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All Reviews are by Paul W Faust unless otherwise noted as Michael Fulks (MF) and Elizabeth Powis (EP).

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100 Naked Girls
by Peter Hegre

This is a great collection of female nudes in the style of Peter Gowland, but with a modern twist. I was not able to find out where the work was done, but with names like Tatiana and Olga I’d say that most, if not all of the models are from Russia, or nearby. If so, they’ve come a real long way from the pictures of Russian women in uniform and farm clothes that most Americans have seen over the decades. The models are shot indoors and out, posed and in candid, with and without props. Any nude photographer will get a lot of new ideas from this collection.

This hardback book is over 8x10 inches, with 192 pages, retails for US$40.00 – and is published by AMPHOTO BOOKS at   www.watsonguptill.com   
I Rate it:  A  (Reviewed March 2006)

 

100 Suns
by Michael Light

I have come across a coffee table photography book that is like no other I have ever seen till now.  "100 SUNS"  doesn’t even have an author because the only writing in it are the notes and captions in the back.  100 SUNS is a collection of images taken during 100 tests of nuclear weapons, both in the desert and the South Pacific between 1945 and 1962. Images in both color, and black and white, many seldom if ever before published. We probably will all agree that the destruction these weapons cause if horrific, but many of the images in this book are stunningly beautiful. Mushroom clouds with golden halos all around, and other clouds that create their own lightning bolts. Fireballs that turn night into day, and others that look like some cosmic embryo being born.  The books name comes from a portion of the Bhagavad Gita that ends with,,, "I am become Death,,, the destroyer of worlds."   This 11x13" hardback book is published by Alfred A. Knopt Publishing and retails for USD$45.00.
(Reviewed March 2004)

 

111 Infrared Photos
by  Joseph Constantino

This book is another from Author House and I am sorry to say that it is not a lot better than the first. The print quality is the same on what looks like typing paper, but I will say that the captioning is a lot better in this one, and the images themselves are more interesting. There is no information on how the images were taken, only short comments on the subjects, but while many images look like good IR work, others do not look anything like infrared. The poor paper choice also makes the IR grain effect in many images look almost like reticulation damage. It’s a shame, too, since more than a few of the image subjects look great for this kind of work.
Both this book and the one above are way over-priced!

This soft cover book is about 8x11 inches, with 111 pages, retails for US$25.50 - and is published by Author House at www.authorhouse.com       
I Rate it:  B  (Reviewed March 2007)

 
1001 Adobe Photoshop Tips
by  Andy Anderson

Here is the “800-lb Gorilla” of Photoshop books. Actually this  book weighs over 7-lbs and I had to get out my large postal scales to weigh it, plus it is almost 3 inches thick. - (In a few years after it gets outdated you can use it to block up your car) - This is not a how-to book, so the illustrations in it are all black and white as it is not meant to teach you how to use the Photoshop tools, but to supplying you with the tips and information you will need to do your work easier and faster. However, after later going through this book more thoroughly I found that the illustrations in it are done so poorly that it lowered my rating for the whole book. The illustrations are on the small size to begin with, and add to that being grey scale makes it worse, but the final straw was the poor choice of images used. The large majority of them are all of dark subjects in front of dark backgrounds, which makes trying to see the selection areas mentioned in the text next to impossible, and you can just forget about trying to see where the curser is, even with arrows pointing to many of them. I’d say that the authors need to take a class in photo lighting before they start work on a second edition of the book.  In spite of the illustration problem I did find a lot of useful info in the book. Fortunately this is not typical of the quality from this publishers.

This soft cover book is about 9x11 inches, with 1,740 pages, retails for US$69.99 – and is published by Thomson Course Technology and can be ordered from www.courseptr.com       
I Rate it:  B+(PF)   (Reviewed June 2007)

 
One Hundred Seashells
by Harold Feinstein

This one is a collection of the most beautiful seashell images, from all over the world, that I have ever seen published in one book. All you have to do is take one look at the cover and you will know what the rest of the book looks like. Many shells are familiar, while others look more like glass sculptures, and then there are those that are photographed in a fine art style. If you buy this one for a gift, you’d better buy two of them because after you see it you will not want to give it away.

This hardback book is about 11x13 inch, with 144 pages and retails for only US$50.00. Distributed by BULFINCH Press at:  www.bulfinchpress.com      
I Rate it:  A+++  (Reviewed Dec. 2005)

 

ONE/MANY
Western American Survey Photographs

Bell and O’sullivan
by Joel Snyder


“Some of the most celebrated images of nineteenth-century American photography emerged from government-sponsored geological surveys whose purpose was to study and document western landscapes.” This new book presents many of those images taken by the two best known western survey photographers of that time, Timothy O’Sullivan and William Bell. The images in this book were not meant to be works of art, but many, like the shot of the Shoshone Falls in Idaho certainly could be called that. Both photographers and history buffs will like this book.

This soft cover book is about 11x8 inches, with 125 pages, retails for US-$28.00 – and is distributed by University of Chicago Press at:   www.press.uchicago.edu           
I Rate it:  A
(Reviewed August 2007)


 
One Tree
by Garry Olson and Peter Toaig

This is one of those few books that I will review that is only about photography in as far as there is photo illustrations in it. However, I feel it is worth covering because it is a photo documentary of the OneTree Project, which began in 1998 with the felling of an ailing 170 year old oak tree in Cheshire, England. Instead of turning it into firewood and mulch, every single piece, including the scraps and sawdust, was turned over to seventy-four artists who turned all of that into everything from toys and jewelry, to fine one-of-a-kind furniture. Each piece was photographed and is shown and explained in the book. This is one book that everyone who loves beauty and creativity will want laying on their coffee table for everyone else to look at. The creative ideas in it are beyond belief!

    This soft cover book is about 9x11 inches, with 192 pages, retails for US$39.95 – and is distributed by Merrell Publishers at:   www.merrellpublishers.com      
I Rate it:  A++ 
(Reviewed Sept. 2006)


 

 

 

 

 

Ordinary Lives
By Rania Matar

This a book of the many images Rania Matar has taken of Labanon. Born and raised in Lebanon, then moving to the United States in 1984, Matar is the perfect observer to a country of people who intertwine the culture of the consumer West and the Islamic East. Her images, mostly portraits of the women and their lives, convey the variety of conditions and styles across Lebanon. There is one image showing a young woman dressed in a tight sequined, tiny-t-shirt getting her eyebrows done by a woman, presumably her elder, dressed in a conservative head scarf. Another image shows a war created hole in the wall, serving as a frame to the image of another building across the street. Matar’s goal was to create a perspective for Westerners to see the humanity and individual lives that are determined to prevail in a war torn country. The images are proven to be a success because of her ability to pass on to the viewers her intimate connections with her subjects. Looking through the images of this book give any photographer or non-photographer a better understanding of the lives of women and children in the Middle East, specifically Lebanon.

  • Hardcover: 128 pages
  • Publisher: Quantuck Lane Press (November 17, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1593720378
  • ISBN-13: 978-1593720377
  • Product Dimensions: 12 x 8.2 x 0.8 inches
  • Text: A+
    Layout: A+
    Photography: A+
    User: All Photographers and Non-photographers
    (Reviewed by EP April 2010)

     

    Our Pennsylvania,
    by Jerry Irwin.

    For those who live, or have lived in the northeast, or Pennsylvania, you will like this new book just out, Our Pennsylvania. This large 9.5x12 inch, hardback book is full of great images of one of my favorite states to photograph. It covers the state from old to new, mountains to valleys, and most great photo subjects in between. This book will make one great source for finding places to photograph, other than all of the well-known ones like Gettysburg and the Amish areas. With 150 color photos on 128 pages, it makes for a real pleasant way to pass time reading it. This book retails for US$19.95 and is published by Voyageur Press. If you need the same kind of book for another state, and some major cities, you can check out what is available at   www.voyageurprress.com       
    I Rate it:  A+  (Reviewed Feb. 2005)

     

    Our Philadelphia,
    by Jerry Irwin

    Irwin's new book is a picture book of the City of Brotherly Love. It is a collection of images of the history and character of this birthplace of America. A hardback book, 9.5x12 inches, with 112 pages of top quality printed pictures, it will make a great addition to any home library. Every image is captioned, not only with what the picture is, but also with many bits of added information. This is a super reference book for anyone planning on visiting this eastern Pennsylvania historical city. All of that and for a retail price of only US$14.95. This book is published by Voyageur Press and can be ordered from www.voyageurpress.com
    I Rate it: A 
    (Reviewed Aug. 2005)
     
    Outdoor Photographer Landscape and Nature Photography with Photoshop CS2
    By Rob Sheppard
        
    Here is a new book by a Photoshop Pro that will show you how to use this program, not to fix all of your image mistakes, but how to use it as another tool to improve how you make your images. The book starts out with sections on how to shoot correctly from the start, with Photoshop in mind as the next tool in the process, and goes on from there.  All of the Photoshop how-to information is in step-by-step format, with before and after illustrations, and also includes the settings used for each tool and step, so it is all very easy to learn from. Along with all of the how-to info in this book, it also includes a lot of “Pro-Tips” thrown in throughout it for an added bonus.

    This soft cover book is about 8x9 inches, with 379 pages, retails for US$34.99, and is published by Sybex, an imprint of Wiley at  www.sybex.com        
    I Rate it:  A+  (Reviewed Aug. 2006)

     

    Overlooked Undertakings
    By Audrey Heller

    I was immediately attracted to Audrey Heller’s images when I saw her booth at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, Colorado. She has taken plastic people in miniature scale and placed them in every day settings of the natural scale. The juxtaposition of different sizes tells a visual story. One of her images, titled Lifesaver, is a miniature female swimmer amongst life-sized Lifesaver mint candies on a reflective blue background. Another image includes a lady dressed for her housekeeping duties sweeping up giant crumbs from a piece of cake. The images suggest photojournalism and call for recognition of these little people’s daily dealings with a giant world. A great book to have on your coffee table to flip through and stare at or to create conversation with others.

  • Hardcover: 104 pages
  • Publisher: Squint Pictures; First Edition edition (May 1, 2009)
  • ISBN-10: 0979826306
  • ISBN-13: 978-0979826306
  • Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.2 x 0.6 inches
  • Text: N/A
    Layout: A
    Photography: A+
    User: All Photographers and Non-Photographers

    (Reviewed by EP November 2009)

     

     

    Over the Rivers: An Aerial View of Geology
    By Michael Collier

    Michael Collier uses his skills as an aerial photographer, a geographer, and a Cessna pilot to compile a collection of images documenting North America’s geography.  Collier discusses the science behind the many incredible rivers including the Mississippi, the Rio Grande, the Snake, and plenty more. This book is the second in a series—the first titled Over the Mountains—about the transformation of our land. Collier is an award-winning photographer and well-recognized geographer whose images and expertise have been included in many publications.

  • Hardcover: 128 pages
  • Publisher: Mikaya Press (September 12, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1931414211
  • ISBN-13: 978-1931414210
  • Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.2 x 0.7 inches


  • Text:
    A+
    Layout: A+
    Photography: A
    User: All Photographers
    (Reviewed by EP July 2008)

     

       
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