5 comments about Jazz Age Beauties: The Lost Collection of Ziegfeld Photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston.

1. This book is gorgeous. The photos are reproduced quite well, and the book looks and feels like quality. Included is a nice history of Ziegfeld Follies, along with brief biographies of many of the women.
   
   Julie Newmar provides a fascinating Foreword (her mother was in the Ziegfeld Follies and posed for photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston--as did a teenage Newmar). We also learn much about photographer Johnston.
   
   The highlight of the book for me, though, is the photographs (some are nudes) of actresses, including Renee Adoree, Adrienne Ames, Tallulah Bankhead, Theda Bara, Lina Basquette, Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, Billie Burke, Norma Shearer, Claudette Colbert, Betty Compton, Dolores Costello, Marion Davies, Claudia Dell, Billie Dove, Jeanne Eagels, Mary Eaton, and more.
   
   Like George Hurrell, Johnston was a true artist. His work makes these beautiful women immortal.



2. This is a spectacular book in every respect but one - it's size. The photos are fantastic, the layout is fantastic, the quality of its production is top drawer, everything about it is classy and well refined, but it's a downright unusual size for a book of this type, and that's why I only give it four stars.
   
   This needed to be in a large format to fully appreciate the photos and the beautiful layout work, but instead, it's sized about the same as most hardback novels, and when you place four photos on a page of that size, the images tend to be very small and you lose the overall impact of those photos.
   
   I highly recommend this one, get the hardback while you can before being forced into a reprint paperback, but I would've prefered the book be a sized more in keeping with most art and photography books.



3. the book is beautifully designed and printed. the ziegfeld girls, many of whom are familiar, are all gorgeous.. it's a window into the roaring twenties and the spectacular beauties of the jazz age.



4. Obviously a wonderful collection of images with historical and insightful text accompanying. Nonetheless, as a photographer, I was moderately disappointed with the manner in which the images were presented. The images are all presented in a sepia tone which I doubt is true for all of the originals. More concerning, however, is that most of the images lack the sharpness and fine detail which was undoubtedly present in many of the originals. While one reviewer compliments the "soft focus" techniques, I have seen several of the images before in very sharp focus with fabulous detail. To soften any of the images for publication for any reason betrays the brilliance which Alfred Cheney Johnston displayed in creating the images. It is still a wonderful collection.



5. Thank you Mr.Hudovernik for this lovely book. As a photographer and fan of the 20's jazz age photography. I think Mr Johnston's photos show that perfectly. I have been a fan of his work since I first saw all of the beautiful portraits he shot of the Ziegfeld women and the unknown beauties he photographed. He was a true master posing and capturing the beautiful women he had the pleasure of working with.
   
   This book is a beautiful history of him and his relation with the Ziegfeld Follies. Its very informative and not to mention a beautiful photo album of his finest work. If you are a fan of the golden era and the 20's please get this book. Thank you Mr.Hudovernik and thank you Alfred Cheney Johnston for leaving behind such beautiful work.

5 comments about Wide Open: Inspiration and Techniques for Art Journaling on the Edge (Book & Card Kit).

1. As a mixed media artist, I was curious as to what else could possibly be written or shown about journaling that hasn't already been published. I found the box on the shelf of a Half Price store so I bought it at the bargain price. If anything, I thought the packaging was well designed and I could alter the box myself and use it for my own deck. The enclosed journal is a handy compact booklet that can be used to hold notes and ideas as well. As far as the cards, themselves, some ideas are better than others depending on where you are starting from and if you want to be "edgy". I'm open to all kind of things but I'm not into using my body as a journaling tool ~ something about wrapping yourself in plastic wrap and packing tape. She mentions that journaling is best done in a book instead of loose pages and yet all the cards are reprints of her journal pages and they come as "loose pages". Her words exactly: "Loose pages can be shuffled, tossed, crumbled...it's hard for them to represent some thing substantial." Most of this stuff could have been written about and shared if the artist chose to blog about it but then again there's no profit to be made from that. I don't want to sound totally negative because I am totally in favor of self expression and journaling. So if it gets people to start something and move on with it, fine. Me, I've been journaling all along and nothing in this book will change what I already do. The best book anyone one of us can find about Art Journaling is the one we create ourselves.



2. I bought this on a recommendation and have used the cards to inspire my entire family to be more artistic. We have used some of the suggestions - such as the saran wrap models - and done them as family projects. It has really been a great experience for the kids and I. Highly recommend this product.



3. If what you want is a guide to walk you, step-by-step, through the process of creating an art journal, something which will provide you with in-depth instruction on specific media techniques, this is not going to be your best choice...but if what you're after is something to kick-start you creatively, you may find "Wide Open" exactly wht you've been looking for.



4. I bought this book about six months ago and I still find myself going back to it for inspiration. It is not a step by step "how to" book for people who want to walk away with a specific finished product...It is meant to give the reader a starting place, a catalyst for your own creative process. I am not sure what the previous reviewer was expecting from this book...it was obviously not her style, but this book is never "whiny" or "sappy" and what constitutes a great artist is obviously subjective...As artists and human beings, I think we are all "teetering on an edge" from time to time,and that is why I have an art journal. It is a safe place to explore things that are going on in my life. I am a huge fan of Randi's work and her style is very honest and raw. As an avid art journaler and a collector of many mixed media art books, this is one that has me going back to it again and again. That is the sign of a great book.



5. This is a great set of inspirational items. I love the stories that come on the cards and the journal is beautiful and inspirational too. Many fun and interesting ideas that I can't wait to try. This set was purchased for our 11-year-old son to use for art projects with homeschooling. I think the cards and journal will provide great starting points for him to do projects with.
   
   Thanks, Randi!!

5 comments about Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills.

1. Fabulous book for all the Deadwood fanatics.Loved reading all the background stories of the actors.Having just visited Deadwood had to have this book for our library. Highly recommended..



2. This book is gorgeous!! Fans of the show will very much enjoy the stories and pictorials. A+++



3. This is a fun read. It's full of insights that require thought as well as stories about the real and ficticious characters of Deadwood. If you enjoyed the series you'll enjoy reading and having this book.



4. Great book! Showed and compared the real history of Deadwood to the movie. Went behind the scenes to talk about the movie. Enjoyed it tremendously!



5. What you would never hear in school or any other way. A fascinating piece of history ignored by main stream, but typically American.

No comments about Wedding Photography NOW!: A Fresh Approach to Shooting Modern Nuptials (A Lark Photography Book).

5 comments about The Art of Digital Wedding Photography: Professional Techniques with Style (Amphoto).

1. This book sets itself apart by providing the exposure information of every photo, and when relevant, the lighting information too (think the cake shots). This alone makes it a keeper because it allows you to better visualize yourself as the photographer. For instance, the focal length tells you where you would have been standing.
   
   Another notable strength of this book is the coverage of a wide variety of techniques. For example, those who have come to rely on auto-focus cameras may struggle on the dance floor. Not if you know the "zone focusing" technique highlighted in this book.
   
   In general, I find the coverage adequate and the photos inspiring. Some reviewers fault the postprocessing part of the book but really it is just a gallery demonstration of what can be done easily with photoshop filters. The subjects of postprocessing and retouching are better covered in other books.
   
   I highly recommend this book and its pre-digital predecessor for those who are already familiar with photography but want to get started at weddings.



2. Stunning images and inspiration here! Get this book! And get Glen Johnson's too. The only thing you will find that is a bit odd (but it also makes me feel good in a way, shows pros like Bambi have the same struggles as me!) is that quite a few of the sample images have problems - too dark, blurry or both dark and fuzzy. This is the same problem I have in dark, church settings.
   
   This may not be the place for it, but can anyone recommend a good book on ON CAMERA flash photography (using hot shoe, on and off camera external flashes)? I love 'Understanding Exposure; Revised Edition', every photography needs to read that! But when you add a speedlite (Canon, Nikon or other) the rules change and everything tends to be way too dark, or way over exposed. Anyone found a book that helps with that? For now, it is just trial and error for me, even with the super, ETTL powers that come with our super modern flashes. I don't want to but a Quantum light when I struggle with even mastering the manufactures flash.



3. This book has excellent recommendations and techniques for capturing the most beautiful wedding photos. The pictures published in this book alone are worth the cost of the book, IMO. They are beautiful and give great ideas. She tells you exactly how she captured the photo although I would've liked some more technical info on some of the photos. I highly recommend this book.



4. If you are a photographer, you know perfectly well that no book is going to teach you much of the style you develop on your own. It is great for general ideas, but you really should be able to see who you are working with and figure out what kind of shots will suit the couple. I doubt that there are many brides that will appreciate a picture like the one on the front cover of this book.



5. If you're looking for a book that illustrates wedding photography in broad strokes, this book is fine. It talks about breaking the day down into different sections, what the photographer likes to have in her bag, some post-processing filters she uses, etc... However the treatment is on the shallow end in detail.
   
   On the back of the book it says "... to inspire any bride-to-be and the photographer on her special day." I think as long as your not looking for more than inspiration, this book will be fine, however it does not really go into technical depth on the challenges and techniques to handle those challenges that a wedding photographer will encounter.
   
   It's really aimed more at inspiration than instruction.

5 comments about Master Guide for Underwater Digital Photography.

1. I bought this for my scuba diving photographer husband as a present. He said it is an excellent book as he leafed through it. Then he sat down to read it immediately. That's quite a positive reaction for him.
   
   Denise



2. good basic intro to digital underwater photos and equipment



3. Found this book very helpful. Have some experience with underwater digital photography but found the explainations and examples very helpful. Took it to Palau...and left it with the captain who kept picking it up to read. So am ordering my replacement!



4. Very disappointing. I was hoping for a more informative book. This was pretty basic photography. The previous reviews were misleading for me. This was a waste of money.



5. This book is fine for point and shoot, and non-D-SLR cameras. It does have some inaccurate information - at least, information that most underwater photo pros disagree with. It has very limited information for those who are using D-SLR cameras.

No comments about Canon EOS 40D: The Rocky Nook Manual.

5 comments about Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 Digital Field Guide.

1. This very clearly written book goes with me in my camera bag all the time.
   
   Pete b



2. I have read a great deal of this book and I am very satisfied about the new things that I have learned to use this excellent camera.
   I recommend this book to every one who is buying or has bought this camera.



3. This book is a good companion for the Sony A100 DSLR, it allows you to quickly learn the controls, features and settings that will let you get the most from the camera and accessories.
   
   There are many color figures showing the settings and their effects on the photographs.
   
   The beginning of the book is a quick overview of the camera's controls, features, and modes to get you started. Once you have mastered the fundamentals, the next sections focus on specific modes and settings, with examples showing how they affect the photos that you take.
   
   The book explains basic photographic concepts and how to apply them using the cameras features. It lists most situations that you are likely to encounter, including sections on infrared, product, and waterfall photography. As well as how to setup and use the camera's features to get the best results.
   
   As an added benefit to this guide, there is a chapter covering use of the software that comes with the camera, and other tools available to make adjustments and catalog your photographs.
   
   Overall this book covers all the information that you will need to know to get the most out of your Sony A100. In the end you will find yourself with a whole new level of knowledge about your camera as well as the inspiration to go out and take more photos.



4. I purchased this guide several months after I began using my new Sony A-100 DSLR. I am sorry I waited. The manual packed with the camera is complete and accurate. It covers the technical aspects of the camera, whereas this guide covers both the technical and the techniques in getting the best results with unique features of the Sony A-100. This guid is in constant use by me. Old Guy In Arizona



5. This is my first Digital SLR, and my first field guide to go with it. It's quick, easy, and will get you rolling in no time.

2 comments about The Great Wall: From Beginning to End.

1. This book is in fact a logical and photographical study of the Great Chinese Wall (restored parts as well as all other parts). The restored parts nearby Bejing will probably be known by many tourists, but this book opens the way to all the other and lesser known parts of this world heritage monument. After reading this book I intend to pay a visity to some of these lesser known parts together with a visit to the Longmen caves.
   This book is certainly to be recommended .



2. This book is as complete as anyone could want. It combines excellent photography and known history of the construction with commentary on the current area and the people of the regions it traverses. Highly recommended.

5 comments about Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph.

1. I bought this book as a birthday gift for my twenty-one year old niece. She is a photographer who would very much like to take photographs professionally. I read about Diane Arbus in a news story because there was a movie which was recently released into theaters, which gave a fictional account of her life. She seemed like a very strong woman, with a lot of the same tastes as my niece. When I got the book it was wrapped, and I was a little disappointed. But when I gave it to her, I had a chance to look through it. The photographs are top-notch, and striking. Arbus' subject matter and composition are striking. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in photography.



2. It is not overstating the case to say that creating these photographs cost Diane Arbus her life, her suicide followed soon after they were assembled. When you study them, (and you study them, you don't look at them), you quickly understand why. Arbus was a brittle and emotionally volatile woman long before taking these haunting images, the product of a privileged upbringing who cut her teeth in the world of fashion photography, making perfect-looking people look even more perfect. Having refined her technical skills she ventured into the opposite side of that world, seeking out the people society hid and desperately tried to forget.
   
   Arbus said famously that most of us live in fear of a traumatic disaster while her subjects had already endured theirs and were, in a sense, aristocrats as a consequence - free from the fear of being unwanted - secure in the knowledge that they most certainly were unwanted. Arbus was so obsessed with presenting unadulterated reality that she never cropped her photos, indeed, the "live area" of the prints goes beyond the photo and includes some of the film's border - to prove the picture wasn't cropped. She dove into the dark side like an obsessive child at a circus freak show, nothing was disturbing enough to satisfy her and even the commonplace became bizarre by the time she was done with it.
   
   Arbus was passionate about photographing the mentally retarded, but giants, transsexuals, twins, triplets, skinheads, nudists and other bits of social flotsam and jetsam lured her as well. Whether it was a boy holding hand grenades or a teenage couple looking like creepy miniaturized adults, Diane Arbus gravitated for the slice of humanity certain to engender revulsion. Her genius lay in the ability to bring nothing to the proceedings, she approached her subjects on their own terms. Because she did this, the subjects did not "rise" to meet the camera, they remained fixed in their personal nightmares. This made for profound, well-crafted photographs. Arbus didn't see beauty or pathos in her subjects, simply their reality. She invited us to behold what we dread and honor the dignity of her subjects. We are able to do that because we are more or less healthy, and because we can close the book when it becomes too painful; she could not.
   
   Every Arbus photograph is a self-portrait; every lost, hideous freak was Diane Arbus looking in the mirror. For the most part it seems that the people in her pictures survived her completely unsentimental scrutiny, she did not. What's more unsettling is that the popularity of these pictures gave rise to a wave of young copycat photographers who thought it was "cool" to photograph the disadvantaged, disabled, and mentally ill. The copycats never understood that for it to be art you have to care, you have to get involved. Arbus got too involved.



3. I first came across "An Aperture Monograph" by accident, many years ago. The images were astonishing, and when I later read Susan Sontag's famous essay, I immediately recognized the photographer she was referring to. Arbus' images are unforgettable, and do not diminish in power with time. Wisely, those in control of her estate have not released any of these works as posters, t-shirts, or other consumer items -- you have to buy the book or attend an exhibit if you want to see them. It's possible that the artist's sensibility is so powerful that even with repeated viewing, the photographs would retain their power to surprise.
   
   The exhibit "A Family Album" (currently at the Portland Museum of Art) contains several of Arbus' proof sheets. They demonstrate that Arbus (like many photographers) took many shots of the same subject, in similar poses, before choosing the one image that expressed what she wished to convey. What she was searching for was not so much a dwarf, a transvestite, twins, or any other subject, but her own artistic vision. Sometimes these are unhappy people in opulent surroundings, or people we might think should be miserable and hopeless, conveying a strange sense of command.
   
   It would be a trite observation to say that each of these photographs implies a "story" behind the subject. Any photograph can do that. We are, of course, curious about them. Why do so many of the couples seem distant from each other? What is the older man doing with the boy on the park bench? Others are deliberately suggestive: the nude couple in the forest clearly evokes Adam and Eve; the flower girl at a wedding, a fairy princess emerging from the mist. What saves them from appearing posed or artificial (which they certainly were) is Arbus' ability to give the simultaneous impression that these were candid snapshots. This multi-level presence is the mark of a true artist, in total control of her medium.
   
   The book concludes with several untitled photographs taken at a home for the developmentally disabled. The first of these shows two elderly women, the first couple in the book who seemed truly present with each other, and happy. The final photograph, of a masked woman leading a group through a field, suggests nothing less than the progress of civilization itself.
   
   Arbus' work forces the viewer to look at the world and themselves more deeply. The most apt description is from Rilke's poem, Torso of an Archaic Apollo:
   
   "...nor would this star have shaken the shackles off,
   bursting with light, until there is no place
   that does not see you. You must change your life."



4. A rather interesting, yet democratic photographer, Diane Arbus was an individual who was never afraid. She was a motivational and influential photographer whose life possessed no limits. Her subject matter was unique in that the pictures she took were on the abnormalities of life. These subjects centered mostly on freaks such as midgets, drag queens, giants, hookers, nudists, and drugees. Taking pictures such as these shows that she was a person who was never afraid to display the irregularities of life to the world around us.

   Diane Arbus lived life one day, one moment at a time. In this book, I get the feeling that her pictures show a meaning in the way she captured life, not just focusing on the photograph alone. Her subjects depicted on each page makes the viewer wonder how she got herself as well as her subjects in that position. Were they cooperative or not? Did she tell them to strike a pose or did they do it on their own? Each of her pictures in the book have a story behind it and some would seem more interesting than others. From her book, I see that the significance of her life and her photography is through this quote "The thing that's most important to know is that you never know. You're always sort of feeling your way."




5. The photography of Diane Arbus has always intrigued me. Her photographs are beautiful to me not because of the composition or lighting or any tools a photographer might use. They intrigue me because of her subject matter and even more so because of the intentions behind her subject matter. She takes pictures of people that are not considered beautiful, people that are "freaks" or "weirdos", or in some way different. She wants the viewer to identify with her subject in some way. In a way she takes the ugly, the thing that you're afraid to look at on the street and forces you to look at it and beyond that see it as art. She is "not evading facts, not evading what it really looks like". I agree with her purpose. It is best to show thing as they really are and to photograph something familiar or something often looked at is sort of boring to me.

   For her, taking pictures was not about the final image - because she believed that anything you plan never turns out the way you intend anyways - but it was about the experience. It was about learning and making connections with her subjects. This was interesting to me because I never thought of photography that way. Mostly when I photograph I am so concerned with the final product, but now I realize that I actually enjoy the process of taking the pictures and dislike the developing. So I see photography in the same way, it is some how meditative and the actual action of photographing helps me release a certain kind of creative energy that I harbor.