITAL FILMMAKING HANDBOOK a one-step resource.



5. An excellent one stop guide to getting started in digital filmmaking, realizing of course, that there is no film involved.
   
   This book starts with selecting the things like the type of camera you need to make digital video. And for good work, a good camera is necessary, and expensive. IThe book is intended for the person who is just getting started. It explains the terms, the basic equipment you will need, and so on.
   
   The concept of making a film, no, a video starts with a story. From here you need a script. Then you do a story board to plan your shoot. If this sounds a bit professional, it is. This book presumes that you are serious about making a video. This is a rough cut at what the pros do to make a film. ==From this book alone you probably won't get to the Academy Awards show, but reading and putting into practice what the book says might get you into a commercial or a local indistrial film production.
   
   All in all a good summary of getting started in the digital AV business.

5 comments about The Light of New York.

1. Beautiful photographs!
   Nice technique by JM Berts. Very interesting!
   Buy it if you love NY!



2. This book is one of the best books that one can appreciate the photographic style of the photographer. The fact that it was shot on film and the long shutter speeds are great. I am assuming that a bit of research went into picking out the various locations and picking out the right time of night or dusk to shoot was taken in consideration.f
   
   Great book all around and great conversation piece for people that appreciate photography and the art behind it.



3. New York City at dusk or dawn with a magical lighting and a unique photo processing that highlight architectural details of iconic features of the city. Manhattan for lovers!



4. Amazing book for anyone into photography. New York is captured beautifully in breath taking photos.



5. This is a collection of moody black and white photographs taken at dawn with a large-format pinhole camera. There are no people or moving cars but lots of rays of light from the rising sun and brooding clouds. The effect is fantastic. Sometimes the photos look like they were executed in charcoal. The details are mostly very crisp even though the palette is dark.
   
   The major landmarks are all present. Two of Mlle Liberty, 3 or 4 of the Empire State Building, a wonderful shot of the Flatiron Building, etc. (Only 1 of the Chrysler Building, however, and not one of Berts's best.) There are some nice shots of Central Park. He likes the Brooklyn Bridge--and he's good at making large objects like bridges and the Empire State Building look massive. The use of black and white and dawn's early light defamiliarizes the postcard icons and restores them to their original majesty. There are also some nice shots of Little Italy and lesser known buildings, too. This is a great book. If you like it you should check out Light of Paris by the same photographer.
   
   I can't resist offering up one more recommendation, this time for a book that's almost the opposite of The Light of New York in its approach but which is still a wonderful and fun look at the Big Apple: Manhattan Lightscape. Its colors are magnificent.

2 comments about Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon.

1. This beautifully photographed, written and published book was more than I had expected. It really shows this land at it's best. Now, I cannot wait to see it for myself.



2. As a frequent traveller to Bhutan, mesmerized from the first step into the country by the beauty of the landscape and its people, and fascinated by the rural life-style there, this unique photographic portrayal of the country by region and cultural group is a special treasure in my collection. For anyone with even a passing curiosity about this land that is undergoing a phenomenal cultural revolution, this book is a necessity. For the would-be travelers, it will awaken your senses before you arrive, and for the vicarious adventurers who will see Bhutan only from the comfort of their armchair, there has never been a more beautiful way to peek into the remote corners of Bhutan that are rarely viewed by even the local people and never by foreigners. Kadinchey la, John Berthold!

5 comments about Bad Dog: 278 Outspoken, Indecent, and Overdressed Dogs.

1. Funny and cute doggy pictures. Text is amusing, and some of it would shock your grandma, (if she got it).



2. i bought this for a dog lover as a fun birthday present, and its a very funny book. she leaves it on the coffee table and everyone always has to flip through it and get a laugh



3. I have bought several of these and several of the ones with cats(my favorite). These are great stocking stuffers or just for someone who needs a laugh!! I only wish I had been there when they were doing the verbiage!!!!



4. The cover shows a cute, silly picture of a dog. I was expecting greeting card type goofy pictures and captions. The pictures were okay, the captions were tasteless, sick and far from funny. What a waste.



5. 
   I also have the Bad Cat book, which I think is hysterical. I wasn't disappointed with this one either!! I don't know if it's my sense of humor, because others I have shown it to don't seem to get it (LOL) but most of them think it's really funny. I have bought copies for a few friends and they love it!

2 comments about Learning to Look: A Handbook for the Visual Arts (Phoenix Books).

1. I have used this textbook a number of times in teaching Art Appreciation classes. The choice of chapter topics works fairly well with beginning students: one chapter discusses the structure, composition and style of two specific paintings in contrast with one another; another chapter makes a study of the work of one artist. There is even a chapter devoted to modern art (a tough sell with some first-time students). I only fault the highly specific and somewhat tedious chapter discussing all aspects of color. I tend to skip over this one and leave it for the independent reading of anyone interested. Otherwise good, and I will use it again until something comes along with a better overview. Mostly black and white illustrations -- only two in color.



2. Interesting, accesible and ultimately enlightening but inclined also to be dry in an "Idiot's guide" kind of way, this renders the topic a little lack lustre which for me detracts from the point of veiwing art and getting any kind of personal, emotional experience from it. Excellent for making art accesible nonetheless and demystifying the nonsense that art glitterarty types surround the topic in so needlessly and prentiontiously.

5 comments about A Camera, Two Kids, and a Camel: My Journey in Photographs.

1. Very disappointed. Pictures are good but certainly not much about Petra which I was led to believe was the main interest. Books are for my kids that were in Petra and I thought they would make great gifts but doubt if they will be very impressed.



2. This book is just wonderful! It has the most beautiful photographs and commentary. I've been reading it to my children for bedtime story. I saw a television program where the author was talking about each picture. She gave even greater details about the stories and circumstances behind each picture! It would be great if that would have been included along with the book itself in CD/DVD format. I loved listening to her describe in detail all that goes in to getting the one perfect shot! Again, wonderful book. The photos are just breath-taking!



3. After reading the book and seeing the world through Annie G. Belts stunning photos, I am beyond moved. Her story is funny and beautiful. She makes me feel like I can do anything in the world that I dream of doing and bring my children along for the ride. This book has enriched my life and opened up my heart to new possibilitites.



4. A book to treasure! Simply magnificent photographs by the brilliant Annie G. Belt. Beautifully reproduced and narrated - a fascinating tour of the world and humanity by one of the top photographers in the world. Highly recommend!



5. The photos grab you at first, but it's the words that will make you treasure this must-have hardback. Author Annie Griffiths Belt was one of the first female photographers hired at the National Geographic Society, and in these pages you can understand why. The 133 images soar.
   
   Subjects range from Minnesota blizzards to Jerusalem Ramadan celebrations to refugee camps in Pakistan and Thailand. An image that sticks with me is a Biloxi Katrina survivor sitting alone in a bare room, holding her 81st birthday cake in her lap. Another indelible photo: dolphins playing at dawn in New Zealand.
   
   Also in the book are Belt's stories about her travels and adventures. Accompanying each photo is a short narrative, in which the author describes what was happening before, during and after she took the shot. Throughout the book Belt describes what it was like bringing her two young kids with her while she traveled, often with her husband in tow, too. These tales are often funny, always interesting.
   
   The dust jacket slips off to reveal a paisley-print cover with the title in gold letters on the spine.

5 comments about Mastering Digital Black and White: A Photographer's Guide to High Quality Black-and-White Imaging and Printing (Digital Process and Print).

1. This book does live up to its title in my opinion. The illustrations are very well organized with the text, moving from simple to more complex.
   
   All digital imaging technologies become altered by sucessive innovations, but this kind of text lays down a foundation for you to proceed into the future. Amadou doesn't give detailed workflows for every ink, media, and printer out there for the simple reason that the rate in which ALL of these inksets, rips, and printers are changing would made such an endeavor impossible, and certainly out of date by the time of publishing. That is the fault of our era not the fault of the author.
   
   I agree with the other poster who stated that Amadou's book is equally useful for many color imaging concepts. In a way it is the foundation for them. For someone venturing into this territory for the first time it lets you know who the players are in monochrome inkjet imaging, and where the technology has been in the recent past, and where the information will be available in the future.
   
   John



2. Very good book but extremely technical. Not a quick read but is chock-full of useful and practical information. Recommend it as a good addition to your personal reference library.



3. Good photography transcends whether the image was captured in full color or black-and-white, and Amadou Diallo recognizes that fact in presenting this excellent guidebook for imaging in monochrome. Virtually everything in this book has applications in color photography as well, whether it's the description of proper calibration to the invaluable tips on tonality. If you aspire to be a better photographer, this book is a good place to start. You'll find that after you've mastered black-and-white image capture and output, you'll be well on the road to mastery of all aspects of good photography. Recommended.



4. Extremely useful for any serious photographer interested in printing in high quality black and white.



5. Very good overview and very timely. The samples of solutions available in the marletplace are up to date for 2007.