5 comments about Henri Cartier-Bresson: Scrapbook.

1. At first view it was very strange to see such tiny (9X12 cm) photos at large pages.Then you become to realize the author's plan to merge you into the world of HCB and you live his life reading this book as if with your pocket full of those small scrap pictures. Very recommended
   
   Armen



2. For a photographer, one of the few necessary books. HCB enacted a miracle in the 1930s w/his Leica, and here's the record of how this genius did it--a record that makes his accomplishment seem only that much more extraordinary. I think the printing of the book could have been a shade better, but that's mere grousing. If you want to understand late 20th-century photography, start here.



3. I have liked HCB for about six years. I first saw his picture where a man, caught in mid-air,jumps across a puddle. I still think that this is one of the best photographs ever made.
   In the scrapbook, the reader gets to see the many different shots, that made up the bundle from which one image got selected to be published.
   While quite a few of the images not selected have their own charm, the finally published image does usually stand. A great look behind the scene of HCB photos, but also a great visual retrospective of his life.
   Excellent book with superbly printed photographs.



4. Most photos are much smaller than a full page - I returned this book.



5. One of the most profound books to come out from such an eminent photographer. Long due and much awaited. You can never get tired of looking at his work.

5 comments about The Tao of Photography: Seeing Beyond Seeing.

1. Not only are the images inspiring but the book has so much insightful wisdom in the art of photography. I've improved and grown in my creativity since reading this. Highly Recommended.



2. I think the central theme is good. I learned a bit about the Tao, and I like the parallels the author draws between the Tao and good photography. By the end I found some of it repetitive, but overall I enjoyed his thesis and found it thought provoking.



3. If you want to learn which f stop to use for a picture at the beach, don't read this book. If you want to learn what "ISO Rating" means, go somewhere else. If your pictures now are decent - well focused & exposed - but they seem to look like all the others, and lack _something_, then this book may help you find that something.
   
   I had two pictures that I knew were excellent. I could feel it. They stood over the rest, but I didn't know why! I couldn't make more like them. If you have that frustration, then READ THIS BOOK! Now. Then look what happens to your pictures. They will be different. Mine were definitely better.
   
   Good luck,
   Jay



4. This inspirational publication gives a refreshing and unadulterated alternative to approaching photography as an artist, amateur, professional - indeed any combination one percieves oneself. This book speaks to all levels of photographers regardless of age, skill, financial resources or any other categories that may exist.



5. I recently read The Tao of Photography by Philippe Gross and S Shapiro. This is, by far, the best book I have found on how to allow the photograph to find you, rather than the other way around. I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in thinking outside the box, even if you don't have much interest in Taoism as a philosophy. This book might indeed change your views on photography and Taoism both.

5 comments about The Photograph as Contemporary Art (World of Art).

1. Excellent book for anyone interested in photography. Even more beneficial when you begin to get serious about your photographs.



2. I am a photographer. I also live in New York City where I wander through art galleries displaying photographs with which I have a hard time coming to grips. Charlotte Cotton's book seemed to be aimed right at me.
   
   What distinguishes a contemporary art photograph from other beautiful photographs is not always clear, but like Supreme Court Justice Stewart, I know it when I see it. From what the author suggests, it may be that contemporary art photography is less concerned with the form and more with the content, and that viewers are meant to be semiologists decoding what a photograph stands for.
   
   Cotton begins her book with an introduction that includes a taxonomy of contemporary art photography, and to the extent that classifying an object helps us to know and understand it, the introduction alone justifies the book. Surprisingly, rather than look at style or subject matter, she organizes the book based upon the photographers' motivations and working practices. For example one of the classes is pictures of events that have been specifically organized to be photographed while another is pictures that aim to reproduce or refer back to something in the history of photography and other arts.
   
   Each of the classes is allocated a chapter, and allocates a paragraph each to the work several artists, along with a representative photograph. Cotton explains how the photograph fits into the genre and explains something of the meaning of the work. Most of the photographs are just large enough to provide some appreciation of the work and the explanations are as concise as possible.
   
   The book is meant to be a survey and so is more useful for providing a framework for understanding the overall categories than appreciating any individual picture. It should also be noted that the book does not cover a great deal of recent popular photography like the works of Annie Liebovitz or Art Wolfe. I expect that these photographers are seen as working in an older tradition and that they are not "post modern", again, whatever that means.
   
   For the individual who is trying to get his arms around the direction and meaning of much of modern art photography, as well as for people who have dismissed contemporary art photography as unfathomable, this book will provide a good introduction, particularly since Cotton doesn't seem to be tied to the language of deconstruction, but rather speaks without jargon. Yet this is a field of such great variety that even if one read all of the hundreds of books listed by the author for further reading, one would have only scratched the surface.



3. This book offers an understandable discussion of a complex subject. Recommended!



4. I learnt a lot from this book on what is happening out there in the world of photography today, boundaries are being crossed, there actually is a revolutiopn in the arts in general at the moment, which I find out to be much much more exciting than most people think, especially with photography. I happen to be a photographer myself and I strongly suggest this book to people who think they have mastered the subject and thought they had an open mind.....there is still a long way to go and loads of arenas still unexplored unlike what we used to think that it has all been done before but no, this book shows how we are still pretty much at the beginning of our adventure in this subject, we can break down a lot of our old beliefs that were gathering cob webs.



5. This book is a great introduction to understanding the world of contemporary photography. I have appreciated how the chapters are set-up as a look into the main branches of contemporary photography. If you are a photographer, it can help you discover more people who are doing work which relates to your work or inspires you. Because it has information about so many different photographers it cannot cover them all as thoroughly as one might like; however, it acts as a wonderful springboard into further research. I have found it very useful in searching for great works of photography.

5 comments about Subway Art.

1. I grew up on the south side of Chicago during the 80s and had many friends who were "taggers" and got up every chance they got. They had spray-cans, hollowed-out deodorant sticks somehow replaced with ink, fat markers, Griffin, and who knows what else. Though I myself wasnt a graffiti artist or writer or tagger, this book is a great ride down memory lane for those of us who grew up on the streets. For those of us of a certain age, this book, "Subway Art", along with movies like Breakin' I AND II, Beat Street, original hip-hop and old school house music were all of a specific time and place. This book will make you want to break out the Pumas with the fat laces, bring out the tile and start back-spinnin', but it is also one of the the earliest, most definitive and detailed books on graffiti ever.



2. Wow, this book just took me back to my days in the Bronx and the 2 line.
   All the greats are in this one..Doing those T and B's and hitting the yards, and dodging the DT's Now those were the great days of the BRONX.
   Long live
   MIKE170..TAV 1..ALE..AJAX..SUPER SEX..BLADE..COMET..FUZZ..POPEYE..
   MIKE 170....



3. I started doing graff back in the late 90's; I was 14 at the time and to be honest with you; like all great writers we were all toy's at one time but has time went by and we got better with our skills, we all have read this book at one time or another. On with the book review.
   This book is just simply AMAZING...you have old school pieces from the Godfather of Graffiti: SEEN, BLADE (which he has painted 5,000 trains during the golden age of the MTA in NYC; since I saw the graffiti scene on the trains at the tender age of six and seven in NYC, I was simply amazed at that age on how people could sneak in at night and do this with spray-paint but I digress), LADY PINK, and the list goes on. If your just starting out in graffit, this is a great book on to connect letters, bubble letter's, block's, and some old school color schemes, though I would not call it the Bible of Graffiti, it is pretty darn close to it. Check it out.



4. Subway Art. What can I say? This, Style Wars, Beat Street, Break Dance... they all had their influence on me (& a whole generation) back in the day.
   
   Hip Hop isn't what it used to be, though. Most of what we hear these days is mixed up with R'n'B, commercialised, repackaged and shipped for your dissatisfaction. If you ask me... when it comes to Hip Hop, stick with the old school.
   
   I was brought up in Melbourne, Australia, and did quite a bit of graffiti there during the 1980s. Melbourne had plenty of weird & wonderful characters who were into graff back then. The vast majority have gone their separate ways. But there's always the rare psycho who's still bombing (I'm not referring to the younger generation - but to old school dudes who are still around). There's also those who got into graphic art and made a career for themselves out of graff.
   
   I recommend checking out some of the original Vaughn Bode cartoons for yourself through a simple Google search.
   
   Additional to this, I recommend Getting Up: Subway Graffitti in New York" by Craig Castleman. It has some pictures of trains and so on, but it is more for the reader. A copy was stolen from a local library near me - go figure.
   
   And if you're ever in NYC... Check out the Hall of Fame. It's located on the corner of 106th Street and Park Avenue.



5. This classic book, along with "Broken Windows: Graffiti NYC" is all you need to know about NYC graff. Anyone up needs both of these books. Knowledge is king!

5 comments about Joel Sternfeld: American Prospects.

1. Every thing it's all rigth, but
   Not to send to me never more with DHL, it is a true disaster.
   I order 3 items the same day.(My country it's Italy)
   The first: Uncommon places by Stephen Shore it has been delivered after single 6 days.(thanks,thanks, thanks, thanks, UPS)
   The other two "5X7" by William Eggleston and "American Prospects" by Joel Sternfeld. It has been delivered after very 16 days seeeexteeeeen days!!!!
   (The DHL disaster!!!!!)
   However, thanks Amazon
   Gastone Scarabello



2. The title of this review suggests that I am exaggerating, but I promise that I am not. This book of photography blew me away the first time I opened it. How had I gone for so long without hearing of Joel Sternfeld?
   
   This book is full of large, beautifully printed color photographs of a quality I couldn't have expected. Each image is beautifully thought out and perfectly executed. The photographs are sometimes humorous, sometimes somber, and always carry a visual impact. Stephen Shore is an obvious point of reference; both photographers were working with similar materials right around the same time, both traveling the country capturing their view of America. I find Sternfeld's photographs to be placed on a somewhat grander scale, while Shore's photos suggest a more offhand manner. Both have a permanent place on my bookshelf.
   
   I can't recommend this book highly enough, I suggest that anyone interested in serious photography buy it right away.



3. What a refreshing twist on the usual coffee table photography book. Sternfeld's photographs of the natural and manmade environment are so interesting. They almost have an old-fashioned hand-colored postcard-feel to them, but the images are often startlingly futuristic. Great contrasts of the ugly and rusting and vacant with beautiful natural landscapes. The publishers did a wonderful job of cleanly presenting the photos to speak for themselves and putting all the verbiage up front.



4. JOEL IS A GOOD NAME AND THIS IS A FABOULOS WORK.This man is travelling a lot!!!I want only says that J.Sternfeld is able to meet people and discover particulary little object too that can be fundamental for go inside these pictures,he use colour in a cool way too,soft traditional in colours but in meanings is not really traditional expecially if we related his work in the world of landscape's photography.He use landscape like it was reportage.It is a way for put something else inside.That picture could be sometime strong somentime enchanting but always are intresting me.Put something strange in your picture and maybe that landscape could change his own value.
   I like a lot
   ciaoooooo



5. if you want to know where the comtemporary obsession with large format color "street" work came from, this is it. newer books, by artists like alec soth and other color documentary artists, are excellent, important books, but it must at least be noted that the true groundbreakers were working a generation ago, putting out these kinds of books before it was the accepted trend. and simply put, this work along with shore's 'uncommon places' and eggleston's 'guide', are still, in my opinion, unsurpassed.
   
   on top of that, the size and reproduction quality of this book are mind-blowing. i can't imagine any photography fan not loving this book, or any serious student not wanting it (for a decent price, of course, which this actually is with the discount.)

4 comments about Magic Lantern Guides: Sony DSLR A700 (Magic Lantern Guides).

1. If you are looking for a straight forward and simple approach to appreciating and applying the intricacies of the Sony A700, this is an extremely useful tool. It fills in the always present user manual gaps and simplifies the complexities of the menus and many features into more comprehensible bits.
   
   For example, it clearly explains such essential functions as White Balance,ISO, Histograms, Drive Mode, light metering and focusing nuances, I was able to immediately begin applying lessons learned from this book with the camera in improving my results in low light situations.
   
   One could wish for more comparative photos and more detailed views of on-camera features, but that is a mere quibble compared to the useful information designed to quickly elevate one in mastering the many capabilities of this full-featured SLR.



2. Disappointing. Doesn't add much over the manual that came with my A700. Not as useful as some reviewers have implied.



3. I just bought by Alpha 700 a few months ago. The manual is not complete. This book is. It has plenty of good tips on when to use different features such as the dynamic range feature. A camera like this is quite complex, it is nice to have a handy guide like this book to help guide you through the use of all of the camera's features.



4. I found this book to be very informative and helpful. I bought it because I had previously purchased a Magic Lantern Camera Guide by this same author and it was also very helpful. The A700 is a fantastic but somewhat complicated camera, and this guide cleared up much of the mystery.

No comments about Mastering Digital Exposure and HDR Imaging: Understanding the Next-Generation of Digital Cameras.

No comments about Jackie Warner's Workout 2009 Calendar.

No comments about Take Your Best Shot: Tim Grey Tackles Your Digital Darkroom Questions.

5 comments about Deke McClelland's Look & Learn Photoshop 6.

1. I have been reading this book for the last 30 minutes and it's one wow after another. I just turned to my dog and said "This book is amazing!" hehe.

   Seriously. The dive in and "look what you can do with ps" style of this book is very impressive. I bought it as an alternative to the more advanced wow book. This is the one I was looking for. 4 thumbs up!




2. I **LOVE** this book! I've been using Photoshop since version 4 and i'm self-taught. I am not an expert yet but then i don't consider myself a novice either.

   This book is for everyone. What i most like about this book is the easy style and sample pages, The quick shortcuts to just about doing everything, and the explanation of why one tool works better than another.

   I just attended a 2-day Photoshop class and the instructor highly recommended this book. at first, i thought that it was for the very beginner, but it's some much more. It's like a dictionary... you keep it for reference.

   as i glanced at the instructor's book, i noticed that it was truly worn. she said that she's had to buy a second copy because she's used it so much. you can't possibly memorize everything about photoshop.. so why not have the best resource in town?? This BOOK!




3. I love this book! I wish all software books were written this well. If you took 20 Photoshop books at random and put them through some magic process that took all the good stuff out and condensed them into 1 easy to read, well-organized, no fluff, no 1500 pages and 4 pounds of paper book, this would be what comes out.

   When I picked this book off them shelf and started reading it, it was immediately obvious that the layout and organization were very good. The more I've used the book, the more I appreciate what it has to offer. Simply, a superior reference to Photoshop 6! It's really a "textbook" example of how to present information in a logical and easy to use fashion.

   I didn't find having the images in black and white a problem at all. In the context of this book, color images would not add much information at all, although I'm sure they would add a lot to the price.

   A superb reference book, well-written and organized. The Adobe user guide and Classroom in a book are now relegated to the back of the bookshelf.

   Please please please...software book writers, use this book as a model of how to create your future books. This book shows well that less is often more. People are not buying software books by the pound, they are really more interested in quality information, not quantity!!

   I'd like to give this book 10 stars, but 5 will have to suffice.




4. Photoshop is a deep and complex program and this book makes it (almost) simple. The book has several strengths -- first is McClelland's astonishing knowldge, next is his ability to explain complex things in terms even a beginner can understand, third is the brilliant way the information is organized. Face it, no matter how much knowlege a book contains, if you can't find the knowledge it's useless to you. The publisher and book designer make McClelland's information always easy to find, even if you are looking for some obscure feature like using the Color Range command to make a mask. No matter what your skill level, this book will open the Photoshop world further to you. I'm a graphics professional and I have a dozen Photoshop books on my shelf -- and this is the one I always pull out.



5. you can start learning photoshop fast and easy. This book is suitable for beginners. It's full of illustrations and pictures, and to the point. In addition, you don't have to read a lot. it's a quick start. it's so informative and you can use it as manual too. even filters are covered, what are they and how you can use them step by step. good work Deke.