Photography

Amazon.com

A picture tells a thousand stories, but the one it doesn't tell is how the shot was made. Barbara London and John Upton's Photography is an all-inclusive look at the craft of photography. This book will help any amateur move up a few notches, and it serves as a refresher course for professionals as well. The sixth edition of this classic work (the first was published in 1976) includes a companion Web site with interactive activities, Web resources, and a learning archive. Amply illustrated with at least one photograph or diagram on almost every page, Photography is the one reference work every student of photography must have--even those who will never set foot in a classroom. --Brenda Pittsley

Book Description

This best-selling, comprehensive guide to photography—featuring superb instructional illustrations—is the most cutting-edge photography book on the market. It offers extensive coverage of digital imaging—with the latest technological developments, such as Web page design and formatting photos on CD-ROMs. Chapter topics explore the process of getting started, camera, lens, film and light, exposure, processing the negative, mounting and finishing, color, digital camera, digital darkroom, lighting, special techniques, view camera, zone system, seeing photographs, and the history of photography. Step-by-step instructions include a “Lights Out” feature to help learners better identify darkroom techniques. For anyone with a personal or professional interest in photography.

Customer Reviews:

BOOK USED FOR BUFFALO STATE UNIVERSITY CLASS.......2007-09-29

Book is very informational. It is printed on heavy gloss paper stock, every page is full of pictures and illistations. Printed in USA.

Books for my Daughter.......2007-09-22

I bought my daughter's books through Amazon, instead of the campus book store. This book was one of five. I saved 50% by doing this. I would recommend Amazon to any student buying books.

Great book.......2007-08-21

I had to buy this book for school. Its an great book. Good example photos and very easy to understand.

Check out my photos at:www.myspace.com/davidjwright1

Great Technical Intro.......2007-08-04

I'm giving this book 5 stars because I couldn't put it down.

As an amateur in photography, this book really helped explain the technical background behind all the numbers and jargon strewn throughout magazines, photography websites, manuals and so forth.

While other books tried to explain concepts such as depth of field in relation to aperture, this was the book that made everything click for me. It wasn't filled with facts to memorize, it had explanations that I could understand.

After reading this book I really felt like I had a firm grasp of the technical groundwork for learning photography. I have a much greater understanding and appreciation for the technical debates now and instead of my eyes hazing over when I see numbers, they are meaningful for me and I look for them. Because I understand instead of memorized, I am able to ask the right questions and notice when things don't make sense or are missing.

Perhaps the greatest thing this book did for me though, is to make me realize that understanding the technicalities of photography is not what makes a good photographer. I started to see that it takes a lot of experience and a good eye to imagine, compose and create a picture. I started to see that perhaps those things are actually more important than perfect exposure.

So while I learned a lot it was also a little humbling for me. It gave me a better respect for photography and photographers. It really opened up a whole world for me.

A lot of viewers noted that the digital section of the book was a little light. And while I think it was, the point of the book is not to be a cookbook. Rather I think that it is an introduction into the world of photography, and digital imaging really is only a very small piece of that world.

This book has definitely broadened my world of photography. I have a better understanding that photography isn't just something learned in a book, but by a continuous process of learning how to make pictures.

I really liked this book because I felt like it gave me the foundation to start the process of learning how to make great pictures. It has given me the ability to better critique and adjust my photography. This book was a springboard that has inspired me to dive deeper and learn more about photography.

Great thorough photography book.......2007-05-30

I bought it for a beginning photo class and love it.

Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)

Average customer rating:

Basic
Great Book for Users
If You Can Only Afford One Photography Book, THIS IS THE ONE!!!
A must have
That is what I wanted! All-in-one book for amateurs who want to master photography - both digital and film

Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)
Bryan Peterson
Manufacturer: Amphoto Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0817463003

Book Description

For serious amateur photographers who already shoot perfectly focused, accurately exposed images but want to be more creative with a camera, here's the book to consult. More than seventy techniques, both popular and less-familiar approaches, are covered in detail, including advanced exposure, bounced flash and candlelight, infrared, multiple images, soft-focus effects, unusual vantage points, zooming, and other carefully chosen ways to enhance photographs. The A-Z format make sit easy for readers to find a specific technique, and each one is explained in jargon-free language. Top Tips for each technique help readers achieve superb results, even on the first attempt.

Customer Reviews:

Basic.......2007-10-04

Very basic book, mostly for those who are absolute beginners in photography or for point-and-shooters that are upgrading to SLR.

Great Book for Users.......2007-09-27

I purchased this book after reading reviews and having people suggest this literature to me. I have to say that the author makes it very straightforward, concise and comfortable to read. For a amateur photographer, this book is a gem and I highly suggest reading it just to familiarize yourself with the basic conceps of exposure and how you apply it to both digital and film photography.

If You Can Only Afford One Photography Book, THIS IS THE ONE!!!.......2007-09-26

I purchased this book over a year ago and have since bought several more copies to give to my friends that are into photography. It is by far one of the best books out there for teaching ANYONE about correct exposures!! It's a very easy read, I have read it through at least three times, and this guy knows his stuff. There are so many beautiful full page color photos to demonstrate what he is talking about and he gives his settings for all the shots. If you are just starting out in photography, or have been into it for a while, I feel EVERYONE can learn something from this book. After reading this book, obtaining a 'proper exposure' in-camera clicked for me. I gained a thorough understanding of shutter speed, ISO, aperature/f-stop, light, composition, depth of field and many more very important aspects of photography, everything made sense, opened up new creative doors for me. I still don't always achieve the perfect exposure, but I do have complete control over my camera and settings, the whys and how-to-fors. If you can only afford ONE book, this is the one. I rarely do book reviews, but this one deserves it! I submitted some of my own photos above, using various techniques in photography, all learned from this book.

A must have.......2007-09-26

No question, this is an excellent book. I am a intermediate level photographer, it is filled with great tips. Stop reading this and buy the book!

That is what I wanted! All-in-one book for amateurs who want to master photography - both digital and film.......2007-09-21

Well, I never expected to write a review, but I did because this book is what I was looking for. I've been using camera for decades now, but I was mainly point-and-shoot photographer. Yes, everybody liked my pictures but I really did not know how to be consistent in the results. So I got myself a new Nikon D80 and undertook to learn how to take pictures with full control over the process. I browsed through Amazon in search of "become a concious photographer book for dummies" and I ended up buying this book and Ansel Adams's "Camera".
This book has everything you need to move from amateur to prosumer photographer. It expalains what is exposure and light and how you can control it. It gives you hints on metering and some basic special techniques. What is very important is that it gives you plenty of color pictures with short stories on how they were taken and data on exposure parameters so you can check how they impact the final result.
So get this one if you would like to buy one book which would allow you to undersatnd how to take beautiful and creative pictures! I guess that when you finally get it and read it you will be hungry for more information. But then you can get books on specific subjects - here - you have all the basics that you need.

Average customer rating:

Big Book of Breasts
Worth It
Better Than I Imagined - Great On Several Levels
Great coffee table book
great for the coffe table

The Big Book of Breasts

Manufacturer: Taschen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3822833037

Book Description

Say no to silicone: The greatest natural breasts of our times

Some call it the American obsession, but men everywhere recognize the hypnotic allure of a large and shapely breast. In The Big Book of Breasts, Dian Hanson explores the origins of mammary madness through three decades of natural big-breasted nudes. Starting with the World War II Bosom-Mania that spawned Russ Meyer, Howard Hughes's The Outlaw and Frederick's of Hollywood, Dian guides you over, around, and in between the dangerous curves of infamous models including Michelle Angelo, Candy Barr, Virginia Bell, Joan Brinkman, Lorraine Burnett, Lisa De Leeuw, Uschi Digard, Candye Kane, Jennie Lee, Sylvia McFarland, Margaret Middleton, Paula Page, June Palmer, Roberta Pedon, Rosina Revelle, Candy Samples, Tempest Storm, Linda West, June Wilkinson, Julie Wills, and dozens more, including Guinness World Record holder Norma Stitz, possessor of the World's Largest Natural Breasts.

Customer Reviews:

Big Book of Breasts.......2007-09-07

Quite an interesting book from both a social and historical perspective. The text deals mainly with how and why many of these women became models and the roles they played in creating an image. Many of these models come from the glossy mens magazines of the 1970's and 80's, as well as date back to the 50's and 60's when nude photography was taboo.
The photos are tasteful and the text is interesting and speaks of the models how they conducted themselves, and why they posed.

Worth It.......2007-08-10

Great publication, although it's a bit large for the average coffee table. The photos are high quality and the commentary is interesting and well written. I only wish there was a greater variety of models and more everyday women featured. Certainly a conversation starter!

Better Than I Imagined - Great On Several Levels.......2007-07-16

From the "perv" in me, the focus on breasts, frankly, is right up my alley. :)

The execution of this book, however, is clearly on the art book level. It is a beautiful, large coffee table style book. The large b/w and color photos are extraordinary and beautifully printed. The text gives both context for these photos and offers extensive interviews with various models and people involved in the business. Furthermore, the plastic cover of the book is actually a virtual bra for the woman's torso underneath it. If you look at the cover art on this page, the black bra can be "removed" by removing the plastic dust jacket. Extremely clever. This book would be worth it at its retail price of $50, but at the approximately $33, it's a bargain. Even my wife, who is not particularly interested in women's bodies, found this book fascinating.

Great coffee table book.......2007-07-05

This book had wonderfully entertaining interviews and high quality photographs. I recommend it for the aficionado in your life.

great for the coffe table.......2007-07-05

everyone that has seen this book out has wanted to look at it. its very appealing to the eye and is a great coffe table book for singles.

Average customer rating:

Merce Cunningham:Fifty Years

Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years
David Vaughan , and Merce Cunningham
Manufacturer: Aperture
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0893816248
Release Date: 2005-06-15

Amazon.com

Unlike so many biographies of dance maestros, Merce Cunningham: Fifty Years offers no litany of substance or psychological abuse. The volume, assembled by the archivist of Merce Cunningham's world-renowned U.S. company, records and analyzes Cunningham's work process and documents the provenance of his modern dance classics. Heavily spiced with biographical detail, Merce Cunningham packages the choreographer's life story in a lovely design that respects his whole body and conveys a rare sense of movement in its mass of still photos.

Book Description

Merce Cunningham celebrates the career of one of the most important artists of the twentieth century, from his first innovative and explosive solo dances to the present. This unique book incorporates images of performances by many world-renowned photographers, including Imogen Cunningham, Barbara Morgan, Annie Leibovitz, Peter Hujar, and Arnold Eagle.

Customer Reviews:

Merce Cunningham:Fifty Years.......2000-08-02

An excellent resource. Insightful. Beautiful pictures. Highly recommend for folks in dance education, collaborative artists, school teachers, dancers, and children.

Average customer rating:

An outstanding vision of the sad reality of this world.
Amazingly tragic and beautifully awful
A look at the true horrors of this world!
Amazing!! Print Quality.
Um relato dantesco e honesto da nossa época

Inferno
James Nachtwey
Manufacturer: Phaidon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0714838152

Amazon.com

Inferno is also a masterpiece in strictly aesthetic terms. The power of Nachtwey's images transcends journalism. Bloody handprints on a living-room wall in Kosovo, the ghostly imprint of a Serb victim's vanished body on a floor, a Hutu with crazed eyes displaying the machete gashes he received for opposing the Tutsis' butchery, a howling orphan in a crib, one eye contracted in anger--these are compositions that depend, like Goya's, on the artist's skill as much as the subject's legitimate claim on our conscience.

Nachtwey's photographs make us capable of imagining that it could have happened to us. They are hard to forget, or forgive. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

Though he is probably the world's most honored recent war photographer, James Nachtwey calls himself an "antiwar photographer," as the preeminent critic Luc Sante notes in his excellent foreword to Inferno, a landmark collection of 382 war-crime photos. Nachtwey has taken shrapnel and had his hair literally parted by a bullet, but he's never lost his compassionate outrage. The stunning images in this huge-format book--brutally abused Romanian orphans, Rwandan genocide victims, a rat-hunter family of Indian Untouchables barbecuing dinner, skeletal dehydration victims in Sudan, the miserable in Bosnia, Chechnya, Zaire, Somalia, and Kosovo--are excruciating to look at, yet impossible to tear your eyes away from. Nachtwey's art is meant to force us to face unbearable facts. Faces are the key: you can't gaze into the eyes of a Romanian toddler tied to a bed, or wired to a primitive "electromagnetic therapy" device, and not grasp the horror more fully than you would by watching a TV news item or reading a newspaper piece. (The book's text explains each photo's context.)Inferno is also a masterpiece in strictly aesthetic terms. The power of Nachtwey's images transcends journalism. Bloody handprints on a living-room wall in Kosovo, the ghostly imprint of a Serb victim's vanished body on a floor, a Hutu with crazed eyes displaying the machete gashes he received for opposing the Tutsis' butchery, a howling orphan in a crib, one eye contracted in anger--these are compositions that depend, like Goya's, on the artist's skill as much as the subject's legitimate claim on our conscience. Nachtwey's photographs make us capable of imagining that it could have happened to us. They are hard to forget, or forgive. --Tim Appelo

Customer Reviews:

An outstanding vision of the sad reality of this world........2007-08-23

This book is not made to be placed in every hands. But everyone old enough to face the sad reality and the ugly side of the human kind should have a look at it.

Amazingly tragic and beautifully awful.......2007-08-19

I have owned this book for roughly four years now and somehow manage to revisit it at least twice a year. The images are hauntingly beautiful. Nachtwey has a real gift for photography, for capturing that perfect image, with the perfect contrast, stark, naked and vivid. I feel as if I have been not merely an onlooker of these devastatingly breathtaking images, but as though I have been there.

Inferno was the first exposure to Nachtwey I had had, and it certainly has not been the last. His work is amazing.

A look at the true horrors of this world!.......2007-08-03

Awesome, shocking, disturbing, eye opening, these just begin to describe the feelings and emotions of this book. The photographs of mans inhumanity to his fellow man go beyond those images we see on the nightly news. James Nachtwey shows us the world of war, famine and poverty. It is eye opening. For anyone who collects books of photography, this is a must, but, it is not a coffee table book. This is one that you keep in reserve for those days when you think your life if bad or tough. Take it down from the shelf, open it and realize just how hard it could be!.

Amazing!! Print Quality........2007-05-14

What can i say.
It's just wonderful print quality most of Photobook which i bouht.
and Large photo is good too.

Um relato dantesco e honesto da nossa época.......2007-05-11

Uma obra obrigatória para quem acompanha o melhor do fotojornalismo nos últimos 50 anos. Um relato duro, profundo e honesto dos horrores criados pelo homem: Romênia, Somália, Índia, Sudão, Bósnia, Ruanda, Zaire, Chechênia e Kosovo.
Ressalte-se a força extrema das composições de James Nachtwey, valorizadas pela encadernação primorosa em capa dura e pelas grandes ampliações em PB.
Um livro forte, mas profundamente necessário para quem quer reconhecer o lado menos poético do nosso tempo.

Average customer rating:

Great book
disappointing
I do NOT recommend this book
It's good, but could be shorter.
Great with one exception

Private Rooms

Manufacturer: Te Neues Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3832790810

Book Description

Daring and provocative, these images of the female nude push the viewer's limits and enters 'forbidden territory'. Argentini plays with our notions of privacy and constructs a deeply erotic universe where it is hard to know what we will find--our hidden sexual fantasies or a parallel reality? These charged images are both sophisticated and raw, with a dark and extemely refined glamour all their own.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2007-08-24

For starters: this book is a monster. I had the package dropped off in the mail room and wondered, "what the hell did I order?" The box was massive and weighed a ton... I thought I may have ordered a slab of bricks and forgot.

Once inside I opened the package. I quickly realized this was a well printed book. From the padded felt cover colored in red, to the nice paper that gripped your fingers. That, alone, made up for the cost.

Ibegan going through page by page. The color was all vivid. The women were beautiful and the poses were elegantlly seductive. I turned each page to find something new and exciting.

After about 50 or so pages, I began to get restless. It was almost TOO much book to be consumed all at once. I went through 10 more pages and decided to put it down. My mind couldn't properly digest everything it was taking in and I needed a break. 2 or 3 hours later I sat down to view more. This time viewed 20 pages before I had to close the book. The photography was great and the concepts are executed with precision. As a budding photographerI was overwhelmed with his skill. It was too much for me.

I have gone back to the book several times. I have probably viewed each image 2 or 3 times by now. There are some images that still resonate in my mind. It's definitely a book I would suggest to others.

I show many of my models, makeup artists, and wardrobe stylists. They react with different opinions. Some see it as trash. Others see it as art. Annd ohers are indifferent.

disappointing.......2007-07-12

the pictures are...frankly mediocre. I would suggest another one named Erotique--it's ligher, less expensive, and has better pictures.

I do NOT recommend this book.......2007-06-15

The women in this book are, for the most part, lifeless mannequins. In general, I didn't find the women to be photographed in a way that was either erotically attractive, or artistically attractive.

It's good, but could be shorter........2007-05-17

I like this book and the quality is superb, the models are beautiful, and the poses are excellent. However, I thought that the same could have been accomplished in a smaller size and shorter version which would have saved on cost and price. It got a little repetitive as it went on, in my opionion.

I highly recommend this book as one of the best ones out there for nude/erotic photography. It's classy and it really highlights beautiful female form with excellent lighting. What I also enjoyed is that the sets are all environmental and not studio. I hate those studio nudes that look so fake and posed. It was a good learning book for me.

Great with one exception.......2007-05-13

The imagery presented in this book is truly stunning and imaginitive. As a man that truly appreciates both beautiful women and photography, my only criticism is that the body types of the models could have been a little more varied, Otherwise, this a great book.

Average customer rating:

Just beautiful
100 Naked Girls
New Nude
Great Photographer
Too small

100 Naked Girls

Manufacturer: Amphoto Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0817452974
Release Date: 2006-01-01

Book Description

•Exciting work from an important artist

•Beautiful, inspiring nudes

Petter Hegre is hailed as the master of the New Nude, a unique and instantly recognizable style based firmly in reality: real people in authentic situations. In his sixth book, this dynamic photographer has banished the counterfeit glamour of the old century, replacing it with an intimitable and graphic romanticism. Intimate and insightful, dramatic and fun, 100 Naked Girls offers truth in advertising—the name says it all—and in art.

Customer Reviews:

Just beautiful.......2007-01-07

Hegre has an eye for a certain kind of beauty in women. Not all women's lives create it, it may be prettiness rather than beauty, and it lasts for only a short part of a life. Still, it's there, and Hegre has captured 100 different kinds of it.

Marketa, the cover model, sets the pattern: they're all young, slender, and very lovely. A few, like Tatiane and Lucy, don't match the European mold - very few, and I would have liked more of the variety they represent. Some, like Luba are very 'posed.' Others, like Olga and Lena or Sveta and Inga, show models in close groups, hinting at physcial affection between them. Natural looks predominate but some - like Lza - offer surprises. The majority, typified by Olga, Andrea, and Dina, convey the fun the woman seems to have in simply being herself.

This book is almost too much, though. The models are sweet, but I wouldn't want to eat only desserts all the time either. There are lots of other ways for a woman to look good - but Hegre has ignored them in favor of just this very conventional one. Well, it's an easy one to enjoy.

This is a lovely collection of very pretty young women. It's not overtly erotic, except maybe once or twice. Instead, it simply celebrates the charm and elegance that's native to these lovely models.

//wiredweird

100 Naked Girls.......2006-11-10

I got the book for my boyfriend and he honestly hasn't even looked at it, just flipped through. I looked at it though and just thought it was cheesy. The girls all look the same and they just aren't very sexy. I was disappointed. Poo

New Nude .......2006-07-21

Do girls enjoy seeing beautiful naked girls? You bet we do, and few photographers as far as I can see find more beautiful girls or photograph them more beautifully. This is not a book to race through but a book to savour, honest, natural, totally real, Petter Hegre has taken the new nude to new limits of human endeavour. I can't wait to see the next one. Milly Belladulce

Great Photographer.......2006-05-20

This is the difference between porn and art. This is Art photography; a tastefull display of beauty, in its purest form.

Too small.......2006-04-04

To my eye, the models are wonderful, charming. The compositions are good to great. The phototechnical quality is excellent throughout the book. But the physical size of the page is simply too small! What is worse, many pages feature several photos at once, or a single photo accompanied by text. In other words, many (nice) photos occupy much less than one page.

I ended up selling this book. Not enough detail in the small images to suit me.

Dirty Wow Wow and Other Love Stories: A Tribute to the Threadbare Companions of Childhood

Average customer rating:

So-so
Wow, wow - what fun!
Dirt Wow Wow and Other Love Stories: A Tribute to the Threadbare Companions of Childhood
Sweet Memories
Hilarious!

Dirty Wow Wow and Other Love Stories: A Tribute to the Threadbare Companions of Childhood
Cheryl Katz , and Jeffrey Katz
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1580088325

Book Description

DIRTY WOW WOW AND OTHER LOVE STORIES is a celebration of the lovey, binky, or blankie--known as the "transitional object" in psychoanalytic terms--that eased us through the uncertainties and loneliness of childhood. Bundles of comfort and security fashioned from fluff and fur, these treasured friends have a lifetime of stories sewn up in their tattered bodies: a trip to Paris smushed up in a suitcase, a new home behind the family liquor cabinet, an interminable wait in the lost-and-found bin. With stunning photographs that reveal the personalities within, DIRTY WOW WOW is at once humorous, wistful, and oddly comforting--like a shabby childhood favorite who's tucked away but never forgotten.

Customer Reviews:

So-so.......2007-09-01

I agree with the reviewer that said this book was just so-so - I really thought this a great book concept and was looking forward to heartwarming stories of people who remember their toys fondly, and funny pictures of wretched, worn, well-loved toys. However, the authors seem to fall short of the promised delivery on the cover - one of the "toys" was simply a photo of torn up cloth and the entry was called "Rags"...and the "story" was about how children may take to rags instead of stuffed toys. I felt a bit cheated. I would much have preferred real people and real stories about their stuff - maybe a photo of an interviewee and toy today and his/her childhood photo clutching the toy when new. I always loved those photos. But this book doesn't have such things - it seems superficial, more an artsy pretty photo book than a book where real legwork was taken to uncover the stories.

Wow, wow - what fun!.......2007-07-25

This is a darling book of photographs and loving tributes to some of the scruffiest and best loved of childhood "lovies". It's currently getting much attention as my coffee table book and is bringing both smiles and sighs of remembrance to our visitors. I wish only that my own "Lindy", "Andy Pandy", "Ted" and "Snoozer" had been honored among its pages.

Dirt Wow Wow and Other Love Stories: A Tribute to the Threadbare Companions of Childhood.......2007-07-15

I so wanted this book to be wonderful, but I found it just so-so. I'm going to return both copies, since I don't feel right giving a friend something I don't treasure. Sorry :-(

Sweet Memories.......2007-07-04

I received this book as a gift and immediately had to order it as a gift for my sister who turns 65 next week. Her threadbare companion until our family left it in a motel enroute from Chicago to Seattle, was a small down pillow, called her "My My". She was only four years old, I was nine and I can still remember her cries of anguish.

Almost anyone can relate to this charming book.

Hilarious!.......2007-07-03

The book made me laugh out loud! Both the pictures and the commentary are hilarious! A real treasure!

One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

Average customer rating:

True to the man
A modern day "Thoreau"
Just as Good the Second Time
Homesteading in Alaska
inspiring

One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey
Sam Keith , and Richard Proenneke
Manufacturer: Alaska Northwest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0882405136

Book Description

To live in a pristine land . . . roam the wilderness . . . build a home. . . . Thousands have had such dreams, but Richard Proenneke lived them. Here is a tribute to a man who carved his masterpiece out of the beyond.

Customer Reviews:

True to the man.......2007-09-29

Ten years ago I spent a summer volunteering for the National Park Service at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, in Alaska. My remote rangers cabin was located at Twin Lakes. Being on the lower lake, I was about 9 miles from my nearest neighbor- Dick. We spoke daily on our walkie-talkies, checking in about the weather, any visitors, or interesting wildlife viewings. I trekked up his way several times over the summer, and enjoyed a few meals with him. I can't remember if it's in his book, but his favorite sandwich was the "Twin Lakes Special": sourdough flapjaks, raw onion, and honey; don't knock it 'til ya try it! Just like his book, he was a gracious, thoughtful man, a true naturalist. Also the most spry 82-year-old I think I'd ever seen! I was saddened to hear of his death several years ago, and was grateful the NPS kept his cabin as a historical site; it is a cozy place, dark inside, smelling faintly of woodsmoke and 1948 sourdough starter, with wonderful decorative touches throughout. Dick was truly a special person, and this book captures his voice, his no-nonsense manner of talking, as well as his appreciation of the beauty of the natural world, perfectly.

A modern day "Thoreau".......2007-09-16

You cannot visit Alaska without reading this book FIRST! Just the photography alone will make you want to go. I dentify in many ways with Dick as I lived in a cabin in the White Mountains of NH for many years. He didn't intrude on nature...he simply lived in harmony with it. He appeals to all of your senses in his simple but beautifully written words, never mind the pictures. He is definitely portrayed as a "loner" but that is a good thing..for a loner has much higher self esteem and sense of character than those who can't survive in the world without people around them all the time. Dick is a true steward of the land because of his deep, abiding love and connection for this piece of God's Creation. His beautifully chronicled life in Alaska will remind you of Robert Frost's words.."We love the things we love for what they are." Enjoy!

Just as Good the Second Time.......2007-09-12

I was telling my husband about this book as I started reading it. He said, "Don't you remember, we read that many years ago when Alaska Magazine published it"? I knew that Babe, the pilot, seemed familiar. It didn't matter. I was happy to read it a second time which is unusual for me. Oh, how I would have loved to have been able to do what Mr. Proenneke did and to live where he lived. There is nothing dull about this book and I suspect the people who find it dull haven't any interest in living in the wilderness without Blackberries, i-pods, automobiles and restaurants.

Even though most of us who enjoyed the book probably don't begin to have the skills that Richard Proenneke had which made what he did possible (and a pilot friend who delivered for free) I think we all wish we could do what he did. I know I do. I didn't realize that a sequel exists. It costs big bucks, but if it's anything close to as interesting as this book, it's worth it. Maybe I'll find out if the Mission Girls ever showed-up.

Homesteading in Alaska.......2007-08-16

The year was 1968. The setting, the Alaskan bush. The mission, to live simply, deliberately, and self-sufficiently off the land, free of the trappings of contemporary society. The protagonist, clearly not what you might expect given the era. He was not some young, free spirited hippie, luddite, or draft dodger. Rather, he was a skilled hard working machinist/woodsman, who at age 51 decided to permanently leave the rat race behind.

Why this man, Dick Prenacke, suddenly left behind his conventional existence to live in a remote and unforgiving section of Alaska is never fully explored in the book. While snippets do reveal his distain for modernity, it never fully embellishes on what ultimately drove the author to do what few would ever conceive of doing. Perhaps Dick realized that at 51, the physical and physiological fortitude required to make such a transition would soon be out of his reach. More likely however, he foresaw the end of an era. No more than a few years after his departure into the wild, Alaska would enact laws prohibiting trappers and homesteaders from freely trudging off into the woods to live the quintessential "Alaskan experience." Soon Alaska would become like the rest of the lower 48, where people like Dick would be considered trespassers and evicted from any land that they did not rightfully own. Fortunately for the author, the laws were grand fathered in.

While the book is essentially a personal account of Alaskan homesteading, the author episodically weaves social commentary into his writings. He laments a society that is wasteful and superficial. The hunters that come into his Alaska, products of such a society, leave garbage and animal meat behind, unaware that the author cleans up after as well as makes use of their squander.

The author also reveals his anxiety for a society that is increasingly consumed by materialism. He feels that man is entrapped by things that he doesn't need and he seeks to avoid the superfluous at all costs. To the outsider, surviving in the wilds of Alaska would seem to require an extravagant amount of equipment and gear. One can only imagine the bill the average suburbanite would amass at the local REI in preparation for such an endeavor. Yet the author demonstrates just how little is required to not only to survive but also to prosper in such an inhospitable region.

The book closes with some thoughts on technology, and the rapidity of change that comes with it. The author's words are both haunting and prescient as he elaborates on his first year in Alaska and how his experience conflicts greatly with society at large.

inspiring.......2007-07-14

Inspiring book. Diarist was over 50 when he began this journey. Helps me look to the future for myself.

Average customer rating:

A Caution for some ... nude photographs
A work of art keepsake.
A New Direction For Coffee Table Books
Beyond art book, beyond photography
Many great portraits ...

Richard Avedon Portraits
Maria Morris Hambourg , Mia Fineman , Richard Avedon , and Philippe de Montebello
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Portraits | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0810935406

Book Description

For over 50 years, Richard Avedon (b. 1923) has captured the creative genius of our time with dazzling insight and incomparable style. Spanning the artist's entire career, from the late 1940s through his most recent work, Richard Avedon Portraits offers a superb selection of his photographic portraits.

With uncompromising directness, Avedon portrayed his subjects against a white background, with no extraneous details to distract from the essential specificity of face, gaze, dress, and gesture. This challenging innovation, coupled with the artist's intense interest in his subjects and mastery of his craft, resulted in mesmerizing portraits-among them Truman Capote, Willem de Kooning, Samuel Beckett, Francis Bacon, and Marilyn Monroe, as well as the uncelebrated Americans of his project, "In the American West"-that rival the greatest works in the portrait tradition.

Richard Avedon Portraits is published to accompany a major exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. With its innovative accordion-style design and superb reproductions, the book is a virtual stand-alone mini-exhibition in its own right.

Customer Reviews:

A Caution for some ... nude photographs.......2007-08-23

This book is absolutely exquisite. The photographs are stunning and insightful If you are not familiar with Avedon's male nudes--I wasn't--you should be aware that many of them are full frontal and not in any way prettified, pornographic, or erotic. I include this because none of the other reviews mentioned it. Had I been more familiar with the book's contents, perhaps I would not have left the book out on the kitchen counter for the wrong (adult) friend to unfold it before I did!! Yeah, I know, I should have known better . . . . Duh.

A work of art keepsake........2007-03-23

I bought this book for my photography friend for Christmas. She was blown away. From the moment you open the package, it is clear this book is worlds apart from your standard photography book. Every photo is frame-ready. I highly recommend for the picky photography enthusiast.

A New Direction For Coffee Table Books.......2006-12-27

The format allows for a stand-up display down the entire length of a coffee table! Pretty cool if you ask me;
Got this as a christmas gift for my art-school-grad photographer/niece. It caused something of a stir when the holiday guests started to look at everyone elses presents.. Along the lines of "Don't let the kids look at that book" and "Let me see it' and "Ewwww".

Beyond art book, beyond photography.......2006-01-01

It is not really a book, but an art object: accordion folded and neatly ensconced in a box, its heavy cardboard structure makes it a durable thing, one that transcends the notion of a mere "book." It is an object of intrinsic beauty and the mere holding of it in one's hands conveys the good taste, fine quality, and the superb craftmanship that were blended to create PORTRAITS.

One side of the fold contains text -with some pictures- and the other the portfolio of portraits. Maria Hambourg and Mia Fineman collaborate in the essay "Avedon's Endgame," which presents, analyzes and brings into focus the extraordinary talent behind the portraits; and Richard Avedon gives us a touching essay called "Borrowed Dogs," in which he addresses some of his unquiet talents. The other side is one's private gallery of 27 pictures (including the covers) to be savored at home, each image a meticulous print. In all it is an extraordinary performance by those involved, and a jewel to possess.

Avedon has pushed the borders of his art far beyond picture taking: a master psychologist, his portraits are potent statements about the soul and the fears and the anger and the dilapidation and the triumph and the humanity of his subjects. His pictures are so intense and revealing that the viewer cannot remain neutral. The diptych of Clarence Lippard, a drifter, makes one see more than we have any right to ask for: because if we must view the horror of a wasted life on one panel we must also accept the defiant triumphalism and humor that the second panel conveys. Waste no pity on Mr. Lippard, he asks no such thing from you.

I shall often return to this jewel for solace; and for a jolt about the meaning of being alive and a human being.

Many great portraits ..........2005-10-14

... but it's not a book. I personally did not care for the strange format, which has a sleeve, a back and a front cover, and a sort of concertina arrangement of the intervening text and pictures.

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