5 comments about XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits.

1. The photographs reminicent of Richard Avedon are excellent -- infact all photos are often framed like those of Avedon -- with the negative holders shown (albeit, they are digitally overlaid). The book also includes a collection of essays and diptychs of men and women (who happen to be porn stars). Each subject consists of a clothed portrait, followed by a nude photo (full frontals to 1/2 upper body shots). The concept of a pair of portraits, one clothed and one nude is facinating regardless of whether or not they are porn stars.
   
   The book also includes essays on the subject of porngraphy -- some written by [...], mainstream actors, porns star themselves etc on the subject of pornography. Most of the writings are uninteresting and I believe are included in the book to "legitimize" the portfolio so that this coffee table book can be taken as a collection of "serious" photography.
   
   I wish the photographer, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders had (ahem) "the balls" to simply captioned his work with a brief title rather than boring pseudo-intellectual babble in order to substatiate his work.
   
   More interesting than the essays are the short concise bios written by the pornstar themselves at the end of the book.



2. This project was interesting, and the photography is good but not moving or exceptional. The essays are very diverse and I can honestly say I read it for the articles. [grin] I want his octabox and large-format camera, though. It shows the character that only these tools can bring, which is lost on the pro-am photographers who are not at this level.
   
   I bought it as "bargain bin" expecting it to be marked or remaindered in some way, but it arrived wrapped and unmarred in any obvious way, making it an amazing value for the price. Your mileage may vary.



3. I think this collection of photos is just great. You get to see the two sides of the adult stars. Their real selves and they stage persona. It's a wonderful contrast.
   The pictures are wonderfully done and the models look great. I highly recommend this book.



4. the title says it all.
   It's definitely interesting to see side by side the dressed/undressed photographs, but I was expecting more insight into their life and jobs...



5. This book has wonderful photography and stories. The text is large clear and easy to read, the photos are also large, stunning and in full color. They feature porn stars clothed and nude, topless or completely naked. When you look at the pictures you start to wonder if them taking off their clothes is the same as them putting on a costume.
   
   Also the stories are all informative and giving intriguing insight into the business and the actors and actresses in it.

1 comments about Household Idols (Bruno Gmunder Verlag).

1. HOUSEHOLD IDOLS : What an intensely vivid journey into the realm of masculinity this huge book is . It is hard to drink in all the color, vivid energy, and clarity on each of the many pages of this book . Each virile model seems alive and readily envelopes you with their beauty . This is a great unique work . Another awe inducing treasure of male photography at its best from the penultimate male publisher Bruno Gmunder Verlag .
   Kudos to MARK HENDERSON photographer and artist

5 comments about Jeff Smith's Posing Techniques for Location Portrait Photography.

1. Jeff Smith is certainly one of my favorite authors in the field of photography. This book, like his many other texts, is well written and illustrated. Jeff breaks down posing into the simplest of terms so that anyone can follow his step by step instruction. His examples of group portraits are especially helpful and beautifully executed.



2. I received my order yesterday and started to read this book. I couldn't put it down. It had so many points I would have never considered, and wouldn't have guessed that would matter to a woman. For example, ankles are about the only thing I never notice on a woman, but they do. I would have thought leaning a person up against a rock for example would be a great shot, well, not exactly. Mr. Smith covers nearly everything from the tilt of the head to how the toes should be positioned. Also another thing is how to creatively hide areas of a person that are going to make an otherwise great shot into a reject. Great pictures of women, guys and families. He certainly brings out the beauty of the gals in his poses. (I must say though that with most of these gals, making them look good is not too hard.) Well worth the price. Amazon delivered in about 4 days. Ric.



3. While text in this book is useful at times, but you can get pretty much same stuff from most of "Posing techniques" (including brilliant books by Gomez on glamour photography) books out there (including few very good ones). There is VERY little specifics about on location posing, which book supposed to be about. Couple of chapters on how to sell your work - dont even understand why they were added, apart from making up for volume. Most of images in book are pretty mediocre, and like 70% of them reminds you of what person who just learned how to apply gaussian blur in Photoshop to smooth skin and make Orton's effect would be keep doing out of sheer excitement (and i kid you not. Image on the cover is one of very few good ones).
   
   On the whole - very few good tips and loads of repetition of other books. And very few good shots , which actually looks professional (sorry for repeating this, but its kind of strikes me. I never saw such a horrible stuff before in a book that pretends to teach people)



4. This book is not only a location posing guide because most of its tips can be perfectly applied in a studio as well.The images are really amazing and up-to-date. There is no excess, every pose can be easily used with models or common people successfully. I do recommend it even if you are a pro. It is an essential and pleasant worthy reading book. You will read it over and over again. Certanly, it is one of the most helpful books in this category.There is another similar book : The Portrait Photographer's Guide do Posing by Bill Hurter.



5. Clearly the author has considerable knowledge in his domain. What the book is lacking though is high quality instructional text.
   
   This book is probably most helpful for an experienced, but early career photographer who is looking how someone else is doing things just to mix things up, expand on breadth.
   
   For someone who has not gotten any other instruction on posing, the descriptions will fall well short of anything that can be reproduced in a repeatable and predicable fashion. It doesn't have enough detail, doesn't explain enough of the why/how.
   
   And for the seasoned pro, there is not enough new stuff in here to make it worth the read.
   
   The style of writing is much more of a pro sitting down on the porch over a drink comparing notes with someone else, than someone trying to explain how something works from the ground up.
   
   In terms of photo books, it's like showing a photo, the lighting diagram, but not explaining why those lights were placed there. Lots of those books around as well.
   
   Would I have picked it up from a book store? Maybe. Would I buy it again? Probably not. Did I expect more than it delivered? Definitely.

3 comments about Roadside Relics: America's Abandoned Automobiles.

1. Beautiful images of burnt out, rusted, and
   dead classic cars, trucks and vehicle parts,
   dressed in weeds, grass and mud...lovely.
   Not so much in your neighborhood, but they
   make fabulous images in their abandoned settings.



2. Bought this as a gift for husband, and he absolutely loved it! He looks through it all the time, even wants me to order more books about abandoned or wrecked cars. He is a car enthusiast to the fullest, and I recommend this book.



3. Good Golly - Roadside Relics and the 2008 calendar of the same name are just fantastic!
   
   Nearmost every page in this book is filled with glossy full colour photographs of automobiles rusticating ( and rusting) peacefully in out of the way locales.
   
   Although left to the elements , a few of these vehicles still look quite dignified in their resting places. A good example of this is the 1949 Buick Super four-door sedan resting at Navajo Twin Rocks.
   Dang, those late forties - early fifties Buick were works of art!
   
   If not too many people in the U.S. desire to restore some of these once-upon-a-time common place cars, there will be those outside the 50 States who would be more than keen to do so (if they have the time and money!)
   When we folks living outside of North America were still driving 'stick-shift', and using the 'Armstrong Crank-o-wynder System' (TM) to get fresh air into our vehicles, Americans had fine forty or fifty year old examples of fully optioned autos in their junkyards. And wow, what options! Shift-o-matic transmission! A/C! Electrical upperdy-downey side-glass! And all that Chrome! (Somehow I can't see all that plastic used in modern cars looking as good with half as much exposure to the elements).
   
   Cars from the Big Three and the smaller independents are pictured within. This book exceeded my expectations, real quality here.

2 comments about Glamour of the Gods.

1. I love this book. It's has some the greatest images of Hollywood's superstars of the first half of the last century. I give it 4 out of 5 stars for 2 reasons. (1) For fans of the Kobal collection, you will recognize many of the images from earlier books put out when John Kobal was alive. Personally I have seen, in other books of his (Kobal), about 60% of the portraits that appeared in this book. (2) The book has some beautiful color portraits that I wasn't expecting, but, again, a few were repeated in other books. Also, being the greedy person I am, there just wasn't enough of them (only about 6 in the whole book). There is however a wonderful color portrait of Lana Turner from 1938, that I had never seen, that's worth the price of the entire book!



2. From the arresting, surprising cover photo of Rock Hudson
   through the many artistic, iconic portraits taken by the unsung 'stillsmen' who worked at all the major movie studios, Robert Dance has fashioned a wonderful paean to the mostly forgotten photgraphers, to the ever-glamorous stars and to John Kobal, who had
   the good sense, passion and wherewithal to collect and save these
   images from being lost forever.

5 comments about The Pink Pocket Poser: The Glamour Photographers Posing Guide.

1. Great book, very easy to use. It is written sequencially and has lots of hints, tips, and things to avoid. The poses are cartoon type and very easy to duplicate. Good stuff.



2. Although some may be turned off by the cartoon-ish type drawnings, they are actually quite practical... leaving you to get the pose right for the particular model and not 'copying' the authors pic.
   Mainly the book is simple, to the point, and gives some great advice on topics which often go unnoticed. Like how to position hands, feet..etc.
   If you shoot models or portraits this a nice handy little book to throw in your bag. Great to let the model browse through too... just watch they don't steal it.



3. This has excellent advice, in very simple terms, that anyone can take advantage of. Though I have years of experience in Glamour Photography, I did learn some helpful stuff. But, it must cost like Fifty Cents to print this, and does not deliver on bang for the buck.....



4. Even though this book is written by a Brit and displays the singular humor Brits are famous for, this is one of the best posing guides for glamour and boudoir photography that I have come across. Add to that the very amusing line drawings the author has done to illustrate the "rules" he lays down and you have a very fun way to have your imagination and creativity piqued.
   
   I have even shown the book to a couple of models that I was shooting and we were having a hard time with posing ideas and the results were amazing! Their own creativity was jump-started and the poses began to flow.



5. I recently was searching for a memorable and descriptive book on posing models. Posing handbooks seem to be exercises in self congratulation or poorly organized for showing effective positioning. What worse is most I've read aren't memorable. The Pink Pocket Poser book offered a humorous and very clear summary of all the do's and don't for glamour model photography. This book makes the task of setting position and using props easy with sketches and cartoons. It's something I now study up on before each model shoot.

No comments about Above All: Mount Whitney and California's Highest Peaks.

5 comments about Photography for Dummies, Second Edition.

1. Hey, you don't have to be a dummy to get a lot out of this easy-to-read and fun book! It's written for all those who want to turn their snapshots into great shots. My wife and ...son found some great tips! And, I was reminded of some of the basic stuff I had forgotten. If you want to have more fun with your camera, I recommend this book.



2. I'm chiming in just to say that this is an all-new edition of Photography For Dummies, fully updated with the latest details on digital point-and-shoot photography. But as with the first edition, I've made it my business to simplify the often intimidating processes involved in taking and printing pictures without film. That said, the book contains all you need to know to shoot with film, as the majority of amateur photographers still do. I've tried to weave together the digital and "analog" approaches so that whichever type of camera you're using, Photography For Dummies can serve as a complete guide to easy picture-taking. The book also contains an entirely new section of color illustrations, many if not most of them shot with digital cameras. But its basic premise is that whether you're shooting digitally or with film, many of the same simple tips and techniques can dramatically improve your photography. Thanks!



3. This book really taught me things I always wanted to know about photography and cameras. One day I hope to become a photographer and I really want to learn the basics now. I really am thinking about my future and this book is really essential to me. It breaks down every little thing about photography,cameras,and everything that i even thought of.It seems that ever since I read this book I became even more influenced to take photoghraphy seriously and take classes.Thanks for giving kids and adults something to help them with there life,career, and hopefully my future.



4. I recommend this book as a good introduction for those who are just learning the basic concepts of photography. The book is geared to those who are planning to use a "point and shoot" digital or film camera. If this is the type of camera you are planning to use, this book is an ideal introduction to photography. If you possess a camera which has more features built in than a "point and shoot" camera you might find this book lacking on how to use these features. However, even if you have a more advanced camera this book is still packed with some very good information on photographic composition. I have used some of the suggestions mentioned in the book regarding composition and have found them very helpful in improving the composition of my pictures.



5. Good information. I am disppointed that there is only a little info for digital camer. This is meant for point and shoot cameras. I have an SLR and this does have some helpful info but make sure if you have a digital or slr buy the book specific to those.

5 comments about A Short Course in Nikon D80 Photography book/ebook.

1. Thought it was very helpful and informative. didn't like that it was black and white print. For a great color experience I had to sit in front of the computer to watch the CD, which presents great examples of concepts. Wish they would make the book in color print too.



2. This publication has great content.
   Unfortuantly,The black-and-white only pages of it are truly sad. How can one look at a black and white image of the color spectrum and learn? How can one learn about photography with only copied B/W images? the CD is great, I would sugest selling only the CD and using the paper for somethinbg else. It's as if someone just skimmped on the publication cost. I would pay much more for a color version.



3. Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)
   
   I love the camera but the user's guide is just not readable. The ShortCourse is much better; good value!
   
   Chaz



4. I found the book very easy to use, and with the CD it help a great deal to me understanding the Nikon D80



5. This is an excellent resource book. Easy to follow, easy to reference, and I love the spiral binding.

5 comments about Horse Handling & Grooming: A Step-By-Step Photographic Guide to Mastering over 100 Horsekeeping Skills (Horsekeeping Skills Library).

1. I condsider myself a beginner. This book is very simplistic.
   I learned most of these things in the first month of taking lessons. If you have a minimal amount of knowledge, this book would be a waste. Don't waste your time or money. I wish I hadn't.



2. This book matches exactly what the title says it is providing the beginner with the basics of handling and grooming on a horse that is use to both (in my mind set it pretains to a very gentle well trained horse that is use to a lot of handling, like someone else stated a sound horse).
   The pictures and text appear to be complete on how to do things right and it's my kind of book, no long winded, wasted or unneeded words to make a bigger book thus wasting my time or book shelf space.
   It does just cover the basics on how to do it (not with a horse that is unruley) and on handling you will quickly out-grow the book. It does contain more information on grooming than it does handling so if you are new at that it should be very helpful.



3. I bought this book because I thought it would be just as good as another in this series "Getting the most from Riding Lessons". I was really looking for specifics on grooming with highly detailed photos and step by step highly detailed instructions and tips. This book has some of this.
   
   There's a good section on catching, tying, and handling the horse. There is some basic safety information omitted.
   The hoof care is completely lacking. There is only information on how to lift and support your horses feet. This should be a VERY detailed section of the book considering how important it is to a horse.
   Daily grooming info is only OK.
   Washing section is acceptable to good.
   Clipping section is good but doesnt cover special clipping patterns.
   Mane and tail care and braiding is good.
   No leg wrap information is included.
   No transport of horse information is included.
   
   This all said - it's really hard to find a great grooming book.



4. This book is good for folks who have a basic knowledge of horses but want a little further advice. People who haven't had lessons or are just starting to work with horses for the most part will get confused easily. I got this book for a friend and while there is plenty of useful information tha main things we were looking for were hoof care. The most useful information I found was the section on tying the horse and approaching the horse. This book is helpful but definately not a complete source. We actually got Horses for Dummies and THAT book had ALOT of helpful information... including information on what you should consider BEFORE you become a horse owner.



5. I needed a book for students getting to know horses for the first time.
   This book provided the information they needed in quick and easy slices.
   This laid the ground work for more intensive sessions which they will receive later on in their veterinary and general animal care courses.
   I am very pleased with this book.
   
   
   G.Stratton, SGU.