The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters

The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters

Description:
THE FIRST BOOK WITH ONE FOOT ON THE COFFEE TABLE, AND ONE FOOT IN THE
CLASSROOM
Joe McNally, one of the world’s top pro digital photographers, whose celebrated work has graced the pages of Sports Illustrated, Time, and National Geographic (to name a few), breaks new ground by doing something no photography book has ever done blending the rich, stunning images and elegant layout of a coffee-table book with the invaluable training, no-nonsense insights, and photography secrets usually found only in those rare, best-of-breed educational books.

When Joe's not on assignment for the biggest-name magazines and Fortune 500 clients, he's in the classroom teaching location lighting, environmental portraiture, and how to get the shot at workshops around the world. These on-location workshops are usually reserved for a handful of photographers each year, but now you can learn the same techniques that Joe shares in his seminars and lectures in a book that brings Joe’s sessions to life.

What makes the book so unique is the “triangle of learning where (1) Joe distills the concept down to one brief sentence. It usually starts with something like, “An editor at National Geographic once told me and then he shares one of those hard-earned tricks of the trade that you only get from spending a lifetime behind the lens. Then, (2) on the facing page is one of Joe's brilliant images that perfectly illustrates the technique (you'll recognize many of his photos from magazine covers). And (3) you get the inside story of how that shot was taken, including which equipment he used (lens, f/stop, lighting, accessories, etc.), along with the challenges that type of project brings, and how to set up a shot like that of your own.

This book also gives you something more. It inspires. It challenges. It informs. But perhaps most importantly, it will help you understand photography and the art of making great photos at a level you never thought possible. This book is packed with those Ah ha!moments and those clever insights that make it all come together for you. It brings you that wonderful moment when it suddenly all makes sense that it clicks.


Customer Review:
My honest opinion of JM's new book is fantastic reading with touches of techniques he uses. I have read half the book and throughout my busy schedule I can't wait to get back to it and read more. Understand that I am not saying that because there is some all new technique that Joe is teaching but the stories are interesting. The tips are probably tips that experienced photographers have known for years. You will not find apertures, shutter speeds and ISOs on every photo nor should you because images are dynamic( I say every because there were a couple I have seen where Joe does mention this type of informationas merely a guage). This is not a how-to book and frankly there are enough of those out there anyway if we take the time to investigate and read them. This is a fun read with some "how I approached this shot" theory and some really cool stories from a phenomenal commercial photographer. The images are typical stunning Joe McNally photography with credits given to many that he has learned from in his years of work. One story still makes me laugh when he talks about going from Spiderman to Wiley Coyote. For a nice twist from your typical photography book with some extremely useful information this is a must buy for any photographer. Maybe I should re-phrase that in saying that any photographer who has their own ideas to produce will find this book of great worth. If you are just looking for step by step how to recreate the exact photo this book probably is not for you. There are many other books out there that will give you that. I really feel that JM was probably trying to put out a book that points you to the right doors in a room full of doors. It is simply your job to take that direction and go through and create your own phenomenal work. In that sense, I think Joe has far exceeded that mission. In world of "I want my stuff to look like Dave Hill, Vincent Versace, Ansel Adams etc (obviously no offense to the amazing creativity by any of these artists ... they are just artists that have such a profound look that you see the photo and you say ... that is a 'fill in the blank') Joe McNally has come out with a book that says create your own style but here's a little helping hand. He gives you a glass of water without filling it up and says 'ok ... now you go fill it up with your imagination, creativity and style'. Isn't that what we want to do with our photography? I would love for someone to look at my work and recognize it as mine without seeing the name on the photo. At that point, you truly have your own style and have arrived with your work. Joe McNally, Vincent Versace, Ansel Adams, Jay Maisel, Henri Cartier-Bresson and many others all have that style. Joe does help lead you to that style with this book.

Customer Review:
The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters A must have book for all photographers!!!

Customer Review:
I read this book and found it interesting, although somewhat limiting in its practical application for mere enthusiasts. This is a great photographer no doubt, but I found that the book is 80% about lighting for magazine shoots (think expensive). And unless you're a professional photographer with a large budget, you will never own the lighting gear he uses for those shoots. Since my focus is mainly on nature photography, I found only sporadic tidits of useful advice here. The rest is intriguing in its own right (hey, it was cool to learn how he rented and lit a circus elephant for a studio shoot), but it's not something I can use. I like my books to be more pragmatic. This one is for highly paid pros.



One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

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

Customer Review:
Fascinating and inspiring. Could you leave behind the crutches and bobbles of this modern age and live every moment, your labor alone in God's palm? Definetly a perspective corrector.

Customer Review:
I think I know why Richard Proenneke was up there in the wilds alone, sans wife or woman. While I utterly admire his craftsmanship and drive for perfection, I think that, in person, it would drive me crazy. A perfectionist makes an ideal loner. Having said that, I must also say that is incredibly readable book was able to transport me to the Alaskan wilderness every time I picked it up. Author Sam Keith (who bases the book on Porenneke's journals) captured the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the bush. This is the story of a cabin. Richard Proenneke builds it by hand, to his own unbendable standards of practicality and aesthetics, and makes the reader love every minute of it. Interspersed within this chronicle are Proenneke's encounters with bears, weasels, birds, wolverines and other humans, and they are laugh out loud funny, impressive, or in the case of most human encounters, infuriating. If you are enchanted with the Alaskan wilderness and want to be entertained, amazed and amused by a very singular man, this book is a must-have.

Customer Review:
The book is a simple read that details Richard Proenneke's quest to live off the land in Alaska. It is a great chronology of his time there and his relationship with nature. Proenneke leaves the civilized world at 51 years of age to challenge himself to make a home in Twin Lakes Alaska. He constructs a small log cabin and lives there til he passes in his late 80's, visiting the mainland only a few times. Proenneke appears to be a perfectionist in every way. He has many interesting ways to describe life. He sumarizes his few short comings in humorous cliche, that will make you smile. I would also suggest purchasing the DVD if you are an outdoor enthusiast, wood worker, craftsman, etc.. Proenneke is truely a character to watch, read and enjoy.



Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before

Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before

Description:
A visual odyssey that will change the way we see our planet, this remarkable book, companion to the acclaimed Discovery Channel/ BBC series, is an enduring and awe-inspiring record of one of the most ambitious natural history projects ever undertaken. Using the latest aerial surveillance, state-of-the-art cameras, and high definition technology, the creators of Planet Earth have assembled more than 400 stunning photographs of wondrous natural landscapes from around the globe, including incredible footage of the rarely spotted, almost mythical creatures that live in these habitats. Many of the images reveal inaccessible places that few have seen and record animal behavior that has never been filmed or photographed before. With the help of this highly advanced technology and the world's premier wildlife photographers, the book takes us on a spectacular journey from the world's greatest rivers and impressive gorges, to its mightiest mountains, hidden caves and caverns, and vast deserts. Planet Earth captures breathtaking sequences of predators and their prey, lush vistas of forests viewed from the tops of towering trees, the oceans and their mysterious creatures viewed from beneath the surface, and much more--in a magnificent adventure that brings unknown wonders of the natural world into our living rooms.
Copub: BBC Worldwide Americas


Customer Review:
if you believe in God or not, i dare you to look at this book and not be in awe of nature. my husband and i enjoy looking at this book any seeing God's wonderous creation. anyone who has children should get this book. they probably won't read every word, but they will learn a lot from the pictures.

Customer Review:
I have not had the chance yet to review this product. I'd thought I'd purchased the dvd set for this same title, so was surprised to receive a book. I decided not to return it, but I know I will enjoy it.

Customer Review:
BEAUTIFUL BOOK TO HAVE. NOT ONLY IS IT INFORMATIVE, BUT THE PICTURES ARE TRULY A PIECE OF ARTWORK.



The Bikeriders

The Bikeriders

Description:
In 1968, just before Easy Rider roared its way into American consciousness, Danny Lyon published The Bikeriders. A seminal work of modern photojournalism, this landmark collection of photographs and interviews documents the abandon and risk implied in the name of the gang Lyon belonged to: the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club. With images and interviews that are as raw, alive, and dramatic today as they were three decades ago, this new edition includes startling new images: 15 additional black-and-white photographs and 14 color prints--long thought missing--of works originally published in black-and-white. With a new introduction by the author, The Bikeriders rides again, capturing like never before the dawn of the counterculture era.


Customer Review:
I purchased this to give to a friend who is just getting into riding, to give him an idea of what it was like 'back in the day'. When it arrived, I opened it to take a look at it and looking out of these old photos were the faces of some of the people that I had known back in the early and mid 60's......

To make a long story short, I let him take a look at the new book that I had bought myself...and kept it.

Amazing pictures! Looking back into the past is alway problematic as our vision of "how things were" rarely jive with reality. We carry pictures in our minds of people and incidents from our past, but when confronted with real images it's a bit of a shocker.

Danny sure drives that nail home with this book.

Customer Review:
Danny Lyon was a young photographer, living in Chicago in the mid-1960s, and went with a friend to a biker's outing in Wisconsin. He eventually immersed himself in this subculture of men, women and bikes, creating photos that are now an archaeological document of a lost time.

Not only are the photos provocative and fascinating, but Lyon writes with a grace and brevity that remind me of Ernest Hermingway (another Chicagoan). Here is one sample:

"Back then in Chicago, they had a lot of names for things, names that were of the Midwest and of that city, words belonging to that place and to the people who lived there. One of those words was bikeriders..."

One will see in the images that the photographer carries his 1960s intelligence and mind into the people's lives. This is not a book about biker fashions and being cool. It is a chronicle of how some rejected the standard ways in society and set up their own rules of how to live. In their freedom and wandering, the bikeriders exemplify the lost Americans who are forever in search of sensation and meaning.



Customer Review:


This book was very interesting and gave in-site into motorcycle riding, and riders of years past. I found it a little bit hard to read. this is written in the sixties with all the lingo of the day. Through all this I feel any motorcycle enthusiast will enjoy the reading. I also enjoyed all the pictures. They show the styles of the era and the way people customized their bikes.




Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs

Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs

Description:
ANSEL ADAMS: 400 PHOTOGRAPHS presents the full spectrum Adams' greatest work in a single volume for the first time, offering an entirely new perspective on his monumental career.. The photographs are arranged chronologically into five major periods in order to convey Adams' development as an artist-from his first photographs made in Yosemite and the High Sierra in 1916 to his work in the National Parks in the 1940s up to his last important photographs from the 1960s. An introduction and brief essays on selected images provide information about Adams' life, document the evolution of his technique, and give voice to his artistic vision. Few artists of any era can claim to have produced four hundred images of lasting beauty and significance. It is a testament to Adams' vision and a lifetime of hard work that a book of this scale can be justified. ANSEL ADAMS: 400 PHOTOGRAPHS is a must-have reference and gift book for anyone who appreciates photography and the allure of the natural world.

Customer Review:
Ansel Adams might be the most famous art/nature photographer of all time. He inspired many with his images. In 400 photographs you get far more than a small sampling of a few famous images. This book shows Adams' chronologic development as a photographer. With this format we can not only see his growth but also his depth something that is rare in book under $100. This volume is both something inexpensive and something anyone can be proud to display on ones coffee table.

Customer Review:
the size. This book is about the size of 8x11, so it's not a large coffee table book size. What it lacks in area size, it makes it up in the number of great photos, all 400 of them.

I also own the Yosemite and the Range of Light, one of Ansel Adams most highly acclaimed publication printed back in the 70's. I compared the two books. The 400 uses a whiter paper stock. Many of the photos in the 400 look different from the Range of Light. Some have more contrast, some have less. It is sort of like a slightly different interpretation. I closely compared a couple of the photos, in one case, I found the 400 has more shadow details in the deep shadow area, but the Range of Light counterpart has more emotional impact; the larger size may have to do with the emotional part. In another case,the 400 has less overall contrast, and a lot more shadow information comparing to the Range of Light, and I like the 400 interpretation better.

This book is a must have for Ansel Adams follower.

Customer Review:
It's no secret that Ansel Adams is an inspiration to any landscape photographer who loves to be outside, and this book is an excellent addition to my collection of photo/art related books.

Ansel Adams - 400 Photographs is the latest book related to Ansel Adams and this collection was compiled by Andrea Stillman, who worked for Adams in the 70s as his personal assistant. She is intimately familiar with his work, and according to the book, have spent much time contemplating what should be included . Her goal was to present a selection of the best images made by Adams during different periods of time (and images are presented chronologically to help us see the development in Ansel's vision), and after finishing reading and looking through the book, I must say that she succeeded.

In this book you will find many of Ansel's famous images, but what I liked particularly that you will also find many images that you have not seen before, especially from his early days and those that were made with his first cameras. For someone like myself who's still a beginning photographer, I was inspired to see how it all started for this legendary photographer. You also will not see these kinds of rare images at usual Ansel's exhibits.

The presentation of those images in terms of their sizes and how they are placed against the white background is eye pleasing. There is not much writing in the book, and Ansel's work speaks for itself, which I found appropriate for a book with such title. In addition, the quality of paper and printing is excellent, which is always important when it comes to photography books.

Due to the amount of images presented in the book I know I'll be looking through it again and again for inspiration, so the book is well worth it. It'll also be a great book to put on a coffee table, when we finally get one for our living room.




A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005

A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005

Description:
“I don’t have two lives,” Annie Leibovitz writes in the Introduction to this collection of her work from 1990—2005. “This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it.” Portraits of well-known figures–Johnny Cash, Nicole Kidman, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Keith Richards, Michael Jordan, Joan Didion, R2-D2, Patti Smith, Nelson Mandela, Jack Nicholson, William Burroughs, George W. Bush with members of his Cabinet–appear alongside pictures of Leibovitz’s family and friends, reportage from the siege of Sarajevo in the early Nineties, and landscapes made even more indelible through Leibovitz’s discerning eye. The images form a narrative rich in contrasts and continuities: The photographer has a long relationship that ends with illness and death. She chronicles the celebrations and heartbreaks of her large and robust family. She has children of her own. All the while she is working, and the public work resonates with the themes of her life.


Customer Review:
A beautiful and touching collection of her life and friends in her own words------photography. I have her first book and this one is just as great. A beautiful, interesting coffee table book. Every time you look through it you see it again differently.

Customer Review:
After reading some of the other reviews, i have to agree with the comments about content however i believe it's important to understand that this was a publication for an accompanying exhibition at the brooklyn museum of art. It is an exhibition that is still touring around today. I saw the exhibition and was struck by the quality of the photographs as well as their diversity. It is as the title suggests, "A Photographers Life" and should be seen as such. I really liked the exhibition for it's incite into the life behind all of the famous photograph's we have come to know annie leibovitz for.

Customer Review:
Book was brand new in plastic, at a deeply discounted price. Couldn't ask for more!



South Africa: Paradise at Continent's End

South Africa: Paradise at Continent's End

Description:
An entire world in one land.

-Breathtaking shots of the landscapes, people and animals of South Africa.
-Everything worth knowing about South Africa's past and present, as well as a wealth of practical travel information.
-Broad coverage of special topics shows the multifaceted nature of this land.

The country at the Cape of Good Hope is beloved as a "natural paradise at the continent's end." This richly illustrated volume explores South Africa from every perspective imaginable: the award-winning vineyards of the Cape, the Garden Route and its dream beaches, the inland jungles and bountiful orchards, the land of the Zulus with its wildlife parks and cliff corridors, as well as the land of the Boers with its metropolises and broad farmlands. Practical travel tips help you to plan your journey.



My Little One

My Little One

Description:
There’s nothing more adorable than a baby—except maybe a kitten. In My Little One photographer Vicky Ceelen captures all the innocence, vulnerability, and sheer cuteness of both babies and kittens, and shows us the surprising kinship between them.

In Ceelen’s eyes, human and feline babies have a lot in common, from their expressive, wide-open eyes, to the big yawn they take before napping, to the paw or arm they extend in exploration of the strange new world around them. A blue-eyed kitten opposite an equally blue-eyed baby; a baby squealing next to a kitten hissing—the unique and often amusing -photographic pairings in My Little Onehighlight the bond we share with all living creatures, and the tenderness we feel toward our young. This heart-warming book will be a delight to kitten and baby lovers everywhere, and a perfect gift for all who treasure the connection between humans and animals.

Customer Review:
I bought this book, mistakenly thinking it was also a board book like V.C.'s Baby! Baby! The pages are regular, and there are no words, but my daughter also loves looking at and patting all the pictures of the babies in this book (I just supervise a little better to prevent torn pages).

If you (or your baby, or anyone else you know) like kittens and babies, this is the book for you!!

Customer Review:

This book has been created by an amazingly talented photographer! I found this book by accident while looking for a baby shower gift. I went ahead and bought it for my friend, but I fully intend to buy my own copy. A fantastic coffee table book for cat lovers, parents and people who appreciate beautiful, yet simplistic, photography.



Sports Illustrated: In the Paint

Sports Illustrated: In the Paint


Customer Review:
Who would have believed that body-painting could so realistically depict actual swim-suits, etc. Outstanding!

Customer Review:
SI's annual swimsuit issue is a highly anticipated delight for many afficionados of the female form.

This collection of photos of some of the most beautiful women on the planet features the body painting genius of Joanne Gair. These bountiful babes sure look like they are wearing some nifty swimsuits. NOT!

They are all as naked as the day they were born. Wow! I wish I had this to read back when I was in my teen years! Still enjoyable, even now.

The perfect gift for that straight male you know, aged teen to octagenarian. He will appreciate your exquisite taste.

Customer Review:
A beautiful gift for any SI fan, photographer or artist... the book is well put together and done with class. It goes through each year SI has featured the "painted" models with additional, never seen before photos and model comments. Gorgeous color. Great holiday gift.




Creature

Creature

Description:
Photographer Andrew Zuckerman's strikingly detailed images of animals from around the world are as delightful as they are inspiring. This collection of astonishing studio portraits of 175 wild creatures from baby leopards to parrots, bears, mandrills, and many more are stunningly foregrounded against white backgrounds, depicting their subjects with rare sensitivity, insight, humor, and wonder. Zuckerman also an up-and-coming filmmaker, whose first short film, High Falls, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 has created a volume perfect for animal lovers, photography fans, and anyone fascinated by the world around us. Creature is a beautiful and thought-provoking look at the fragile wonders of the natural world.

Customer Review:
This is a very inspiring book for me. However, as much as I can appreciate a good layout, I guess would favor more detail over white space.

Customer Review:
This book is beautiful. Everyone who looks at it is wowed with the turn of every page. I recommend this to anyone interested in photography or animals. It's absolutely amazing.

Customer Review:

The best coffee table book for people ages 2 to 102.
We love the minimalism and great cropping.