On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
I found a copy of this book at our local library book sale last year. Picked it up for $2 and feel like I got way more than my money's worth even when you add the 35 cents or so cost of the plastic dust cover protector I put on it. Around Christmas, Lori Allen was talking about reading it in her e-newsletter
The Right Way to Travel and I picked up my copy and began reading. Glad I did.
This book tells a lot about what made Stephen King write. It tells a lot about how he writes. It tells a lot about why he writes.
I enjoyed every minute of the reading of it. It reminded me somewhat of Bradbury's Zen of Writing. If you want to read two books about writing then these two are what you should read. Read them and everything you can get your hands on in the style and topic you want to write. And of course, write. Writers write. I had a screen writing professor at San Diego State University tell me that once. King's advice in this book stands up too. Avoid adjectives. Especially in dialog.
Of course, I think the very best advice he gives is that Life isn't a support-system for art but rather the other way around. My clients are calling so I have to get back to work. You go find a copy of this book and read it. You won't regret the time spent.
I've reviewed one of Bill's books previously and I said then that I considered Bill to be a friend. I do believe, however, that I owe Bill a small apology for part of that previous review. In that review I stated that I thought of Bill as a Glamor photographer and that I didn't think he would argue with me on that regard. Maybe he wouldn't (he hasn't and we have had several conversations since that review) but after reading
Black & White Model Photography Techniques & Images I stand corrected. He can be a fine figure (or classic) nude photographer when he sets his mind to it too.
As far as I can tell (and I've been researching this topic for the past year or so) the differences between fine figure (or classic) and glamor nude photography is twofold. First, glamor is mostly in color and classic is mostly in Black & White, and second, in glamor nude photography the model is usually looking at the camera while in classic nude photography the model is rarely looking at the camera. In glamor the model smiles more often too. In classic she is most often seen thinking about something.
The images Bill has selected for this book are excellent. I liked the layout of this book a lot. The technical data is laid out for each shot and I felt more comfortable believing the information than I did the previous book I reviewed. (Again, remember, I said that I thought the publisher was at fault for my difficulty in believing the technical information in the previous book reviewed.) I noticed almost immediately that all of the photography was done with film (no digital) and most of the shots were done with large format cameras. I enjoyed comparing the shots taken on the various types of films; from Agfapan and Kodak Plus X, to Kodak TMX and Kodak Panatomic. I haven't used all of these films but did use some back in my past and may use them again. To be able to see how these films reacted for Bill under specific conditions helps me to plan my use of them in the future.
Bill's discussion of the individual shots may include comments on choosing a model, posing the model, lighting, or props, clothing, and makeup. You can pretty much count on these tidbits being of interest. If and when Bill makes a mistake I've always known him to 'fess up and learn from it and help others learn from it. Many of his comments in this book stem from those kinds of situations where he learned a valuable lesson. Take advantage of that when you're reading this book.
My main complaint with this book is not aimed at Bill but rather at his publisher and editors. Please, get someone to proof read the book before it goes to the printer. Again I found several typos that should never have gotten by the proof readers. It makes Bill look bad and it makes the publisher look bad.
Overall, I liked this book better than the previous one by Bill I reviewed. I recommend this one as heartily as I recommended the previous book. I think I now own all but Bill's newest book and I plan on purchasing it. I've also made plans to attend another of his workshops this year. Bill can teach you how to take great pictures if you let him. I'm doing my best to do just that ... let him teach me. Go buy this book.
Housekeeping
Today I am beginning the process of moving all of my reviews from the Summitt New Media site to my personal site. This message is being posted to both. The Summitt New Media site is the home of Summitt New Media, LLC and should reflect the operations of that business, the design, development, and maintenance of Web, desktop, and database applications for business. As a result, all references having to do with my writing are being moved to paulsummitt.com where my academic, fiction, and music writing have been for quite some time. I moved all references to my genealogy studies to The Summitt Family Quarterly some time ago. I'll also be moving the Summitt New Media Bookstore to another location soon also. I will make every effort to link to the new sites from the current locations so that anyone looking for this material will still be able to find it. I hope you understand my reasoning for these moves and will continue to visit my sites to find out what I'm doing and what I think.
thanks
paul
Composition Photo Workshop by Blue Fier
Originally published to Summitt New Media Updates on 4-14-2008.
I actually studied motion picture film before I ever got around to studying still photography. I say that because one of my all time favorite books on the art of motion picture photography or cinematography is
The Five C's of Cinematography. Absolutely the best book ever written on the subject, even today (although there are some who in my opinion don't know a jump cut from a wipe who argue the book is dated). The point of my slight variance off topic is that one of those five C's is composition.
The task of composing a shot (or an image if you will), both in cinema and in still photography, is a skill that can be taught. Fier's book is an excellent method of learning that skill. While the exercises leave something to be desired, the chapters do an excellent job of walking you through the various approaches to composition and its elements. Whereas in cinematography one has a fixed shutter speed and for all effective purposes only work with aperture, in still photography that is not the case and Fier spends two chapters walking you through the ramifications of the decisions you make in these areas.
I especially enjoyed his discussions of the differences in how you work with light when dealing with color versus Black and White. Each of these topics earned and deserved their own chapter.
Probably the weakest part of the book were the chapters dealing with portraits, travel photography, and still-life. To me, these topics need to be addressed in their own books and his too brief discussions were just too rushed. The final chapter on improving your images was, however, right on.
As photographers, each of us can improve our use of composition, no matter our level of prestige in our chosen field of specialty. Fier's book belongs on your book shelf and should be taken down and re-read from time to time. It sits right next to
The Five C's of Cinematography on my bookshelf.
Digital Photography Workshops: Nudes by Duncan Evans
In my recent efforts to return to the camera as part of my creative outlet I have purchased several books on the nude and how to photograph them. This work of Duncan Evans is one that I think you should seriously consider.
The book is like a course in digital nude photography. I'm not sure that I liked the specific organization of the chapters but I did like the material covered. Starting with the camera, Evans moves on through props and backgrounds and then covers location shooting and the law. That's all in the first chapter. The second chapter is more organized and does a reasonably good job of covering dealing and working with the model. I particularly liked the assigments and shooting ideas discussed while demonstrating the topics. With chapters on portrait and lighting styles, as well as location shooting, Evans demonstrates the concepts with numerous pictures. The use of histograms and lighting diagrams to illustrate how to go about getting the results intended did much to assist with my understanding of specific points. The book concludes with two chapters on image editing and how to store, print, and publish your pictures.
As I said, this is one that your should give careful thought to. While it can't cover every aspect of this art form, it does a fantastic job of introducing one to the topic. I have found the book to be of considerable assistance in helping me find my direction in where I want my art to go.
The Travel Writer's Handbook by Louise Purwin Zobel
A couple of years ago I decided I wanted to look into being a travel writer. Mary found me a course and I signed up for it. Soon I was receiving envelopes of material that I was supposed to study. My first three assignments were received less than favorably. The main reason being the person doing the evaluation not liking my writing my travel stories in the first person. Although I continued to read the material, I didn't turn in any more assignments. I decided after reading their material that I wanted to read other authors on writing travel stories as well as look into the award winning travel writing of previous years. This is the first book I found at the book store.
By interesting coincidence, Zobel's text is probably one of the primary textbooks for travel writing. For less than $20 I received all the information I paid almost $300 for in the course and it was probably better written. Of course I didn't get the personal reviews of my writing with Zobel's book but I really wasn't too impressed there anyway. My reading of the award winning travel writing revealed that about 75% of them were written in first person.
As of this point I still haven't had a sale of any of my travel writing but you have to get your line wet to catch fish (in other words, so far I haven't tried to sell anything to an actual publisher). As for Zobel's book, I keep it next to me when I'm writing , right there on the shelf next to Strunk and White, the
AP Stylebook, and Ray Bradbury's
Zen in the Art of Writing. You should too.
Heidegger, Being, and Truth by Laszlo Versenyi
Being someone that realizes that truth is in the eye of the beholder and that facts are what a specific culture says are facts, I read Versenyi's analysis with considerable interest. Heidegger's views of philosophy are extremely interesting during the early phase of his writings but the writings during the later phases of his life in my opinion border on those of a religious zealot.
Versenyi presents this all as being firmly a part of the Western philosophical tradition. Unfortunately, much of Versenyi's analysis is academia-speak written to impress other academicians and not designed to simplify and improve an understanding of the material. It is here that Versenyi's book fails to provide an approachable explanation of Heidegger's works.
The early chapters point out Heidegger's debt to Plato, Kant, and Hegel. Versenyi's discussion of Heidegger's
Being and Time is outstanding. I particularly enjoyed the comparisons of Heidegger's works with the Cartesian world view, the Kantian critique, and Neitzche's
Metaphysics. All of these philosophical approaches fail, however, in that they attempt to impose an objective structure of fact and truth upon a subjective world view and reality.
The last phase of Heidegger's writings, according to Versenyi, attempted to transcend metaphysics by imposing a god-like view of philosophy on the part of Heidegger. The reality, or at least the one that I live is, suggests that Heidegger, in his later years began to seek a reason for existence and unable to turn to religion as most elderly individuals do, he created his own religion with himself as chief prophet and savior.
Versenyi should not have spent the last chapter of his book trying to find a way to justify Heidegger's works with traditional philosophy but rather should have analyzed Heidegger's works from a psychoanalyitical viewpoint.
Despite the academia-speak, I enjoyed the majority of this book. Reading should stretch one's limits from time to time and I felt this book did just that for me. It reminded me just how much fun reading scholarly works of a variety of disciplines can be. If you have the time and the interest I recommend it whole heartedly.
Those of you who have read my reviews before know that I like to announce my biases up front so let me tell you how I came to know Bill Lemon before we start. During the mid-1970's I shot a few photographs that are known as classic nudes. I enjoyed the artistic expression and in the past year I have considered getting into it again.
There were many questions I had that I wanted answers to. Generally, when that happens I turn to the online bookstores so as to find books with the answers to these questions. I typed nude photography into the site's search engine and started looking at the reviews of the various books available.
While reading the reviews of one of Bill's books I was simply flabergasted at what I can only say I considered to be the reviewer's audacity, rudeness, and lack of knowledge about not only photography but about subjectivity in general.
Simply stated, the reviewer made me mad. Having had my share of un-earned bad reviews (I've had more than my share of well-earned bad reviews also), I went to Bill's Website and looked at his work. What I found convinced me I wanted a copy of this book. I then proceeded to buy his book direct from him and sent him an email letting him know how much his site impressed me. Within hours he was calling me on the telephone and we were talking about some of the questions I had. Since that time we have had several, at times, lengthy conversations by phone and a couple in person.
So, I consider Bill, if not a friend (and only due to the short time I have know him), at the very least a man whose opinion I value. There are my biases. Take them for what they may tell you.
Let me now turn to this book and my review thereof. One thing we all have to remember when picking up a book and determining if it has satisfied our needs is that we are talking about our needs and we all come to the book with different needs. We also interpret the information the author presents through our own sets of filters and experiences. So no matter how an author presents the information, it will be interpreted in at least two ways. Looking at the reviews of Bill's books on the various online book store sites, Bill's scores are ones, threes, and fives. According to Stephen King, tie goes to the author.
Another thing you need to remember is that the author doesn't always get his way. Believe me, I know that from painful experience. A variety of editors perform various tasks and make final decisions regarding the book that the author has no say in. The good news is that I only found a few typographical errors in this book. One did confuse me for a few moments as the image was mis-numbered in the text and I was being referred to an incorrect image.
Readers need to know what they are looking for, myself included. The book clearly says glamour photography. There are several types of nude photography and glamour is just one of them. Bill and I have had several conversations concerning the differences between classic nude and glamour nude. I think Bill shoots, for the most part, glamour nudes and I don't think he would argue with me on that point. I got the impression in reading some of the reviews that the people were looking for something on classic nudes.
I think you need to know what kind of nude you're wanting to shoot before you say you are dissatisfied with this or any other book on nude photography. Face it, if you're wanting ice cream and you find yourself in a wine shop, it's not the store owner's fault. Basically, after months of research, the basic differences between the two types of nude is that most classic nudes are B&W while most glamour nudes are color. In most classic nudes the subject seems unaware of the camera while in most glamour nudes the subject is playing to and for the camera. Classic nudes are what you find in art museums. Glamour nudes are what you see in Playboy. (That's being a little high handed but I think you get the idea.)
Some of the classic nude people (both photographers and models) that I have met tend to be rather snotty like they're doing art and the rest is just cheesecake. On the other hand, some of the glamour nude people (both photographers and models) that I have met have made me feel like I needed a shower after meeting them. My point is that as in all things, the people in nude photography run the gamut so don't be surprised by any that you meet but don't be too quick to judge them either.
I think some of the people reviewing Bill's books are classic nude people and are simply looking for the wrong thing out of Bill's book, this one especially. Yes, as one reviewer complains it does at times seem like Bill is just saying here is a model and we were in this place and I told her to do this and I shot the picture.
One reviewer complained of too much technical information and another complained there wasn't enough. (Tie goes to the author.)
So what if Bill seemed a little redundant after a while. The way to learn things is through repetition and none of us learn anything by doing it right the first time. Bill shows picture after picture of young ladies that are attractive to some one and explains how he got what he (and others) consider to be good shots (Bill does make now and has in the past made a living at this). While I don't necessarily agree with every point Bill makes, I do appreciate his drawing my attention to these points so that I can clarify for myself how I feel about them.
A couple of comments about the book specifically ... The title says "digital techniques" yet a little time browsing his site and comparing the photos and you can tell that some of the pictures in the book were shot with film. When I brought this to Bill's attention he told me that these were pictures the publisher wanted used. Having dealt with publishers before, I can accept that explanation. The thing is the publisher ought to know that the reader blames the author for little cheats like this (and they do consider taking a photograph with film and then calling it digital cheating) and enough of these cheats the author can end up with a bad reputation, deserved or not. I personally think the word digital is thrown in books like these by the publishers because it sounds cool and they hope it sells books. A lot of excellent work is being done with nudes using both film and digital and the technique of attaining the image is similar in both technologies so I'm not sure using it in this title with this content is the right thing to do.
Now I realize that for the most part in this review it's seemed like I'm defending Bill and his work from his detractors and I guess I am. The main point of a review though is to let you, the potential reader, know if I think you should spend your time and money on this book. The answer is that I do.
Bill's work is good, at times brilliant. For the style he works in (that being fashion/glamour nudes in my opinion) his work is very good. For those who wish to take that type of photograph, emulating Bill is not a bad thing. This book tells you how he did it with these photographs, nothing more. If you're looking for more then you won't find it here. The question is, can you do the same kind of work using this information he's provided? The answer ... Perhaps.
A good picture is being in the right place at the right time with the right technology and the right karma. Anything you can do to help make sure that all these things come together at the same time for you is good as far as I'm concerned and the information in this book can help.
I say buy the book. It's worth reading and putting away for six months and then reading again.
