2 comments about Quincy, the Hobby Photographer.

1. A wide grade range, from 4-7 and perhaps beyond, will find much to delight in the beginning photographer's guide Quincy the Hobby Photographer: the Complete Guide to Do-It-Yourself Dog Photography. Black and white and color photos offer helpful tips on taking photos and operating a camera, blending humor with plenty of clear examples on everything from picking a subject to working with a canine who won't sit still.



2. You know what?
   This book rules.
   I've been waiting for Quincy for some time now.
   We read it to our unborn child 1x a week now.
   There's nothing like Quincy on the shelf. It's 100% genius.
   If you already own it, then you're Einstein.

2 comments about The Photography Bible.

1. This book is terrific! As good as or better than taking a digital photography class.



2. I recently bought this book for my assistant. My assistant having very little photography experience at the beginning helped a lot but didn't always know what I was doing. She now has a very good idea and even helps me compose shots now. Wonderful! Would recommend for any beginner photographer or any photographer needing to brush up on basic ideas and terms.

5 comments about Life Smiles Back.

1. In the doldrums? Hurt by a friend? Can't get going? Well, remember Life magazine? Remember the last page next to the cover--those hilarious, heart-warming photographs? How about a whole book full of wonderful, wacky photos?
   
   "Life Smiles Back: More than 200 classic photos from the famous back page of America's favorite magazine" and Life Laughs Last: 200 More Classic Photos from the Famous Back Page of America's Favorite Magazine together will keep you and your family and friends laughing and stirring up endorphins and laughing some more.
   
   Observe the little girl at work on kitty's milk on the cover. The book is organized into twelve chapters by similar topics. Chapter 1 is all about "Taking it easy" and shows little eight-month-old Liam Sean Horey propped in an innertube in Big Spring, Texas, and the family dog spread-eagle under an oscillating fan, or the kitty with elbow propped on the edge of the basin as it relaxes in the bathroom sink. Look under the bed where the boy is fast asleep while his dog is stretched comfortably across the bed, head on pillow.
   
   Chapter 2 brings us "Close Encounters." For example, five-year-old Thomas Hester of Raleigh, North Carolina, tries to stuff his rather large frog into his rather small pocket. Take the barber with his leg wrapped around his charge, giving that first haircut.
   
   In chapter 3, "signs of the times," three graduates in caps and gowns pass in front of a road sign that reads: End of improvement, thank you for your patience. It's funnier if you could see it. In "Boys and Girls" a young bride's recessional walk is ruined by a sword. In this military wedding as the double row of cadets raise their swords in salute, oops, one sword catches the veil and off it goes!
   
   Dogs, cats, children, school events, little snippets of everyday life. Catching that humorous moment as it happens. What a delight this book is! What a great gift for any occasion!



2. The other reviewers are right about the humor and charm of these photos.
   
   However, in LIFE magazine they were full page, and beautifully printed which enhanced their impact. In this book, they are often partial page (many one third page), some cropped - and worst of all, very badly reproduced: blurry and with poor black and white contrast. Shame on Simon and Schuster for poor quality work in this age of high quality printing. I recommend the fine and reasonably priced "Life Platinum Edition" instead, until a better version of this comes out.



3. This book and "Life Laughs Last" are a pair that will put a smile on your face and a spring in your step when everything else seems to conspire against you. Laughter really is the best medicine!



4. Some of the greatest photos you've ever imagined and a whole lot more. Need a housewarming gift that can't be duplicated? Get this and "Life Laughs Last." You'll be invited to every get-together from the presentation day until you die. They're great!



5. One of the biggest mood-lifters in existence. If you're not laughing out loud through much of this, you have no sense of humor!

4 comments about Photography at Night: Getting the Most from Low-Light Conditions.

1. I purchased at least 100 photography books during the past 40 years. This book is in a class all by itself. While the cover of this book is very eye-catching and promising, the contents of the book are very amateurish: the photographs are terrible, and you won't learn much from this book. I can't believe this well known publisher published this book! I returned it to the store where I purchased it and got a refund.



2. Richard Newman's Photography at Night is more for inspiration and motivation than it is technical. Unlike several other night photography books, it shows that interesting pictures can be made at night with black, and that there's more to shoot at night than skylines and lighted architectural studies.
   By far the most important part of the book is Chapter 4, the Assignment section. It inpsires you to get out into the field or street and try various techiques and subjects such as street photography, fire, high contrast using ortho film, silhouettes and strong backlighting, and others. The portfolio section at the front also is interesting to study.
   This book would be an excellent companion volumn to one of the several night photography introductions on the market. "The Complete Guide to Night & Low Light Photography" by Lee Frost and "Capturing the Night with Your Camera" are two excellent works that present the nuts and bolts of night photography in great detail. Not much about digital in either, however, if you are looking for something that goes into that.



3. One thing I learned after owning a few photography books which I never fully read after a quick skim-through, was that one should always check out the sample photos in a photography book before buying it.
   
   When I first saw the title of this book, "Photography at Night," I was excited, because my night photography had always been plain and boring. But as I sat down by the café and started reading the book, I was so glad that I hadn't just bought it out of sheer excitement.
   
   I have two major issues with this book: first and foremost, the pictures in the book are just not good. I'm sorry maybe I don't have the proper "artistic" eye, but the pictures in this book look poor-quality and *plain and boring* to me. Many of them are amateurish-looking (the picture on p.86 looks just like one taken by my 8-year-old niece!), while others are blurry or have barely visible subject matters (e.g., pp.6-7 and p.92, among many others). If you are thinking of buying this book, I recommend you flip through it first (esp. chapter one "Professional Portfolios") to see if you agree with the author's artistic taste or not. For me, these are exactly the pictures I don't want to take. As a photographer, I want to take night photos that are pleasing to look at and don't strain the audience's eyes or make them nauseous.
   
   Second, which is an issue particular to my needs, this book is almost all about film photography. A lot of attention is devoted to selecting the different film types. If you are a film shooter, chapter 3 could be of value to you. For digital shooters, you'll only find four pages of superficial coverage (e.g., "how a digital camera works").
   
   The saving grace of the book is chapter 4, which gives the reader a few specific assignments along with advice on how to look for things to photograph as well as how to meter properly or how to work with depth of field. As I read through the assignments I found them quite interesting, so I jotted down two or three of them which I thought would be worth doing. For me, the book would have been worth buying if the author had expanded on the materials in this chapter and made the book more instructional rather than showcasing "inspirational portfolios" (from the back cover) that don't necessarily inspire the reader.
   
   Of course, given that I'm not, nor will I ever be, a professional artist, let alone a successful one, my harsh criticism of the book only reflects my learning needs as an amateur photographer. I know I like photos that are sharp-looking with an easy-to-understand vision or message, whether it's a shot of the Eifel Tower against a moon-lit night sky or a picture of tulips in the suburbs of Amsterdam. You may be the type of artistic person who appreciates the "vision" in this book. In that case, you may like this book.




4. As a primer on the technical aspects of night photography, this book is short on details and rather disorganized.
   

   The chapter on equipment and the properties of different B&W developers is useful. There are detailed sequences of pictures demonstrating the effects of different levels of exposure and development on various kinds of film. Sometimes, pictures are worth a thousand words.
   

   The book falls short when connecting the pictures and instructions. Metering is described as being important, but no information on how to meter properly is provided. Furthermore, there is no information on reciprocity failure for different films, other than a vague suggestion about doubling exposure time. This leaves the reader wondering exactly how long exposure time should be. The digital camera section is also disappointingly short, mostly containing information on how digital cameras work.
   

   This book's strength is in its photos. The first 40 pages consists of portfolios from different photographers. Detailed captions describe the circumstances of each photo shoot and how the photo was exposed. Finally, some information that could really help amateurs!
   

   The last section is a list of assignments. At last, the author provides detailed information on how to meter a scene, how to determine exposure, and how to pick a camera angle for shooting. Why wasn't this information provided earlier in the book?
   

   In conclusion, buy this book for the great photos, not for the instructions included.

4 comments about Susan Meiselas: Carnival Strippers.

1. I remember the carnivals, but I was too young for the side-shows (some of them, anyway), and the book, with very good pictures, is an outstanding coverage of the genre. The book includes interviews with performers and patrons, to give you the flavor of the world you are reading about.



2. Frankly this book is incredible. I'm a carnival performer and history buff and in my opinion it's always been a tragedy that carnivals of yesteryear are remembered now almost entirely for the sideshows. Rides, games, spook houses and sex were all part of the classic carnival allure; this book is dedicated to the latter and portrays the Girlshow at it's best and most real.
   
   Most impressive to me was the fact the author says almost nothing of her own opinions or ideas regarding the girls, the talkers or the lifestyle. Instead the reader is simply treated to the text of her interviews and therefore only the ideas of the people who performed and in some cases the people that watched.
   
   As performer I was especially pleased to read in it's entirety an original Girlshow "talk" or "bally" at the front of the book, and I love the unabashed and often casual photos taken back stage, all of witch give one an insiders sense of what it must have been like in the glory days.



3. As a small kid, I was always fascinated by the carnival strippers and the forbidden world behind the platform. Finally, these pictures outline what that world was like for those women who danced. No, the pictures aren't pretty, but realistic and honest. I came away from these pics with more respect for the kind of work that these ladies did. The world of the carnival stripper is gone, but these wonderful and gritty pictures allow us one more intimate look at an all but forgotten time period.



4. "Carnival Strippers" is a photographic documentary of the carnival strip shows that flourished in county fairs in small-town New England through the late 1970s. The book consists of photographs of the strippers, the managers, callers, and barkers who run the shows, and their customers, or "marks".

   The book first appeared in 1976 and his long been out-of-print. The photographer, Susan Meiselas, was at the time a young woman just out of graduate school. She spent the summers of 1972 -- 1975 following the carnivals and in getting to know the women to photograph them and their environs. She at first offered her photographs and interviews to various feminist publications who turned them down.

   Meiselas subsequently went on to a distinguished career as a documentary photographer working extensively in Central America and Kurdistan. In 1992, Meiselas was named a MacArthur fellow.

   "Carnival Strippers" received attention upon its initial publication for its frank, but nonjudgmental portrayal of its tawdry subject. The book was made into two plays before it, like the carnival strip shows themselves disappeared from attention. Then, in 2000, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City featured a retrospective of the photographs. The Whitney Museum published this second edition of "Carnival Strippers" in 2003 with Sylvia Wolf, curator of photography at the Museum contributing an essay. Deidre English of the Graduate School of Photojournalism at the University of California at Berkeley has also written an essay for the book.

   In the 2003 edition, 16 new photographs are added from Meiselas's source materials and 13 photographs that appeared in the 1976 edition are deleted, making a total of 76 photographs in the book. The new edition is also rearranged from the initial text. There are two sections of photographs, the first called "the girl show" and the second called "portraits". The essays by Wolf and English draw parallels between Meiselas's work and the work of Brassi's 1930 photos of Paris prostitutes, as well as with the work of contemporary photographers such as Diane Arbus. To me the strongest parallel is Belloq's collection of photographs of prostitutes in Storyville, New Orleans dating from the turn of the century.

   In the grainy black-and-white photographs of the life of the carnival strip shows, we meet the women and the barkers on the front stage called a "bally" enticing the men to enter the show. For a price of $2 or $3, the show consisted of four or five women each dancing naked to, generally, a single 45 rpm record. The book shows photos of the girls at work to crowds of leering men. The world of the "girl shows" was competitive and nasty.... We see the girls off-stage in dressing rooms and in private moments reflecting on their lives. There are extensive interviews with the strippers, the managers and barkers and the patrons. The book also comes with a CD featuring the sounds of the strip shows, interviews with the girls, and a 1997 interview with Susan Meiselas.

   The book paints the picture of a low, tawdry life with mutual exploitation between the girls, their managers, and the patrons. Yet it is a way of life not without its fascination. It is a life of poor, mostly ignorant, and exploited women, but also a life based upon the rejection of convention and upon attempts to attain independence. Meiselas clearly became taken with the strippers, their attempt at independence, their eccentricities, their vulnerability, and their vulgarity. For Meiselas and her subjects, Carnival life is something that gets in the person, making it hard to leave when one has been exposed. I found the life of these now gone carnivals and girl shows got inside me as well in reading this book.

   The women in this book are not beautiful, air-brushed models and the book has little to offer in the way of titillation. Meiselas tries to show the viewer and the reader the carnival life for what it was. The book shows a dark corner of the eternal theme of sexuality and love between men and women in all its difficulty and ambiguity....

5 comments about Beneath the Sea in 3-D.

1. I ordered this book primarily for the benefit of my 7 year old son. We're doing a research project on oceans, and while we have a few good resources, I felt this one, with its 3d imagery, would more likely capture and hold his attention. What I didn't realize was how thoroughly it would capture and hold mine. For me, 3D had always meant multicolored plastic glasses and headaches. Though the book was described as stereoscopic, I didn't understand what that meant. Stereography was something new for me, even if as a form of photography it is over 150 years old.
   
   This is not a matter of red and blue separations; the 3D results from the human eye's trick of blending 2 photos taken (simultaneously) an eye's width apart. Photographer Mark Blum is a pioneer in the art of underwater 3d photography, and his work is beautifully displayed here. Everyone I've shown this book to has been fascinated by it, and I fully expect that when we've finished with our project the book will find its way to permanent display in my home.



2. This is an amazing book! Makes me want to take up scuba diving. I've never seen such good 3D, not to mention that it's real photos from underwater with incredible colors. Get this book! And I'm going to go get the rest of the books by this author.



3. BENEATH THE SEA IN 3-D

   I highly recommended this book for school children and adults alike.

   I was introduced to one of Blum's books by a friend and liked it so much that I sought out and bought all of his 3D books. I find the price so reasonable that I've since bought more to give as gifts.

   I enjoy looking at the 3-D photos as much as my seven year old son so I already know several adults as well as children who will be getting this book as a gift.

   The technical quality of the photos and printing of the books is very good. A magnifying, stereo viewer is built into a unique bi-fold cover of the book A little research showed that this idea is well over a hundred years old (like stereo photography) but I still find it very innovative because it is so rare and unusual.

   The photographer has an inspired eye and top technical skill. The underwater photography is amazing. I think the dimension of the ocean really goes well with 3D photos. The colors and forms of the undersea world show so amazingly well in 3D and Blum went all over the world making these photos.

   The writing accompanying each image adds to the photos with just the right amount of scientific and general information to serve both young and old reader. I like this book very much and I hope you find this review helpful. I recommend looking for the other 3-D books by Blum. They are all great!




4. The publisher has unfortunately tried to market these fabulous works as childrens books (not that they aren't wonderful for kids as well), but these photos are truely amazing both in the quality of the photography, but also in the presentation. They are printed on very high quality coated paper with a STURDY set of lenses built right into the hard cover, which allows you to view them in all their splendor without any additional equipment.

   These are not red/blue lenses! The images are presented in true color stereo pairs and when viewed, merge into a single, dynamic 3D image - WOW! I can't say enough about the overall quality of viewing for ADULTS as well as children.

   The price is another thing that confuses me. I don't know why these are so inexpensive? I urge anyone who loves nature to buy all of the books in this series!




5. Everybody that has seen my copy of Beneath the Sea in 3-D is entranced by it. The superb quality of the photography alone is worth the money. But add the astounding 3-D effect and it is just plain irresistible. My kids love it (ages 7, 11 and 17), and I love it. Great for all ages. The captions add fascinating facts about the animals and the circumstances of the photos. This is a great book! I'm ordering Mark Blum's other books, too! By all means, buy it!

5 comments about Ansel Adams: Classic Images.

1. I gave it as a gift to a friend of mine who loves nature photography. He loved it.



2. Ansel Adams: Classic Images

   This book provides high quality representations of Ansel Adams' photography in examples of 75 of his best images. The text, written by James Alinder along with a preface by John Szarkowski, portrays the story of Adams' life and his philosophy regarding art and existence. The text starts the reader off at his birth and takes you through Adams' childhood and the decisions he makes as he searches for an outlet for his creativity and a strong career path. Having also been a professional pianist, Adams' later discovers his passion for photography and nature, and spends the rest of his life a successful artist and activist.
   This book takes you through major events in his life and references prints in the book to give visual examples of his ever-evolving photographic style. I would definitely recommend this book, if not as a successful biography, but as a stage for some beautiful, high quality reproductions of Adams' work.




3. This collection can be seen at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona, through July 7, 2002. This book is the catalogue of the exibition! If you like the book you should see the originals! They will blow you away.



4. This is a wonderful book filled with breathtaking photographs taken by the late and well-respected Ansel Adams. Each of the photographs contained is a unique masterpiece with a life of its own. Looking at these splendid photographs, one feels drawn right in to the specific location and year. Some of my favorites include, "The Golden Gate Before the Bridge" (1932), "Barn, Cape Cod, Massachusetts" (ca. 1937), "Clearing Storm, Sonoma County Hills, California" (1951) and "Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona" (1942). This book will definitely hold your attention and keep you captivated if not mesmerized. With so many minute and beautiful details in these photographs, it's easy to see why Ansel Adams was one of the most respected and popular photographers of our time. He didn't just take a picture; he ceased moments in time and captured the beauty of the subjects being photographed. This is an excellent book that will make a fine addition to any library. This book would make a great gift for photographers and art connoisseurs alike!



5. Ansel Adams was very concerned that his work always be reproduced in a high quality way. I fear that he gave too much attention to fidelity of reproduction, and not enough to size of image in the reproduction. This otherwise valuable book is seriously marred by the designer having chosen page and print sizes much too small for Adams' work. I suggest you avoid this book.

   I would like to compliment James Alinder on an outstanding biographical essay concerning Adams' life and photographic techniques. This essay will add useful knowledge to anyone who wants to better understand Adams' work and life, and their effects on us all. I would also like to compliment the selection of the images. These are clearly among Adams' best work.

   Adams' technique used the very stark light of dawn and dusk to create vivid detail that echoed across the image from figure to figure. The result was to help the eye capture the connectedness of nature, the oneness of creation. So when the details become too small, it is like rubbing out whole chapters in a book. I was very disappointed in the publishing decision for this book's page size. In fact, only one of my favorite images still held most of its power for me in these large postcard sizes, Moon with Half Dome, Yosemite, 1960.

   Without Mr. Alinder's essay, I would have graded this book as a two star effort.

   Some of the lesser works which have less fine detail still show well. Here were my favorites of this small-sized collection:

   Self-Portrait, Monument Valley, Utah, 1958

   Monlith, The Face of Half Dome, Yosemite, 1927

   Winnowing Grain, Taos Pueblo, New Mexico, 1928

   Rock and Grass, Moraine Lake, Sequoia National Park, 1982

   Georgia O'Keefe and Orville Cox, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, 1937

   Mormon Temple, Manti, Utah, 1948

   Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico 1941

   White House Ruin, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, 1942

   Monument Valley, 1958

   Cypress and Fog, Pebble Beach, California, 1967

   Sand Dunes, Oceano, California, 1950

   If you are like me and love Ansel Adams' work, I suggest you look into Ansel Adams, The American Wilderness, which does feature large enough reproductions.

   Sometimes we learn more from mistakes than from successes. Where are your efforts being undertaken on too small a scale to be fully effective? What can you do to change that?

   Enjoy the beauty of nature in its full scale brilliance (outdoors and in larger-sized photographic books)!

5 comments about Clueless In Tokyo: Explorer's Sketchbook Of Weird And Wonderful Things In Japan.

1. I loved this book... It brought back so many memories of my time in Japan.



2. When I was in Japan with my family, looking at relocation 6 or 7 years ago, one of my dad's co-workers suggested this book for all of the fun things around Tokyo. This book is the reason I have a garden-size Tanuki that I lugged from Japan to Ohio to New York. It's not going to teach you what to say to find the restroom, but it'll explain what you're seeing when you get there in a way that's...well...funny. I have a friend moving to Japan and this will be the first thing he gets from me!



3. Clueless in Tokyo is a delightful way to learn about a wide variety of common things found in Japanese Culture. Keeps you laughing while you learn.



4. Cute illustrations and some useful Japanese words make this an enjoyable book to read but I finished it in 10 minutes so don't expect anything more than an amusing introduction to some of the unusual things a visitor would encounter. When I go to Tokyo I will bring this with me for some light reading on the plane.
   It is a clever idea though and a good supplememt to some of the drier guidebooks out there.



5. Yes, it says so in the reviews, but somehow I missed it. I thought it was a travel guide for the "clueless." I can see how it might be amusing to some Westerners though. Now I need to get a real guide book for our trip to Tokyo.... Got any recommendations?

5 comments about Dogs 24/7: Extraordinary Photographs Of Wonderful Dogs.

1. Between the beautiful pictures and the wonderful stories, this is a great book for anyone who loves dogs!!



2. I have been thinking the dogs give us wonderful delights such as visual, audio, tactile, thermal, and even spiritual delights. I love this book with the abundant and attractive scenes I could appreciate the deep emotional affections created by human and the lovely dogs. I think the book price is so reasonable compare with the contents of the book.
   I am treasuring this book as the one of coffee table books in my study.



3. Truly a wonderful book; especially when ordered with your own book cover. It makes a very memorable and most surprising gift. Anyone with a dog will love this book.



4. We purchased this book as a Christmas present for a dog-owner niece. We are pleased with the content and feel it will make a great coffee table book in a dog-lover's home.



5. Anyone whe believes that DOG spelled backwards is not just a happy coincidence will love these photo's.Like many, I have the feeling that dogs are spiritual beings,much like ourselves.The only unaswerable question is this;were dogs put on this planet for our companionship and benefit of is it the other way around.
   Either way these photo's show what dog worshippers everywhere already know.That dogs are sentient being with their own individual personalities.

3 comments about Heath Ceramics: The Complexity of Simplicity.

1. Definitely not a "coffee table" dust collector but a book that I have spent many pleasant hours enjoying. It gives the reader an appreciation of how the multi-faceted potter Edith Heath brought classic design into the home through her ceramics. This book is a wonderful addition to my library and it makes gift giving easy.



2. The book for anyone with a passion for Edith Heath's designs as well as people interested in ceramics from the 40s until today. What the book lacks is a catalog of Heath's ceramic designs. But this shortcoming is not a big deal. What this wonderfully designed and produced book boasts is the vision of a singular woman who will forever be a part of the design landscape. The book is an absolute steal at the amazon.com price. Dense editorials, fantastic photography. A beautiful tribute.



3. Finally, a respectable book on Edith Heath! Klausner's work really stands out in the small but discerning crowd of Heathophiles. The more I tuck into this extraordinary book the more I become fascinated by the miraculous and timeless techniques of the House of Heath. I recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in ceramics.