Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => The Coffee Corner => Topic started by: Isaac on December 09, 2012, 04:03:33 pm

Title: New Books at the local public library
Post by: Isaac on December 09, 2012, 04:03:33 pm
Seems like the local public library has put some good photography books on the shelves this week, so I thought I'd share.

Looking at Ansel Adams: The Photographs and the Man (http://books.google.com/books?id=SsGMtgAACAAJ) -- '...he saw Ansel taking a photograph of Precipice Lake on the Sierra Club High Trip in 1932 and rushed to set up his own camera next to Ansel's, sure that there must be something worth recording. It was not until several years later that he saw Frozen Lake and Cliffs. He lamented, "Jeez! Why didn't I see that!" '

Michael Freeman's Digital Photography Handbook (http://books.google.com/books?id=XubVygAACAAJ) -- I was surprised how well this book managed to be comprehensive, the best description I can come up with is a contradiction in terms - a detailed overview.

The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos: The Best Techniques for Showcasing Your Handmade Creations (http://books.google.com/books?id=YXE-YgEACAAJ) -- Of course, crafty people use aluminium foil for reflectors, reversed gift wrap for seamless backgrounds, and parchment paper for diffusers.

Puppyhood: Life-size Portraits of Puppies at 6 Weeks Old (http://books.google.com/books?id=15hbuAAACAAJ) -- If you like hearing "Aw! That's so cute!"
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Riaan van Wyk on December 11, 2012, 03:17:44 am
I wish the ones here had books of the nature you describe Isaac. Sigh.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on December 11, 2012, 01:53:35 pm
I don't know who's making the book suggestions, but both Mountain View and Sunnyvale (http://www.westerncity.com/Western-City/November-2010/Sunnyvale-rsquos-Investment-Increases-Efficiency-and-Improves-Library-Services/) public libraries do seem to be thriving.

Wonderfully, they also allow books from libraries across California (and Nevada) to be brought to the local library and borrowed.
Title: Light--Science & Magic
Post by: Isaac on December 11, 2013, 02:08:57 pm
About a year later and I'm posting some more book titles. There's certainly no shortage of variety in books about photography.

Light--Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting (http://books.google.com/books?id=ZMZbaU_LbY4C) -- "The effective size of the light source... Three types of reflection... the family of angles..."

Beyond Snapshots: How to Take That Fancy DSLR Camera Off "Auto" and Photograph Your Life like a Pro (http://books.google.com/books?id=5RiYgDrDDi8C) -- Family friendly.

The Elements of Photography: Understanding and Creating Sophisticated Images (http://books.google.com/books?id=NyFO-U6ZRAEC) -- "...the grammar of photographic language... the frame... effects on focus and depth of field... effects relative to time and motion... the physical media..."
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Rob C on December 11, 2013, 03:21:11 pm
Strikes me as somewhat sad.

Reminds me of the British Journal of Photography, and a couple of their articles on the publishing of photographic books - at least, in Britain. One of the articles was about the late Bob Carlos Clarke, and another one was, I think, about the equally late Michael Busselle, where both concluded that the books eventually getting made pretty much had to be how-to ones. (Neither photographer was 'late' at the time of the interviews.)

Seems few publishers had the belief in art for art's sake...

As I said when I came in: pretty damned sad comment on the industry.

Seems France and Germany have a more enlightened approach to this.

Rob C
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on December 11, 2013, 03:33:10 pm
Don't confuse a couple of book titles I chose to post with any kind of indication that there's a lack of photobooks.

"The Best Photobooks of the Year (http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2307981/the-best-photobooks-of-the-year-martin-parr-takes-his-pick): Martin Parr takes his pick."
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Rob C on December 11, 2013, 06:06:17 pm
Don't confuse a couple of book titles I chose to post with any kind of indication that there's a lack of photobooks.

"The Best Photobooks of the Year (http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2307981/the-best-photobooks-of-the-year-martin-parr-takes-his-pick): Martin Parr takes his pick."




Well, if you ask Parr, you deserve what you get. I wouldn't take one of those as a gift.

Rob C
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Telecaster on December 11, 2013, 11:47:09 pm
For me it's been a banner year for photobooks. Finally got a copy of Saul Leiter's (RIP) Early Color. Finally got a copy of Pentii Sammallahti's Here Far Away. Two stonking good collections of Vivian Maier. A new Salgado. A new Burtynsky. A new (and sadly elegiac) Nick Brandt. Nathan Benn's Kodachrome Memory. A collection of Emily Dickinson poems consisting of photographs of the original manuscripts. A collection of Bruce Springsteen photos by Deb Rothenberg (a friend of a friend). Good times!

-Dave-
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Rob C on December 12, 2013, 04:35:07 am
One of the reasons that I used to buy French PHOTO every issue was their book review. Taschen was quite prolific and so were a couple of French publishers too. Unfortunately, few of those books that I fancied were available here for inspection, and only the German Taschen had a Spanish distributor.

As a result, there was little that the local bookshop, owned by an expat Frenchman, could do to help. Internet? Really? I have been disappointed by so many books that I have actually held in my hands in bookshops and libraries that I simply haven't the confidence in any of the publishers. And I wouldn't like to lumber any small retailer with a refused delivery. Worse, the French chap had to close shop due to lack of business, and yet this corner of the island is reputed to be a cultural hotspot!

One of my joys on holiday drives back to Britain, other than the French parts, was spending a morning or afternoon in Waterstone's, a wonderful bookshop that dealt very competently with photography. I particularly like travel and photographic monographs, but sometimes, the printing quality was quite awful and I simply wouldn't buy. I'm going back maybe nine years now, but even then there seemed to be a rash of published work from people of whom I had never heard and, worse, whose work was, for me, quite abysmal. One book I bought on trust, Sirens of Costasmeralda(sic) was by Marco Glaviano, a snapper whose work I had long admired. The book wasn't yet available in Britain, and an English neighbour who comes out here regularly had a business associate on holiday in Italy. He asked the chap to see if he could find the book there, which he did, and it then came to me via the first friend's family. What a disappointment for troubling so many people! I realised that parts of the same cloud formation had been cloned over numerous photographs, the girls were shot so stiffly and stylistically that they were caricatures (my opinion, naturally) and, all in all, had I seen the thing first, I'd have passed. Worse, it wasn't cheap! ;-)

If you have the luxury of good bookshops in your neck of the woods, rejoice: you are lucky indeed.

Rob C
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Rob C on December 12, 2013, 09:42:38 am
Bookshops in general are thin on the ground, let alone good ones. The market has changed, the internet rules.

Having said that there are often book stalls at markets selling the likes of Taschen at hugely discounted prices.


Which would indicate that many other people have found themselves nursing damaged pockets too!

Part of the Internet problem, from here at least, is Internet delivery: those companies with the trucks are based in Palma, 60 klicks away, ring you up at the last minute if they happen to be here, making other deliveries in your little town, and if you are not here, too bad. Making postal returns is also a disaster: I wanted to send something by post, insured, and was told sorry, you can only do that from Palma...add 120k of fuel to your costs, pay for parking when you get there, probably an obligatory lunch too, and you may as well seek out one of those used books dealers, but hey, they are in Palma too!

Like cameras, books are hands-on products that require real shops.

Rob C
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on December 12, 2013, 12:18:45 pm
I rejoice in the luxury of good public libraries.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Rob C on December 12, 2013, 02:26:34 pm
I rejoice in the luxury of good public libraries.

Back in the day, so did I. That's where I saw my first Haskins and Hamilton books. Libraries, for me, now consist of 'charity' shops which recycle tourists' left-over travel junk!

I stopped reading novels etc. several years ago. Perhaps that's why I type so much. Alternative therapy. But I made up for that as a child, when I read all the stuff that I could find - and there was lots of it around. Kids today can't always say that; maybe they don't even want to read - or can't, poor sods.

But for me, the best way is to own books; the few I have I'd guard until the bitter end.

;-(

Rob C
Title: Gregory Heisler: 50 Portraits
Post by: Isaac on December 13, 2013, 06:25:36 pm
Just appeared on the new books shelf -- "Gregory Heisler: 50 Portraits (http://books.google.com/books?id=q5hxY7zjC7kC): Stories and Techniques from a Photographer's Photographer"


fwiw the local library book shelves look to be about -- 25% How To, 25% History and Collections, 50% Photobook.
Title: Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning
Post by: Isaac on April 16, 2014, 02:08:24 pm
Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning (http://books.google.com/books?id=wd0lAAAAQBAJ) -- "One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind. To live a visual life is an enormous undertaking, practically unattainable. I have only touched it, just touched it."

David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition (http://books.google.com/books?id=oCrTngEACAAJ) -- So an artist can have the curiosity to make a dozen oil paintings of the same narrow leafy track through the seasons, and then another dozen iPad sketches, and then another dozen charcoal drawings, and then another dozen multi-camera videos. Probably something to do with seeing.
Title: Fearless Genius: The Digital Revolution in Silicon Valley
Post by: Isaac on June 13, 2014, 05:11:29 pm
Fearless Genius: The Digital Revolution in Silicon Valley 1985-2000 (http://books.google.com/books?id=T3-mAwAAQBAJ) -- 'Because everyone in Silicon Valley knew that Steve Jobs, famously difficult and secretive, had given him free run of NeXT, Menuez now had an imprimatur, wich for the next dozen years became a kind of all-access backstage pass to the tech empicenter. In his words, he was "a documentary artist with freedom" to wander around at Adobe at the moment Photoshop was created, as well as Intel, Sun, NetObjects, Leiner Perkins, and Apple. ... Menuez finished fifteen years later and moved on with his 250,000 negatives...' page xii (http://books.google.com/books?id=T3-mAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PR9&dq=Fearless%20Genius&pg=PR12#v=snippet&q=%22Because%20everyone%20is%20Silicon%20Valley%22&f=false)
Title: Keeping Time: The Unseen Archive of Columbia Records
Post by: Isaac on June 14, 2014, 02:23:08 am
The Public Library: A Photographic Essay (http://books.google.com/books?id=HcaWAwAAQBAJ) -- Over the last eighteen years, photographer Robert Dawson has crisscrossed the country documenting hundreds of these endangered institutions. … from the majestic reading room at the New York Public Library to Allensworth, California's one-room Tulare County Free Library built by former slaves.

Keeping Time: The Unseen Archive of Columbia Records (http://books.google.com/books?id=nhqimQEACAAJ) --  Don Hunstein began shooting musical artists at Columbia Records full time in 1958. Throughout his distinguished career, he has shot nearly everyone on the Columbia Records list, including Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Johnny Cash, Simon & Garfunkel, Aretha Franklin, Leonard Bernstein, Dave Brubeck, Tony Bennett, and Thelonious Monk.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: stamper on June 14, 2014, 03:25:51 am
Bookshops in general are thin on the ground, let alone good ones. The market has changed, the internet rules.

Having said that there are often book stalls at markets selling the likes of Taschen at hugely discounted prices.

Amazon is an excellent library? But alas you have to pay unless you are a quick reader and return it within seven days undamaged. ;)
Title: Storytelling Techniques for Digital Filmmakers
Post by: Isaac on July 01, 2014, 10:28:53 am
Storytelling Techniques for Digital Filmmakers: Plot Structure, Camera Movement, Lens Selection, and More (http://books.google.com/books?id=Fa6wAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) -- If you come to filmmaking from a still photography background, you'll find a major difference in the approach. While the photographer chooses the camera angle to make the subject look as good as possible, the filmmaker chooses the camera angle to convey an emotion.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: PeterAit on July 01, 2014, 04:20:32 pm
Puppies? Are these the Edward Weston puppies or the Paul Strand puppies?
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on July 02, 2014, 12:10:30 pm
Do you mean to express a personal dislike of puppies as photo content or …?
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: stamper on July 04, 2014, 04:03:40 am
Isaac, have you read this? ;)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trawlers-Go-War-Paul-Lund/dp/0450011755/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404460933&sr=1-3&keywords=trawlers
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on July 04, 2014, 12:11:34 pm
"…with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion."
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: stamper on July 05, 2014, 03:55:47 am
Do you mean to express a personal dislike of puppies as photo content or …?

"…with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion."

Amen. ;D
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on July 05, 2014, 07:21:18 am
Be more charitable, it's OK to prefer kittens.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: BobDavid on July 05, 2014, 09:47:29 am
The most useful book for learning studio lighting: Light--Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting -- "The effective size of the light source... Three types of reflection... the family of angles..."

It is an excellent primer.
Title: Minor White: Manifestations of the Spirit
Post by: Isaac on October 28, 2014, 12:57:53 pm
Minor White: Manifestations of the Spirit (http://books.google.com/books?id=Xm0jAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) -- The superficial meaning is descriptive; the underlying meaning is symbolic; and the ultimate meaning is intensely personal and thus the most elusive.

One Woman 100 Faces (http://books.google.com/books?id=JzAUnwEACAAJ) -- Over the course of 22 years, Alberto has photographed Mitzi in endless fantastical guises, from otherworldy creatures to sculpture … Make-up and hair, inextricably linked create a powerful illusion that only survives in the photograph.

Cindy Sherman (http://books.google.com/books?id=iWUKnwEACAAJ) -- the artist's work recorded in photographs.

101 Top Tips for Digital Landscape Photography: Capturing great landscapes with your camera (http://books.google.com/books?id=mem5NAEACAAJ) -- Suitable for new and improving photographers.

Empire (http://books.google.com/books?id=ZbusngEACAAJ) -- …twenty-one states, hundreds of miles, 9,000 sheets of exposed 4x5 film … a vast array of items, indiscriminantly selected -- random commonplace things…

Adobe Master Class: Photoshop Inspiring artwork and tutorials by established and emerging artists (http://books.google.com/books?id=fBICKDFZhf0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=adobe+master+class&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_8hPVNvuJMKtogSci4HQCw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=adobe%20master%20class&f=false)

Adobe Master Class: Advanced Compositing in Photoshop: Bringing the Impossible to Reality (http://books.google.com/books?id=OGO8AwAAQBAJ&pg=PR10&dq=adobe+master+class&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_8hPVNvuJMKtogSci4HQCw&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=adobe%20master%20class&f=false)
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: stamper on October 29, 2014, 04:17:30 am
Minor White: Manifestations of the Spirit (http://books.google.com/books?id=Xm0jAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) -- The superficial meaning is descriptive; the underlying meaning is symbolic; and the ultimate meaning is intensely personal and thus the most elusive.

One Woman 100 Faces (http://books.google.com/books?id=JzAUnwEACAAJ) -- Over the course of 22 years, Alberto has photographed Mitzi in endless fantastical guises, from otherworldy creatures to sculpture … Make-up and hair, inextricably linked create a powerful illusion that only survives in the photograph.

Cindy Sherman (http://books.google.com/books?id=iWUKnwEACAAJ) -- the artist's work recorded in photographs.

101 Top Tips for Digital Landscape Photography: Capturing great landscapes with your camera (http://books.google.com/books?id=mem5NAEACAAJ) -- Suitable for new and improving photographers.

Empire (http://books.google.com/books?id=ZbusngEACAAJ) -- …twenty-one states, hundreds of miles, 9,000 sheets of exposed 4x5 film … a vast array of items, indiscriminantly selected -- random commonplace things…

Adobe Master Class: Photoshop Inspiring artwork and tutorials by established and emerging artists (http://books.google.com/books?id=fBICKDFZhf0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=adobe+master+class&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_8hPVNvuJMKtogSci4HQCw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=adobe%20master%20class&f=false)

Adobe Master Class: Advanced Compositing in Photoshop: Bringing the Impossible to Reality (http://books.google.com/books?id=OGO8AwAAQBAJ&pg=PR10&dq=adobe+master+class&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_8hPVNvuJMKtogSci4HQCw&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=adobe%20master%20class&f=false)

Isaac I take it you have read these books and can personally recommend them .... or some of them .... or even one of them?
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on October 29, 2014, 09:21:10 am
I've read them.

I take it you only expect me to reciprocate your un-helpfulness (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=93961.msg771596#msg771596).
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: jwstl on October 29, 2014, 11:46:56 am
I've reported your post to the moderators as is seems you are adamant on ruining another thread with your insults.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: michael on October 29, 2014, 11:52:54 am
1: Less aggression in postings please.

2: Thicker skin when reading.

Please. Otherwise good threads get locked and disappear.

Michael
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on October 29, 2014, 12:37:39 pm
I've reported your post to the moderators as is seems you are adamant on ruining another thread with your insults.

Who are you referring to? Isaac or Stamper?
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Richowens on October 29, 2014, 01:01:55 pm
  All I see here is a little brotherly banter, although a little juvenile.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on October 29, 2014, 02:52:23 pm
Please. Otherwise good threads get locked and disappear.

It is a pity that the practical response to people who get their fun from derailing or disrupting a discussion is to close the discussion -- they win.

But I don't really have a better suggestion: 5-day no-posting penalty?
Title: Digital Photography Masterclass
Post by: Isaac on December 16, 2014, 01:13:45 pm
A History of Life in 100 Fossils (https://books.google.com/books?id=zbbXnQEACAAJ) -- beautiful photographs illuminate the significance of these amazing pieces - photograph as illustration

A Painter's Progress (https://books.google.com/books?id=tfYwngEACAAJ): A Portrait of Lucian Freud -- These photographs reveal in a most intimate way the subjects and the stages of paintings in progress. - photograph as record

Digital Photography Masterclass (https://books.google.com/books?id=dSXyAAAAQBAJ) -- An information-packed mass-market manual that expects more from the reader.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: NancyP on December 31, 2014, 03:50:43 pm
I need to re-read "Light: Science and Magic" and try to replicate set-ups for practice.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: RSL on January 01, 2015, 09:37:22 am
Many of us on LuLa seem only to shoot, post, and talk about available light pictures. But there's a whole world out there that can open up to you if you learn to use strobes. I'm not talking about pack and heads or monolights. That's basically studio stuff, though most pros haul them to on-site shoots if they need them. But speedlights are easy to carry, and nowadays they're powerful and flexible. With relatively inexpensive but reliable and easy to use radio controls such as the Phottix Odin system you can hide them behind things or set them to shoot through windows and, as Gene Smith said, make them "available light."

In the past couple years I've read an awful lot of stuff on the use of flash, and I've done a bunch work with my Nikon strobes. There are some really good books on the subject out there, but the best ones I've run across are Joe McNally's: The Moment it Clicks, Hot Shoe Diaries, and Sketching Light. Joe also has a collection of two DVDs "The Language of Light" that are well worth sitting through.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: NancyP on January 02, 2015, 02:07:30 pm
Does McNally talk in general terms that "even a Canonista can understand"?   ;D

I am looking into triggers and an extra flash, after attending a good Saturday seminar on flash by wildlife photographer Greg Basco, who returns to St. Louis on occasion to visit family.

Are you happy with your Phottix Odin and do you use the matching Mitros flash?  I have considered starting with the ordinary Phottix Stratos inexpensive trigger and another el-cheapo manual flash in addition to the 580 EXII I have already. Not having to  putz with "is my optical detector in line of sight" would seem to be an advantage outside the studio.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: RSL on January 02, 2015, 03:06:49 pm
McNally is a Nikon guy, but if you know anything at all about the Canon lineup you'll realize that Canon has almost identical equipment under slightly different names: Nikon: "speedlight," Canon: "speedlite." That's how much difference there is between the company's flash equipment. For instance, Nikon has the SU-800 infrared wireless controller. Canon has the ST-E3. Both do essentially the same thing. In his books, McNally concentrates on the principles of flash. Most of the equipment he mentions is Nikon stuff, but he also gets into heavy studio equipment like pack and head and monolights when that's appropriate. Besides that, McNally has a terrific sense of humor, and it's a real pleasure to read his stuff. Sometimes I'm ROTFL.

So far, the Odin has performed flawlessly for me. The range of the thing is astonishing, and it doesn't have quirks like the Pocket Wizard, which requires a specific turn-on sequence if it's to work at all, and sometimes fails even when you follow the sequence. I don't have a Mitros, though I've thought about it. I have two Nikon SB-910's, an SB-700, and an SB-600, a collection that gets the job done. One of the things I like about the Odin is that the way its controller works is close to the way the SU-800 works.

Since I don't charge for the shoots I do in and around the retirement community where I spend winters, I don't have to worry about anybody telling me what they think the result should be. I used flashbulbs in the fifties and barely competent strobes in the sixties. Both were a pain in the rear. Then I went to pure available light for a long time. But this new stuff is a barrel of fun.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: NancyP on January 02, 2015, 03:13:00 pm
I figured that I could translate Nikon-ese (model numbers, etc) to their Canonista equivalents. Thanks. Humor helps a lot. Phottix seems to have a lot of fans and few detractors, as opposed to YongNuo, which has significant numbers of fans and of detractors (most of whom say that the flash fell apart). I am guessing that Phottix has better QC and is perhaps engineered better.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Manoli on January 02, 2015, 06:27:39 pm
Does McNally talk in general terms that "even a Canonista can understand"?   

Flash terminology is pretty much 'universal' - but if you're in doubt there's a 2nd edition of a Canon dedicated version coming out in April this year ( the 1st edition was released in 2010 but is still available).

Speedliter's Handbook: Learning to Craft Light with Canon Speedlites (2nd Edition) (http://www.amazon.com/Speedliters-Handbook-Learning-Craft-Speedlites/dp/0134007913/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1420240150&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=Speedliter%27s+Handbook%3A+Learning+to+Craft+Light+with+Canon+Speedlites+Paperback+–+17+Apr+2015)  Paperback – April 27, 2015 - Syl Arena

Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: NancyP on January 03, 2015, 11:22:21 am
I have that first version and it is great. I am studying the examples now, and am trying to look at fashion magazine ads to guess how they might have been lit.
Title: Group F.64: Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and
Post by: Isaac on January 13, 2015, 02:54:07 pm
Group F.64 (https://books.google.com/books?id=SKBOBAAAQBAJ): Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and the Community of Artists Who Revolutionized American Photography -- After years of research, I began to understand the individual members as people and artists, and the dynamics between the members that allowed them to unite as a group.

Photographer's Paradise (https://books.google.com/books?id=khWvoAEACAAJ): Turbulent America 1960-1990 -- It is with photojournalists such as Jean-Pierre [Laffont] that the myth of the foreign correspondent that has inspired so many young photographers came about. Today, his profession is in transition, and this method of work is a dying trade.

Hillary (https://books.google.com/books?id=9FDRBAAAQBAJ): The Photographs of Diana Walker -- As a photographer, sometimes you can tell when you are being led, and you wait. Other times you shoot because you know it is just what you think it is. And then there are times that are so true that you feel it in your bones and sometimes in your heart. You follow your instincts. You must, as this is who you are and why you are there.

Photography Today (https://books.google.com/books?id=Ebv7ngEACAAJ) -- A survey that provides enough photographs and photographers and context, to make a list of photo books you'd like to see.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: AreBee on January 15, 2015, 10:15:06 am
Isaac,

Have you read Picture This: How Pictures Work by Molly Bang? If not, I recommend it to you.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on January 15, 2015, 01:35:59 pm
Thanks, Slobodan recommended Picture This (https://books.google.com/books?id=9Rs6eZGTVK4C) back whenever, and the local library has a copy. (And pdf's have been ripped and posted (http://steve.muratore.tripod.com/graphic_ss_picture-this.pdf) to various web sites.)
Title: Capture the magic
Post by: Isaac on January 20, 2015, 04:52:36 pm
Capture the magic (https://books.google.com/books?id=dz64BAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) : train your eye, improve your photographic composition -- Often, while teaching workshops, I find that when I tell students to tighten up a composition, they simply zoom their lens. By doing so, they negate the effect of the focal length they originally selected. It's far better to keep the focal length (for its desired effect) and move the entire camera -- and the photographer -- either forward or back.

Part teach-by-example and part showcase of the kind-of landscape photography that LuLa members seem to like.
Title: Landmark : The Fields of Landscape Photography
Post by: Isaac on March 25, 2015, 05:18:56 pm
Landmark (https://books.google.com/books?id=kDdUnwEACAAJ) : The Fields of Landscape Photography -- Like most of my professional colleagues though, it is the man-altered, or rather, man-inhabited kind of landscape photograph that I find most stimulating, rather than the pristine, operatic visions of, say, an Ansel Adams. … With more than one hundred 'voices' in Landmark, the effect is bound to be a cacophony, I welcome it. … We are confused about the earth and our place on it. It is only right that we would find our bewilderment, mixed with our curiousity and passion for art, reflected in these plates.

Once Upon a Playground (https://books.google.com/books?id=g9ULBAAAQBAJ) : A Celebration of Classic American Playgrounds, 1920-1975 -- The variety of equipment manufactured between 1920 and 1975 turned out to be greater than I'd expected when I began this photographic project. … equipment in the shape of rocket ships, satellites, and lunar landers from the 1960s and '70s … equipment in the shape of Native American and Asian caricatures …
Title: Henri Cartier-Bresson : Here and Now
Post by: Isaac on April 01, 2015, 09:54:06 pm
Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe (https://books.google.com/books?id=NjzxAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=wagstaff%20before%20and%20after%20mapplethorpe&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=wagstaff%20before%20and%20after%20mapplethorpe&f=false) : A Biography -- That many of these early collectors happened to be gay is a detail of no small significance. Indeed, the sexuality of the collectors and curators who garnered such focus on photography … should not remain a mere footnote in art history.

Wagstaff established the marketplace for photography, for better or worse, spending unprecedented sums in the auction rooms of London and New York on a medium to which a second thought had rarely been given.
I am convinced that Wagstaff's role was equal to Szarkowski's in securing respect for photography as an art form.


* A comprehensive essay about Sam Wagstaff's impact on photography's place in the art world might have boiled down to 45 pages, but this is a 388 page gossipy biography.


Henri Cartier-Bresson (http://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/books/henri-cartier-bresson-here-and-now-hardcover) : Here and Now -- … the more than 30,000 photographs that he left to posterity have been carefully conserved and classified by the foundation that bears his name, and it is obvious to all that the concept of 'the decisive moment', while applicable to some of his most famous pieces, is far to restrictive to encompass this vast body of work.

Through his meetings with the Surrealists, it was as if he had been programmed to become a Communist. … From the moment when Cartier-Bresson began to collaborate with the Communist press, in the spring of 1936, his subjects were largely determined by the editors for whom he worked and the ideology they championed.


Makes the photographs intelligible in a way I haven't seen before.
Title: Thinking Art : An Introduction to Philosophy of Art
Post by: Isaac on April 29, 2015, 01:40:10 pm
Thinking Art (https://books.google.com/books?id=8nssGF_PP9MC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false) : An Introduction to Philosophy of Art -- …a systematic and understandable introduction into a number of basic concepts and theories from philosophy of art.

… an aesthetic judgement is always about one specific artistic event, one specific work of art, or the artwork of one specific artist … An art philosophical statement, on the other hand, is … a claim or judgement about the essence of art: it always concerns an art form or art in general. … Quite often, an aesthetic judgement is immediately accompanied by an art philosophical justification.


* Later chapters build on earlier chapters, so much more understandable to read through from the beginning.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: NancyP on April 30, 2015, 11:15:41 am
Thanks for all the info. I saw the f64 book at the store, will pick it up on the next trip.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on April 30, 2015, 11:45:05 am
... much more understandable to read through from the beginning.

You don't say! ;)
Title: The Art, Science, and Craft of Great Landscape Photography
Post by: Isaac on June 03, 2015, 12:10:23 pm
The Art, Science, and Craft of Great Landscape Photography (https://books.google.com/books?id=D15gBwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) -- My approach to learning landscape photography can be summed up in 10 words: master the science and craft, and the art will follow.

In high-contrast situations, our visual system divides the scene into various zones and analyzes the local contrast in each zone independently. … We then assign brightness values within zones, and don't really pay much attention to brightness differences across zonal boundaries. For a scene to look natural, the local contrast must look right in each zone. … you can expose both the highlight and shadow regions somewhere close to midtone, which means both regions will have near-ideal contrast and color. Then, by using a Cornsweet illusion-like pair of tonal gradients, you can marry the two regions in a way that our visual system finds believable.

Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: DeanChriss on June 03, 2015, 12:29:20 pm
If you can find it anywhere, "This is the American Earth" (1960) is a true masterpiece. It's a large format book written by Nancy Newhall with photos by Ansel Adams.  
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on June 03, 2015, 12:47:17 pm
"This is the American Earth" is available to my local library through Link+ (https://csul.iii.com/screens/linkplusinfo.html)

However, although I do still look at Ansel Adams photobooks, so much has changed.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: DeanChriss on June 03, 2015, 04:28:45 pm
"This is the American Earth" is available to my local library through Link+ (https://csul.iii.com/screens/linkplusinfo.html)

However, although I do still look at Ansel Adams photobooks, so much has changed.

Yes, much has changed, but this is not a typical Adams photo book. Newhall's writing is as good as Adam's photography and compliments it perfectly in the book. It's the combination of the two that makes it so powerful. The book is also a landmark in American history, being credited with spawning the modern environmental movement. Back in the day Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas called it "one of the great statements in the history of conservation".
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on June 03, 2015, 04:39:16 pm
Thanks, I'll keep it in mind.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: NancyP on June 10, 2015, 11:31:03 am
I am enjoying a book by Frank Goelke, Thoughts on Landscape. Nice low key reflections on why he photographs his chosen subjects:
http://www.amazon.com/Thoughts-Landscape-Collected-Writings-Interviews/dp/1936102064

bought used at a local store for under ten bucks. Can't always believe what you see on Amazon....
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Isaac on June 12, 2015, 01:18:25 pm
Maybe you can sell it to Amazon for a profit.
Title: The Essence of Photography: Seeing and Creativity
Post by: Isaac on July 04, 2015, 01:51:17 pm
The Essence of Photography: Seeing and Creativity (https://books.google.com/books?id=G2MpBQAAQBAJ&lpg=PA1&dq=the%20essence%20of%20photography&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false) -- … I feel that important lessons can be learned from those experiences if they are delved into as more than mere anecdotes, but as essential learning experiences. I present these experiences throughout the book in hopes that they can be instructive, but with a recognition that they might be viewed as little more than personal anecdotes. I hope the instructional aspects greatly outweigh the anecdotal.

… a critic from the Los Angeles Times referred to my images as third-rate Ansel Adams attempts, and specifically pointed to my most popular image,
Basin Mountain, Approaching Storm, as the quintessential example of the shallowness of my work. Six years later, in a critique of another exhibit of mine, the same critic wrote about the power of my work, and pointed to the very same image as an example of that power.
Title: Photography and the Art of Chance
Post by: Isaac on July 16, 2015, 02:43:30 am
Photography and the Art of Chance (https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQu1CAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) -- Most photographers, collectors, and curators would prefer to suggest that a picture speaks for itself and therefore the circumstances of its production are immaterial … But the notion of pictures speaking for themselves is problematic if not paradoxical, and inference of mastery from any particular photograph, due to the role of chance in the medium, is unwarranted.

[This book] interprets their photographs and texts in the light of the entangled histories of photography, art and chance … It links a series of practitioners … William Henry Fox Talbot … Julia Margaret Cameron … Alfred Stieglitz … Frederick Sommer … and John Baldessari.
Title: Women Photographers: From Julia Margaret Cameron to Cindy Sherman
Post by: Isaac on December 03, 2015, 01:28:45 pm
Women Photographers: From Julia Margaret Cameron to Cindy Sherman (https://books.google.com/books?id=d6IfnwEACAAJ&dq=women+photographers&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjq36-SxKnJAhUN12MKHQFsDbkQ6AEIOjAE) -- This book aims to present variety and diversity. The variety and diversity of women who took -- and take -- photographs. Their life stories, their way of looking at things, and their pictures. Fifty-five women from the beginnings of photography to the present day.

Browse the book (http://www.bic-media.com/mobile/mobileWidget-jqm1.4.html?bgcolor=E9E8E8&showExtraDownloadButton=yes&isbn=9783791348148&buttonOrder=book-audio-video&socialSelfBackLink=yes&width=195&iconType=rh&iconTypeSecondary=rh&lang=de&fullscreen=yes&jump2=0)

"That is probably why so many women have sidestepped into photography. As a medium it had simply not yet been taken over by men." Cindy Sherman
Title: Why it Does Not Have to be in Focus
Post by: Isaac on January 07, 2016, 01:28:46 pm
Why it Does Not Have to be in Focus (https://books.google.com/books?id=qoGcmwEACAAJ) : Modern Photography Explained -- …analyzes one hundred photographs by one hundred, mostly contemporary, artists. … artists are experimenting with photography in diverse ways other than through focus. This book considers a whole litany of what might be called "photographic errors." … reveals why a photograph need not be crisply rendered or "correctly" exposed, color-balanced, framed or even composed by the photographer in order to have artistic merit.


* artist questions… artist claims… can also become a cliché.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on January 07, 2016, 02:10:39 pm
Why it Does Not Have to be in Focus (https://books.google.com/books?id=qoGcmwEACAAJ)...

Title: Andy Goldsworthy : Ephemeral Works
Post by: Isaac on January 21, 2016, 02:19:55 pm
Andy Goldsworthy : Ephemeral Works: 2004-2014 (http://www.abramsbooks.com/product/andy-goldsworthy-ephemeral-works_9781419717796/) -- Out of earth, rocks, leaves, ice, snow, rain, sunlight, and shadow he creates works that exist briefly before they are altered and erased by natural processes. They are documented in his photographs …


* Documented, yes mostly; but others only exist in those frozen photographic moments.
Title: Re: photography book acquisitions
Post by: MattBurt on January 21, 2016, 05:09:28 pm
Just received a copy of the Complete Portrait Manual (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Portrait-Manual-Popular-Photography/dp/161628952X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453413846&sr=8-1&keywords=portrait+manual) which has one of my photos in it. :)
Title: Digital Nature Photography
Post by: Isaac on March 02, 2016, 04:45:17 pm
Digital Nature Photography (https://books.google.com/books?id=F2xKCAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) : The Art and the Science -- The emphasis is on producing quality images and doing it easily. I know many photographers would be happy if I told them handheld shooting is fine, you don't need a flash, and use f/22 all of the time for maximum depth of field, but I won't. All of these widely accepted ideas are nonsense almost all of the time, and the quality of your images will suffer significantly if you believe them. I must assume and hope you want quality images, are not willing to cut quality corners, and are willing to adopt the superb shooting habits we will suggest and explain.
Title: Re: New Books at the local public library
Post by: GrahamBy on March 05, 2016, 06:10:01 am
My copy of "Through another Lens", Charis Wilson's account of her years with Edward Weston, finally made it to my coffee table after an extended cruise with the USPS and/or La Poste.

Haven't read much yet except for the little tidbit about the photo of her on a hike, head wrapped in towels against the mosquitoes. She insists that the look described by the great majority of critics as "sensual" was actually pure exhaustion  ;D
Title: Re: New Books at the local public library
Post by: Riverman on March 06, 2016, 08:58:04 am
Isaac,
My mother just moved to Mountain View to be closer to my brother.  I'm looking forward to suggesting that we go to the library!  I enjoyed reading The f64 Group
Title: LINK+
Post by: Isaac on March 07, 2016, 12:30:01 pm
If your local library is a  LINK+ Member they will bring you books (http://csul.iii.com/screens/linkplusinfo.html) from any of the other member libraries (http://csul.iii.com/screens/members.html).
Title: Re: New Books at the local public library
Post by: Isaac on March 15, 2016, 02:10:50 pm
Photography Careers (https://books.google.com/books?id=PdSoCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) : Finding Your True Path.

Broadly interesting because the interviews/conversations build into a snapshot of what it can be like to work-in todays photography industry --

Dianne Cook and Len Jenshel (Landscape photographers),   Kristan Wilson (Fashion photographer),   Bryan Denton (Photojournalist),   Paul Warchol (Architectural photographer),   Corbin Gurkin (Wedding photographer),   Rachel Morrison (Cinematographer),   Larry Zink (VP Photo studio and pre-press, Macy's Photo Studio),   Hank Willis Thomas (Gallery artist),   Brian Paul Clamp (Clampart gallery),   Chris Mahoney (Senior VP, Sotherby's New York),   Jennifer Miller (Photography Director, Conde Nast Traveler),   Yolanda Cuomo (Graphic designer),   James Antonelli (Digital imaging services supervisor, Sandbox Studio NYC),   Emily Hoskin (Alamy, Stock Photography Agency UK),   Jacqueline Bovaird (Senior agent, Levine/Leavitt)…
Title: Re: New Books at the local public library
Post by: Isaac on October 30, 2016, 10:24:52 pm
Who Shot Sports (https://books.google.com/books?id=2dGoDAAAQBAJ&pg=PP12&dq=who+shot+sports&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWvtvs-4PQAhXJs1QKHS3ICR8Q6AEIKTAC#v=onepage&q&f=false) : A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present -- "Who Shot Sports places sports photographers front and center and puts them in historical context. The photographs are chosen on pictorial merit, not sports history, and the text addresses cultural, historical, and aesthetic concerns."