Great "think different" ideas / / 2010-08-18

Freeman Patterson walks you through concepts and practices to help expand your vision. I have been working on my (photo) compositional skills and this book has really helped me see things in new and creative ways.

Photography and the Art of Seeing / / 2010-02-08

I thought this was going to be more of a instructional book vs. a picture book.

There are better books out there than a 25 year old reprint / / 2009-11-09

There are better books on composition out there. This is an updated version of a 25 year old book. I it is totally dishonest to publish a book and than change the copyright year instead of writing that this is a reprint. Totally dishonest.

However, if you buy it you will still learn, but some of the other books on composition that I've reviewed are better. The book has too much text and very few illustrations.

I like books about composition and I have found that the best approach is to buy books from different authors. Many authors have multiple books, but they all tend to be kind of similar. So my key advice is to go for diversity. I would get the following: Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision, The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos, Learning to See Creatively: Design, Color & Composition in Photography (Updated Edition), and SSeeing Landscapes: The Creative Process Behind Great Photographs.

I just bought my first DSLR camera. I bought ten photography books on amazon. I'm evaluating these books from the perspective of a semi-advanced amateur. (On things I've learnt is that book by the

It took me 4 months to finally recieve this book but... / / 2009-04-30

It was worth the wait. I'm not that far into it yet but I'm already seeing how closed off I've been to seeing what's around me. I'm positive that by time I'm done with the book it will have made me a better seer, maybe not a better photographer, but I will see things in new and exciting ways. I don't recommend this book to people who want to get better at technical aspects of photography. However, if you feel like you don't always take the best pictures you could because you aren't seeing whats around you than this book is for you.

Note: This is NOT a book about composition! Some reviewers are complaining about how poorly he covers the subject. This book is about teaching you how to see differently! If you want a book on composition by all means do not look to this book. If you want to start seeing things that others might not, this is the only book of it's kind!

A different approach to photography / / 2009-03-18

This is an instructional book on photographic seeing rather than a how to book on making pretty pictures. If you are looking for a cookbook on how to take vacation snaps, pass this one by.

This is a book to assist you in seeing photographically. Its exercises help you see the extraordinary in everyday items. Often a great photograph is great not due to the subject matter, but the manner the photographer treats that subject matter. This book is designed to boost your sensitivity to the wonderful within the mundane which surrounds us.

Ironically, the book was written during the film era but it's a book meant for the digital age. Many of the exercises demand a lot of shooting - costly with film - no cost in digital. Also the feedback loop is instant with digital rather than hours, days or even weeks with film. Thus what you try to achieve is immediately available in digital which makes the lessons / exercises more effective today than when the book was written.

Probably not a first or second book to learn photography. This book assumes you know how to set your aperture and shutter as well as what ISO is. It probably should be in every serious photographer's library.

Wonderful / / 2009-10-11

Ms. Bright provides truly wonderful text and insight into some quite diverse photographers. The photo illustrations are bright (no pun intended) and large. With fewer photographers or illustrations she might have been able to provide more information about the genre, photographer or concept but then I am a visualist and seeing the images alongside her breakdown of them is an immense help to my own progress.

Not About the State of the Art / / 2008-11-30

Even the author Susan Bright admits in her introduction that Art Photography is hard to define. (Some aestheticians even claim that photography is not an art.) She appears to offer an operational definition. If it's taken with a camera and people are willing to pay for it and hang it on a wall then it is art photography. The problem for Bright is that that definition includes images by artists ranging from Annie Liebovitz and Art Wolfe to the most extreme of the post-modernists and it is clear from the pictures in the book that that is not what Bright is presenting. Instead she seems to be aiming at some middle ground.

Her book is divided by genre into chapters on Portrait, Landscape, Narrative, Object, Fashion, Document and City. After a brief introduction she presents one to four pages on each individual photographer, with good sized images from each. Along with the pictures, Bright offers quotations from the photographers that I presume are meant to give us insight into their works. Most of the images show good control of the technical side of photography, unlike the work of many post-modernists who seem not only to challenge the meaning of a photograph, but also to reject established techniques.

Although she mentions the most famous and accomplished of photographers in the chapter introductions and shows a few of their pictures, like those of Jeff Wall and Cindy Sherman, many of the photographers, while known, are not from the most famous. All things being equal, getting an introduction to photographers with whom we are not familiar is a good thing. Unfortunately all things are not equal.

A photography book, just like an exhibit, works best when it has a theme that helps us to understand the works. A book can reveal the work of one photographer, or one school of photography, or one subject. This book gives us a potpourri of unrelated photographs that leaves the meaning of most of the pictures as enigmatic. From the title, the book suggests that it will provide some kind of insight into the state of the art. But it doesn't. The chapter introductions appear trite and merely a recitation of the artists contained in the book and their subject matter.

People who read this book probably want to get their arms around the meaning of modern photography. It's possible for a book to do this. As witness, look at Charlotte Cotton's "The Photograph as Contemporary Art (World of Art)". Although nowhere as extensive in content as "Art Photography Now" Cotton provides a taxonomy within which to consider pictures that makes it easy to understand how they fit into a larger scene. It's true that she only examines post-modernists, but even examining that school (or really, schools) can give us a better understanding of photography.

It's too bad for the photographers whose works appears in this book. Some of them are worth our attention. You just can't tell it from this book.

good text some good artists but... / / 2007-05-21

Very good Rhigting but only a few serious art photographers in this book all the others don't know anything about photography or art and the "visual" failure to pass the message of the concept they are dealing with at all!
There are a lot of much more better artists that deal with the same matters to choose from.

Is sade to see how the curators and academics that deal with art photography, follow the art dealers and PR people and they are failing on their mission and leading this wonderfull art of photography to pathetic places

one-sided view / / 2006-06-21

to call this 'art photography now' is a bold move, and this collection is less a survey than an advertisement for a particular style of photography. the work doesn't vary much from artist to artist, and if you don't like color fictive constructions and digital manipulation then you probably won't like this book. as the trend of this type of large scale, color, set-up, advertising-influenced work fades, this book will seem a sad reminder of a rather lame period in photo history when the majority of galleries, critics, artists, and dealers joined forces to produce (like this title) little more than a shopping mall of trendy, elitist, high-priced commodity under the guise of art.

A trip to 80 (good) art galleries in a single book / / 2006-05-07

It is difficult to find good contemporary photography overviews -- typically, you could go to galleries or museums for several years or buy a stack of art photography books and spend days going through them -- assuming you had a strong Art background. This book offers a nice alternative and it is one of the best overviews of contemporary fine art photography available.

Aperture, a respected photography publishing house, has beautifully produced this handsome book with 80 of what they consider to be the best living and working art photographers. The selection is broad, encompasses many areas and is well organized into 7 sections from Portrait to City. Several works from each artist are presented along with a short description of an artist's Work from a curator's perspective. Even more valuable are quotations from each artist describing their Work from their perspective. This alone makes the book worth owning.

Photographers you might know; Cindy Sherman, Thomas Ruff, Gregory Crewdson, Jeff Wall, Uta Barth, Joel Sternfeld, Thomas Demand and many others are alongside people you have probably never heard of but should get to know. The coverage of the cinematic, self exploration/psychological, conceptual and to some extent digital influences presented here should be thought provoking. Clearly, the "digitalness" of photography as a medium and all that implies -- interaction and collaboration, manipulation and realism, and authenticity and authority -- is growing in importance and will no doubt be better covered in the future as those artists emerge.

There are only two omissions that would have been interesting to see included; artists such as Gerhard Richter, best known for his painting and who uses photography extensively -- and some of the newest up and comers, like Idris Khan. To be fair, those areas are rich enough to support separate books and you should not let this keep you from buying this book. Overall, this is an excellent way to quickly learn about contemporary photography and you will not be disappointed.

Excellent !! / / 2009-01-12

Art and Photography shows a chronology of photographic images since the 1960's grouped along themes that explore relations between photography and art. Culture, technical aspects, movement, stilness and other themes help the reader see photography on a way that helps one understand how photography is inside modern culture. David Campany did a very beautiful and interesting selection of images that come along with large explanatory captions. There is also a nice selection of individual texts written by the artists themselves, critics and historians. A must have book !

Avant-garde / / 2007-11-27

Notwithstanding the promise of its title, "Art in Photography" is simply a survey of avant-garde photography of the last half of the twentieth century.

The book is divided into three parts: an essay by Campany, photographs and other works, and documents consisting of excerpts of articles, interviews and statements. The essay is divided into sections with titles like "The Urban and the Everyday" with similar sections of the photographs and documents. Each essay section makes a few general comments about the new in photography and then discusses in a sentence or two the particular photographers whose works appear among the photographs.

The essay's principal thesis is that while other plastic arts moved away from content toward form in modern times, photography has generally moved away from form to content. At the same time, the goal of either set of movements was always self-referential, although it seemed as if photographers were deliberately subverting the form to show its inadequacies. (The author ignores the main stream of photography during that same period, when there were many portrait, fashion and landscape photographers who clung splendidly to the combination of form and content, using form to explicate the content.)

The essay is often supported by thumbnails an inch and three-quarters high, but it is difficult to see much at this small size, and the reader may be further confounded in the effort to relate the picture to the text by the fact that the captions for the thumbnails are printed vertically in small type, requiring one to rotate the book 90 degrees and then look closely to confirm the relationship of the picture to the text.

The pictures themselves are difficult to understand out of the context of a particular photographer's work, although occasionally an image will arrest one's eye, like the photograph of a single woman's face turned toward the camera in a sea of black-cloaked praying Moslem women, or Chuck Close's painting of Philip Glass. For the most part the pictures, out of context, are enigmatic. Campany acknowledges that it is difficult to draw any consistent theory of photography from the pictures.

The documents vary in interest from insightful articles to artistic double-speak. It pained me to see Walter Benjamin's seminal article "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" abridged to a short excerpt, but it does add the flavor of the work to some understanding of the pictures presented.

Survey books are always difficult for me because they can never go into enough detail to comprehend larger movements. Still, for the individual interested in a collection of representative works of avant-garde photography, this book may fill the bill,

more description of book( we would like a list of artists) / / 2007-05-16

The book starts with a 35-page survey written by the editor does a very good job of covering photography's use in the arts. This is then followed by some 150 pages of photographs. The next 80 pages cover the documents, writings on and by the artists using photography in their practice. The book concludes with artist and author biographies and a decent bibliography.

Both the photography and the documents are organized into rough thematic groupings. These are:
* Memories and Archives
* Objective Objects
* Traces of Traces
* The Urban and the Everyday
* The Studio Image
* The Arts of Reproduction
* `Just' Looking
* The Cultures of Nature
This organizational structure works quite well, in that rather than overwhelming you with a whole book worth of imagery and commentary, it is divided into more manageable chunks that still allow contemplation of the whole but also allow a tighter consideration, as needed. The work and documents cover the whole time range from the 60's to the early 21st Century (2003 to be specific, the year of publication). So the book is an excellent survey document.

Anyone who is serious at coming to grips with the use of photography in contemporary art practice should have this book handy. It brings together in one great resource not only great examples of the work produced but also, through collating the writings that are included, bringing together the thoughts, criticisms and analysis of the major artists, critics, theorists and analysts of the time. Very highly recommended.

Outstanding Volume About Current Trends / / 2004-10-02

The front free endpaper of this book says "Art and Photography is the first book of its kind to survey the presence of photography in artistic practice from the 1960s onwards. The photographic image is central to contemporary art and the debates that surround it, yet it took most of the last century for it to acquire this status. Despite the extensive exploration of photography as an independent art in the Modernist era, it was not until the late twentieth century that artists, museums and galleries began to explore its social roles as a medium of representation. This volume provides a comprehensive survey of photography's place in recent art history, further contextualized in the Documents section by original artists' statements and interviews, together with critical and theoretical reflections on the photographic and the art of the photograph."

Does the book live up to this hype? I think it does. It's a handsome 304-page tome, with the first two-thirds printed on white semiglossy paper (for the "Survey" and "Works") and the last third on cream-colored uncoated paper (for the "Documents," biographies, bibliography, and index).

The "Survey," "Works," and "Documents" parts are arranged into the same eight sections: "Memories and Archives" on "public and private histories"; "Objective Objects" on photos' "apparently direct relation to the world"; "Traces of Traces" on "photography as a record of the real and its effects"; "The Urban and the Everyday" on "contemporary city life"; "The Studio Image" on "fine art's traditional space of making"; "The Arts of Reproduction" on "works that reflect upon the way mass culture is experienced as fragments"; " 'Just' Looking" on "the social structures of vision and the place of the gaze in the formation of our identity"; and "The Cultures of Nature" on "how the current understandings of the natural are formed and reflected through contemporary representation." This organization is unique to my knowledge; most books on art are arranged chronologically or by artist.

The "Survey" essay by David Campany places the Works and Documents into historical context and explains in some detail the eight categories. It's illustrated with small reproductions of art and photos. I found it enlightening.

Within each of the eight sections of "Works," from pages 46 to 205, the photos are presented in more or less chronological order, with the earliest works dating from the 1960s. Of the dozens of photographers, the ones who have more than one photo (from different series) reproduced in the book are John Baldessari, Victor Burgin, Gregory Crewdson, John Divola, John Hilliard, Joel Meyerowitz, Gabriel Orozco, Richard Prince, Gerhard Richter, Martha Rosler, Thomas Ruff, Allan Sekula, Cindy Sherman, Thomas Struth, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Larry Sultan, Jeff Wall, Andy Warhol, Gillian Wearing, and William Wegman. I detect no significant errors of omission or commission in the choice of artists. The specifications of media (e.g., "tinted black and white photographs") and dimensions, and the lengthy captions, are valuable.

"Documents" contains excerpts of writings by photographers (including ones with only a single photograph in "Works," e.g., Yve Lomax and Robert Smithson) and non-photographers (e.g., Roland Barthes, Jacque Derrida, Craig Owens, Marcel Proust), as well as interviews with photographers. These "mostly left-brain" texts complement the "half-left-brain, half-right-brain" Works.

If I had to improve anything, I would say to editor Campany and publisher Phaidon only "Lay off the fancy typography, like the 'decreasing font size' effect from page 14 to page 17, and the full-page treatment of brief quotations on pages 221, 226, 235, and 283! While it makes the book visually attractive, it distracts from the book's main messages and wastes space." Buy this excellent book from Amazon.com!

Customer Review is not available for this book

Why such a book? / / 2009-11-21

I bought this book hoping to find a compendium of techniques to enhance my skills a photographer. What I found is the quintessence of emptiness. This book is vague and editorial. It does not teaches the reader anything at all. It is a sequence of photographs with banal comments and very high level considerations. I honestly do not even believe it is a beginners book, it is just a retrospective on some of the author's pictures. The front cover quotes: "Inspiring Techniques for Creative Results"...sorry but there is nothing inspiring here.

A Gem from one of the Industry's Best Personalities! / / 2008-08-18

An excellent resource for anyone who is looking for ideas to improve both their technique and interpersonal skills as a photographer. Bambi is one of the most gifted people photographers of our generation. The greatest part is Bambi's enthusiastic personality is as amazing as her photographs.
As proven in her photographs, Bambi is one of those people who makes everyone and anyone comfortable and smile. I always learn new things from her books. Bravo! Keep them coming.
Nancy Koritz
Tokyo, Japan

Very Useful / / 2008-03-01

I picked this book up at the store while looking for another. It was very easy to read and I understood what they were trying to tell the reader. Gave me some wonderful idea's. I especially liked how on the side of the photo it told you the camera info. I am a self taught photographer and for me that info was very useful. Would highly recommend this to anyone and plan on buying all the other book published by Bambi and Skip.

One of the better amphoto books / / 2007-12-31

This is a good book for inspiration, and some new ideas. It assumes that you are already a photography, and does not try to to teach portraiture so much as offer you some ideas and maybe new things to try. Amphoto's books on the whole, seem to really be nothing more then either reviews or just general guides- they keep themselves way to short page-length wise(always about 129 pages) to really server as instructional aides. This one really does give some good ideas about how to change up how you maybe take a portrait- but once it again, it only aims to inspire, not instruct. I do give it kudos for actually breaking down the use of 1 or 2 NIK 3rd party filters. If your looking for step by step instruction, your better off with a focal press book. Still if you want to see what type photos can be produced, this other is pretty awesome.

Beautiful pictures but not much else. / / 2007-11-12

About all that was said, over and over again, was get to know your subject. No real techniques but I enjoyed the photos. Of course that's not why I bought the book.

Excellent book / / 2002-06-27

I have always admired Bruce Barnbaum's prints and really appreciate the clear guidance in this book regarding seeing, understanding light, exposing film, and printing. Among the useful aspects of the book are the photographs that show how control over the exposure and printing can affect the final result. This book is perfect for photographers looking to make a serious advance in the quality of their images.

Encouraging and most helpful, very clear text. / / 2002-06-04

I've read many books which cover the finer points of photography, each has it's purpose and adds to my understanding. This book I felt helped find my own way to view what I want in an image. Bruce first gets the reader to explore their own likes in a photograph, getting us out of the confines of rules we've been told are required for a "Good Photograph", be free to explore all possibities not a fixed grid we tend to think of as the parameters of photography. The thing I found most helpful in this book is the topic of film and paper exposure. I've read much of the Zone System and understood it to a good extent, but Bruce takes it to a more practical level and I found I could apply his points with a much better understanding. It has made an improvment in my black and white large format work. Now, after reading this through a few times I have a much better understanding of how to use the range of the film and paper to their fullest extent. I can get most negatives to print on normal contrast paper, don't need to use contrast filters to get something to work and can get much more detail in the shadow areas. This book is wrote for the advanced photographer and prior basic knowledge will make it more usable but written in a very comfortable pace that I as an amature photographer could grasp with no problem. I feel this has saved me from many years of experimentation and let me get on with making photographs which I love to do! Greatly improved my confidence, this is the way photography should be taught, we each have our own abilities and creative aspects.

My instructor: "Wish I'd had it when I was starting out." / / 2000-09-24

I am a serious photography student, albiet a green one. My instructor has been a photographer for 50 years and once ran the biggest portrait studio in Niagra Falls, NY. He has studied with Mr. Picker (BTW, the fore mentioned is rather discredited by both Mr. Burnbaum and my instructor, so if you are a "dry down" sycophant move on now.) He likens Mr. Burnbaum to the caliber of Mr. Adams: both being masters of the media. I was also truely blessed to see both Mr. Burnbaum himself and his work at an exibition here in Oklahoma. His prints are truely stunning. His book is equally so. I can't say I know a whole lot about photography -- it is a vast and imposing subject -- but I know quality when I see it, and I know more about photography after reading "The Art of Photography". My opinion isn't that important, but I value my instructor's and I think that I can safely say it's a must read for any photographic artist -- B&W, color, small, medium, or large format.

Excellent mix of technical and artistic information / / 1999-02-12

Kudos to Mr. Barnbaum, not only for his artistic excellence, but also for his ability to communicate his thoughts and ideas in a clear and interesting manner. "The Art of Photography" is written in a very personal style, and is a wonderful mix of technical and artistic information. Although the technical details about the Zone system and darkroom techniques are certainly directed toward the serious, advanced photographer, the discussions about composition, visualization, and creativity should be of interest to photographers at all levels of ability and experience. Most importantly, Mr. Barnbaum shares his thoughts about the purpose of photography: to communicate a feeling or message to the viewer and to elicit a response. This theme is reiterated throughout the book and is frequently compared to similar concepts in other art forms. I've read a number of very good books on photography, but this one is now at the top of my list. If you are serious about photography and are looking for a stimulating book, this is the one!

A good book for the advanced b&w photographer / / 1996-08-16

Barnbaum is a serious black and white photographer, and this is a personal book in which he describes how he uses his own sense of aesthetic to "break" the rules of the Zone System. A good book for the advanced b&w photographer, this book provides a view of the way in which one photographer finds his own vision. It is less about technique and more about art than most photography books. My only quibble is that the reproductions in the book could have been of a higher quality.

Fantastic! Inspiring! Beautiful! / / 2010-08-21

This book is engaging! It shares a practical sense about the true art of photographing children. People take for granted, that photographing children is something that is "easy" to do. The truth is, that it is one of the most difficult types of photography to achieve! Tamara shares her wonderful knowledge and skill set with her readers, so they can also learn how to capture the best images possible. Tamara's tips fill the gap between the technical and the technique. It is very clear that once you enter her world, you are mesmerized by her talents as a truly gifted photographer, and you will get lost in the emotion of her subjects, and marvel at how she captures all of this..... in one single image.

waited too long to read / / 2010-08-13

I kept meaning to read this book for a while. It's easy enough to just breeze through the beautiful photographs and enjoy the scenery. It doubles as a coffee table photography book. But when I finally sat down to actually read it, I was kicking myself for not taking in all the useful information sooner. This is some really great stuff, very easy to convert into using immediately. Wish I'd known I had such a resource at my fingertips earlier.

Just what I needed! / / 2010-08-11

Finally, a book that gets to the down-to-earth kind of instruction any budding photographer craves-- conversation-style REAL advice I feel excited and almost privileged to be let in on. Connecting with children upon first meeting them can be a daunting ordeal, and when time is limited on a shoot to get them engaged/animated and capture their expressions in beautiful imagery, it can be darn near impossible. Time and time again I've found myself so overwhelmed by maintaining a positive interaction with my little subjects that I barely have time to think about the technicalities of shooting. I've often considered attending pricey workshops to glean this kind of expertise...the kind that can only come from years of successful professional photography, and in this case, from working with kids on a daily basis and getting to understand how they function (even includes a breakdown of personality types and how to approach them best/get them to open up!). If you've had the same thought, save your money, and get this book instead!! I've poured over it for hours on end, read it cover-to-cover multiple times and refer back to specific sections constantly, sometimes just long enough for inspiration to strike (which doesn't take long, the photos are breathtaking). Lackey does an excellent job of breaking down the first meeting and orientation process, and where to draw the line between playmate and professional.

Powerful portraiture is about connecting with your subject and allowing them to be at ease in front of the camera... this book hits this point spot on, and so many others, and has truly made my portrait sessions more productive and fun for myself and my clients, which shows in the quality (and expressiveness) of the resulting images. Though it is lighter on the end of technical advice, she does provide some pretty useful diagrams of studio lighting & backdrop options, and descriptions of working with multiple subjects and posing tactics, and a good section on location shoots. The book wraps up with a couple chapters on the business side (including marketing, workflow, etc) of things, which is less entertaining but still extremely helpful and informative. To sum it up, this book eased all of my fears and anxieties about working with kids, and inspired me to try new things and get involved and HAVE FUN with all sorts of subjects, even the shy evasive ones. I've even tried out some of Tamara's go-to sillyness tricks with older kids and lighthearted adults, to everyone involved's delight. :) Honestly can't praise this book enough, I'd reccommend it to ANYONE looking to get serious about children's photography but still have fun doing it! Way to go Tamara Lackey, you've helped breath life into my portrait business. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Beautiful AND Informative! / / 2010-08-11

After reading the reviews about this book and wondering about the very polarized feelings (apparently it is either loved or hated) I decided to buy it and check it out for myself. I honestly must say it delivered everything I was expecting and so much more! (Not really understanding the super harsh criticism, unless it's a case of jealousy??)

First off, the book is BEAUTIFUL! The photographs are stunning, it is well made, and it is written in a way that makes you feel like you're being given pointers from an old (very experienced) friend. No wonder Tamara is so successful if she can connect with people so well, even through an instructional book (not to mention take FABULOUS photos!)

As far as content goes, I was pleased with the amount of information on every aspect of running a portrait photography business. I've had my own business for a long time, but Tamara's tips on how to connect with and bring out every type of child, the best way to do a sales session, and how to best advertise/market yourself especially were very helpful.

Overall I found this book full of great tips that were easy to read and understand. It is super well written, beautiful, and I'm so glad I purchased it!

I love this book / / 2010-08-11

This book was very helpful. It creates a strong foundation for any photographer interested in working with children. There are so many great tips on how to engage the children you are working with, no matter what their personality type is. There are also great lighting tips.

Great book, wonderful information,, recommend it... / / 2010-07-21

It is a great book with a lot of information and wonderful images. Recommend it to anyone that is interested in learning how to photograph those subjects.

Fine Art Photography: Tony Sweet / / 2009-08-07

I looked at some of his pictures & wanted to learn how to do this with my camera. He tells where pictures were taken, with what camera, lenses, settings and what programs he used. I'm in love with the man's photography style. The book has biven me incentive to try learning what to do to with my camera. Amazed at what I've been able to do in a short time. I'm sixty nine years old & have been tking pictures forever, now am taking pictures that I consider art. I have also bought his other books & video. All are fantastic.

An expensive book! / / 2009-04-26

I'm sorry for this lame title, but in a way it's true. The pictures in this book were very inspirational to me, and now I'm saving money to get a Nikon 105mm macro lens!

You will not get technical descriptions on how to achieve the shots, and in many cases the description could have been avoided, but the pictures are so strong they speak for themselves.

After having read this book I will buy the other books in this "Fine art photography" series.

Inspiring Photography Book / / 2009-01-07

As an avid amateur nature photographer, I'm always looking for new sources of inspiration. I love photographing ponds and streams in winter and Tony Sweet's book gave me valuable insights on what to look for and how to use photo equipment to portray it in new and creative ways.

Beautiful images and good information / / 2008-03-08

Tony Sweet is an incredible photographer coming from a musical background. The images are all focused on H2O-related subjects. He tells how he did he and why, so it is helpful to get insight on composition and technical aspects.

A history of inkjet printing / / 2007-12-21

I found this book to be quite a good read, but it should looked at as a historical work first. However the amount of text in this book is a lot less than you might expect, probably less than 50% of the book is written material. The remainder consists of wonderful prints from many artists.

I did enjoy it, but it should be purchased understanding the odd format, a few essays, all well written. With many prints, not all are photographs. The Wilhelm essay on history of print longevity is especially good.

history / / 2007-10-10

The history of digital photography has twists and turns, and the Nash Editions book gives us a record of some of the key events. Worth reading, and the images are splendid.

Inspiration Through Examples and History / / 2007-06-15

With respect to the nature of this book's content and message Eric Burrows' review title hit the nail on the bean: "Not how to do it but how it happened". Don't buy this book with the expectation of learning technical tricks for printing. Rather, "Nash Editions; Photography and the Art of Digital Printing" is a retrospective look at the pathfinding inkjet printing work of Mac Holbert and Graham Nash. The book actually consists of several essays by various authors, including Mr. Archival Permanence himself, Henry Wilhelm.

I found this book to be a fascinating stroll down the relatively short (to-date) path of fine art inkjet printing. But I also found it strangely inspiring. After spending a couple of hours with this book I felt compelled to devote even more effort to my own printing.

A must have book, but ... / / 2007-06-14

Nash Editions deserves all credit for kick starting the fine-art/inkjet revolution but I'm not sure this book adds much to what is already well known. For sure there's lot of great images herein, but the presentation is a bit sloppy. We hear the same story over again from multiple participants and (in my copy at least) the more interesting narration from Holbert ends mid sentence. If you're interested in the history of the inkjet, this is a book you'll have to have but the lack of care/thought in its presentation does seem a little like exploitation.

High expectations / / 2007-05-06

Just a few years ago the terms "art" and "inkjet print" weren't tolerated in communal context. Now, as with many media evolutions, sensibilities have to a large degree changed. One of the forces instrumental in altering the art community's entrenched mindset against the inkjet process has been a small digital fine-art inkjet photography studio by the name of Nash Editions. Through the collaborative pioneering of a handful of deep-pocketed, influential, and very determined artistic entrepreneurs, Nash Editions helped develop, refine, and establish broad acceptance for the digital fine-art inkjet printing. This is their story.

At first blush this lavishly printed (and expensive) book promises a consuming elegance that sweeps you away. It has star power too, with one of the leading personalities none other than Graham Nash of Crosby, Still & Nash fame. It also includes rich and very personal histories of the birth and labored growth of the digital printing service company, of permanence in various photographic media, and of photography itself as a medium of expression. The book also includes images by a broad selection of visual artists spread throughout in an eclectic smorgasbord.

But there are a few elements that detract somewhat from the book's rich objectives. With several authors contributing, certain parts of the story get repeated - several times in fact - and the tone at times begins to sound slightly obsequious and self-lauding, to the point that one is led to the impression that Nash Editions (the company) was pretty much the sole entity that dragged digital printing from practically nothing in the early 1990s to it's high level of sophistication and acceptance today. While Nash Editions can certainly claim historic "firsts" in several categories within the digital printing revolution, a thoughtful person might wonder if there weren't just a few other significant contemporaries working toward the same goals. And on a purely technical note, one of the sections of the book ends in the middle of a paragraph, leaving the reader guessing as to the intended conclusion; perhaps a little tighter editing would have been helpful.

So, should you buy this book? Yes, if you're a photographic artist interested in the history of the digital printing process or the concept and science of photographic media permanence. And of course it will serve too as visual stimulation and a contemporary two-dimensional artwork study; one can learn a great deal by looking carefully at other artist's work.

Horrible book...poor english skills / / 2010-07-31

Art Morris should pay me to read this book. It is poorly written. The skills are outdated as well. Spend your money and time on a book by a real professional writer and photographer!

bird photo / / 2010-01-02

I have take a course with Artie and he is a wonderful intructor and this book and his CD Art of Bird Photography II are outstanding. I am a Nikon user and find I can utilize the suggestions in the book, even though Artie is a Canon Man. [...]

Bee

For Any Photographer / / 2009-11-19

This is clearly the best book on photographic techniques I have read. And, I have read a lot. The section on exposure is a must read.

Great Deal on a Great Book / / 2008-09-17

I've read reviews that describe this book as being "outdated" because it deals in film photography and "biased" toward Canon equipment because that is what Morris shoots with and knows best, but...it remains an excellent resource that goes way beyond whatever "hardware" a photographer uses. Morris shares his abundant knowledge about what makes a great bird photograph and how to get there including not only equipment choice, but exposure, lighting, composition, field techniques for getting close to the birds and capturing them in action. The information is pertinent not only to those who shoot film with a Canon but anyone who really wants to improve the results s/he is getting currently photographing birds. He is a master and for anyone willing to learn, he provides excellent time-tested information about what he has learned over the years: all in a very readable format. One need just look at his bird photos to see he knows of what he speaks. It is a real shame that this book is out of print. I have seen it go on Ebay for over $100.00, I fortunately found it here on Amazon for a more reasonable price. There is an update available on Morris' website www.birdsasart.com although it is in CD form only, not in print. I do not have it (yet) so cannot comment.

The right stuff for bird photography. / / 2008-02-20

I was fortunate enough to come across a like new copy of this out-of-print book on Amazon, and at the reasonable listed price, I had to acquire it. I never expected it contain such detailed subject matter on equipment and exposure. I shoot with film, and Mr. Morris does a great job with film photography. I find it is relevant with digital equipment too. This book is no substitute for experience on the field. But, it will orient an aspiring bird photographer in the best direction.