No comments about Adobe Photoshop CS3 Photographers Guide.

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.

5 comments about Earth from Above: 365 Days.

1. This is the best coffee table book I have seen. It captures the interest of all ages and intelects. But there is a message too, we must take care of our planet. !!!



2. The images and stories that go with them are compelling and informative about the status of this world we live in. They are beautiful and give a powerful perspective on the Earth from a view we can not see as we walk on the ground. Amazing experience to share. I have now given it as gifts to over 10 clients and friends.



3. These Earth from Above books are truly an outstanding and breath taking view of the the world. They are educational and beautiful all at the same time. They are great coffee table books as well as great resources to show your children amazing natural and man made sites from all over the globe. Highly recommended.



4. An amazing book of beautiful, thought provoking pictures that swirl the mind. No negative critiques other than the fact that the book should have been published in a large "coffee table book" size. I think a huge disservice was done to both the quality and content of these photos to have them published in a 6.5" x 7" format.



5. When I turned the page to September 11th just recently, I saw an erie photograph of the destruction of 2 side by side square structures in Florida reminding me of the World Trade Center on that very date. When I checked the copyright and saw that the book was publisher in 2001, I thought it would have to be after September 11th and the author used this photograph intentionally on this date. But by checking the Amazon site I learned the published date was September 1, 2001. Though I know September is hurricane season in Florida, I couldn't help but think this was an erie coincidence.

5 comments about Obituary Cocktail: The Great Saloons of New Orleans (2nd Edition, Expanded).

1. If you have ever visited the bars in New Orleans, you will appreciate learning of the little known history of the watering holes that you have spent many an evening drinking and laughing. It reminds you of the many who sat on the stools before you and what interesting things have occured before your presence! The book has beautiful photographs and is very much a necessity for any lover of the city of New Orleans. It is a great coffee table book, and can spark many interesting conversations!



2. first of all, this is a beautifully produced book, with wonderful photographs of the great New Orleans drinking establishments and local scenary.

   Secondly, it's a must for any bartender. Not much needs to be said on this topic except for the fact that many great drinks have come out of New Orleans and the bartender (professional or otherwise) should learn how to prepare them.

   Finally, the book also presents some important historical information on New Orleans and its saloons. The two go hand in hand.




3. Ms. McCaffety has captured the essence of New Orleans with her wonderful book. The pictures are gorgeous, and the addition of a few traditional New Orleans cocktail recipes and the history of the saloons rounds out the book nicely. I can't wait to get back to New Orleans and visit the bars I've missed.



4. I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like the bars in New Orleans! They are fantastic! The press has given Bourbon St. such a negative view, but I had no trouble the two times I went down by myself! I mean if you use a little common sense, then there's no problem! The people were some of the nicest I've ever met! Everyone treats you like family and you have such a great time! This book shows that down-home, friendly atmosphere! It was interesting for me too, to see a lot of the places off of Bourbon that I didn't get to see! You know, the 5 star places that cost an arm and a leg, and require reservations! This is just another great book to relive memories of your trip to "Sin City."



5. Growing up in New Orleans is a rare experience. Living away often makes one nostalgic and wistful.. Reading "Obituary Cocktail" brings the sights, sounds, smells and tastes roaring back. This is a beautiful book. The photos are warm, romantic and evocative. The commentary is pure magic and the recipes are fabulous. Whether you live there now, once were there or have never visited - this book captures the charm, the quirkiness and the mystery of New Orleans and her great watering holes.

No comments about Namibia Space.

3 comments about eBay Photography the Smart Way: Creating Great Product Pictures that Will Attract Higher Bids and Sell Your Items Faster (Ebay Photography the Smart Way).

1. I have a good grounding in photography and was hoping for more detailed instruction on product photography. I learned practically nothing. There is a lot of very elementary filler material on general photography, digital cameras and editing software and Internet. The photos are not that great either. May be somewhat useful for someone who has no knowledge at all of these topics



2. This is not what i expected. I needed a beginners guide. The book tells little about cameras. It's mostly how to do professional shoots...meaning expensive specialized equipment.



3. As a regular e-bayer, I'm always looking for a competitive marketing edge. This book clearly points a way to gain that edge by differentiating my offerings from a large majority of my competitors. I've often thought that most photographs used in e-bay marketing are mediocre, at best, my own included. When I see a good e-bay photographic presentation, I recognize the selling power that it represents, but I have rarely accomplished it myself. Sinclair and Livingston have produced a terrific book. If you read it and apply the material, almost anyone (including me) can produce "above average" photographs for their e-bay marketing. The book is a quick-read, but provides an excellent reference souce for later application of the material it contains. I've read a couple other e-bay books by Joe Sinclair and one thing I like about all these books is that they have a nice clean easy-to-read layout. Each chapter in this book has substantial stand-alone value. A chapter that may be a trinket to you might be a treasure to me, and vice versa. In total, however, the book will have great value to any serious e-bay marketer. If "a picture is worth a thousand words", then several very good pictures make a powerful e-bay sales presentaion, indeed. My conclusion ... a great book, complete, perfect for practical application.

1 comments about All Aboard for Glacier: The Great Northern Railway and Glacier National Park.

1. This was a nicely done book about the history of Great Northern in general in addition to highlighting how important the development of the U.S. was on the railroads. I like old advertising images and this book has a nice selection of the ads that enticed people to venture into desolate areas for the shear beauty of the country. Many of these people decided to call these areas home with the help of the railroads. Santa Fe was largely responsible for the settlement of the Southwest and Great Northern of the Northwest territories when there was just about nothing there. An enjoyable book to read with great illustrations.

5 comments about Natural Beauty: Farber Nudes.

1. This is a mix, some sharp-edged still-lifes (e.g., plate 35) and skyscapes (68, 75), among other topics. This is really about Farber's nudes, though. A few (e.g. 37, 78) are shot outdoors. Many of the models appear indoors, where jagged plaster (74) or stony, spare surroundings (85) set off the smooth curves of the model. In others, domestic surroundings (17, 51) set a gentler tone. Most of my favorites are among the studio shots, though. In them, Farber captures many moods, from dreamy distance (22, 28), to affection (69) or a lovingly humorous sense (61) that works at many levels. One grouping conveys a much more complex emotion. In includes Farber's Newseek cover (4) on breast cancer, but others (5, 25, 65) give a similarly defensive feeling, somehow afraid of betrayal by one's own body.
   
   Many of the images simply, almost abstractly express the elegance of the human shape. Some (83 and especially 49) examine the whole woman. A large number are faceless, sometimes captured from behind (6, 66) but more often cropped (13). Even the arms and legs of the model (39, 63) or group (40, 45) may be cropped, leaving only the elegance of the torso. I find something unsettling in these pictures - the anonymous intimacy, but also something I have no good word for. What's the opposite of "disembodied," when only the body is left?
   
   One thing about this collection works badly for me: Farber's fondness for graininess or blur. I like the informal sense of having escaped from a razor-edged world, but the degree and frequency of grain and blur suit an esthetic that I lack. So, on the whole, I come away from this collection with a mixed sense. I enjoy much of it, and big parts of many individual works. Much of it does little for me, though.
   
   //wiredweird



2. This is a book that could have been much better. Most of the photographs present a grainy, soft appearance, with varying degrees of abstraction. Many of the pictures are much smaller than the book's page, and too many extend across two pages--something that spoils the natural coherence and visual flow of a composition. There is a good mix of black-and-white, sepia, and color shots. The variation of natural objects and scenes with nudes is largely effective. Most of the nudes are partial shots, such as a torso. A couple of the photographs are outstanding, but only a couple.



3. Robert Farber is by far one of the most well known photographers of nudes and fashion. One can not mistake his work, his soft style with a mix of hard grain.
   This book is a large collection of his work in nude photography throughout his years in photography. Each plate in this book has its own feel and meaning, drawing the viewer into his work even more. It is no wonder that Farbers works are displayed in permanent collections around the world.
   The book is beautifully published on thick warm toned paper, which is perfect for displaying his work, do to the fact that these reproductions are about as close as you can get to the real thing.
   The book does not display just nudes either. Scattered throughout the book are chrome shots of landscapes and portraits of flowers as well, hence the name "Natural Beauty". Every page in this book is a wonder. Once you get to the back, a small index of each photo is displayed with text by Farber on how he went about making each and every photo in the book. This is great because you really get to see how he goes about his creative process.
   This is a great coffee table Monograph of beautiful photographs that cannot be passed up. This is a very important monograph that all photographers and collectors alike should have. Not many photographers are able to mimic Farbers style, other than the legend David Hamilton and the newcomer Richard Murrian, which makes the works in the book stand out like no other.



4. If you are a fine art photographer you already know the artist, he is without a doubt in the top ten today. If you are into fine art this book is a must for your personal library. If you are like myself a photographer who is inspired by incrediable work, both artistically and techincally this is a must for you as well. The images capture the hidden grace and beauty of the female form while avoiding being typed as graphic or other negatives. His style is well defined and the lighting is simple yet effect and the use of cropping guides the viewer along the lines like a short classical musical melody. Come and be inspired.



5. This book is a wonderfully presented collection of interesting fine art photos. The creative moody use of grain is quite inspirational. It occupies a proud place on my shelf.

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.

3 comments about Get the Picture: A Personal History of Photojournalism (Crime & Justice: A Review of Research; Crime & Justice: A Review of Research).

1. One imagines John G. Morris as the sort of grandfather with a thousand amazing stories, whom everyone in the family has asked to write a book for years and who finally sets about the task.
   
   As a sequence of compelling snapshots, Morris selects and arranges his tales into a layout that explores unresolved questions, ambivalences, regrets, hopes, thrills, and humor.
   
   For anyone interested in photojournalism, as a profession, its personalities - the lives, loves, and losses of those standing on the other side of the camera while celebrities splash across the pages - this book is an excellent starting place. His 'editor's eye' view of the profession turns the camera back upon the photographers, telling tales behind pictures generally left untold. By disclosing the various photographic negatives, he discloses a positively fascinating image of the origins of modern imagemaking.



2. This is a well-written rolicking ride through the last century and the history of photojournalism in the American media. It has an index that reads like the Who's Who of the century with anecdotes and insights galore on the movers and shakers of photojournalism and history. I enjoyed every word and I recommend it highly.



3. I just finished reading this novel and I must admitt it is one of the best novels I have read this year. It really is an exciting travel through the 20th century, through the eyes of a man who's carreer made him involved with major political and social events. I would say this is a must to anyone interested in photography and journalism, and a recommended for anyone with a heartbeat. I really loved this book.