Portraits and Photos Books

Springer focuses her lens on objects that give meaningful to the lives of ordinary and extraordinary people. As usual, she manages to convey volumes in deceptively simple photographs. This book is simultaneously incisive and oddly gentle. A brilliant gift.

this book is exquisit. i love it. Melissa Springer is sooo wonderful. it is touching and beautiful...thanks Melissa.

Betsy

This book was one of the best photography books I have ever read. The writing was beautiful, and the photography was the same.

that contains both gorgeous images and excellent writing. Springer is an amazing photographer and this book compelled me to buy two of her pieces.

I stumbled upon this book while grieving for my mother-in-law, Anna, and it soothed the source of my pain. Within the context of simple words and beautiful black and white images, I was reminded that even the smallest of life's details have a place in someone's heart. I felt a sense of peace after reading this book because I now have a greater sense of appreciation for the little gifts that Anna gave to me and they are important to remember.

Left me wishing the book was twice as long.

Simon Marsden is a master of the art of infrared photography. The pictures are haunting and project an eerie dreamlike quality. I highly recommend this book as an excellent example of the chilling effects of infrared photography

A most interesting pictorial collection of forlorn sadness.
I find the images both beautiful and emensly contemplative, images that conjure ghosts and spirits real or perhaps imagined, yet provacative none the less. One ponders how these phantoms shall apear in a thousand years, and rue the thought how long they may have lasted would they not been murdred by circumstances. The text that accompanies the images an important, interesting, and informative heuristic. This book ostensibly one any Artist, Architectae, or student of history should have in his Librarié.

A wonderful book full of haunting images of the castles and houses of Ireland that have now fallen into ruin and decay. Excellent subjects for infrared photography.

The photographs are on the whole well composed and the overall effect can be quite disturbing. An explanation of the fate of the various buildings is included. A book which sits on the shelf ready to show visitors instantly the nature and feel of infrared photography.

There is an excellent supporting article by Pete Schermerhorn in the Official Infrared FAQ describing his visits to the places photographed in the book together with map grid references.

For some reason neither the authors nor the publishers admit that the images in this book are photographed in infrared. This is a pity since the juxtaposition of buildings and foliage is one of the best subjects for this and overgrown ruins are an excellent subject. As an infrared specialist myself I have a small reservation about a few of the photographs from a technical standpoint but I can't fault the sense of composition and form that they show.

Last year, we spent the winter holiday in Eastern Europe, and mostly in Prague. We ate at a very swanky restaurant that featured the photographs of Jan Saudek all over its walls. We happened to have my elderly mother-in-law and 3-yr-old daughter along, but we could handle the content. I had never seen photos quite like them and found them intriguing. I thought this book would make an interesting Valentines gift for my husband when we returned to the States. The book is great. The story of Jan Saudek is fascinating and inspiring. But be warned - some of the photos are REALLY explicit. I had expected this to be a coffee-table book, but with a young child in the house, we keep it put away. When it arrived in the mail, my dad was visiting. I started to show it to him, and felt quite awkward and embarrassed as I flipped to some of the photos. This is not a book you EVER want to look at with your dad. All that said, I think the work is strange and beautiful and provoking.

... it's not a photograph, I say."

That captures just one side of this complex collection. A child kisses a woman's grandly pregnant belly (p.68) - is that a sibling in there? An older woman (p.94) holds up a picture, apparently of her younger self. A girl displays an injured wrist (p.147), creating a queasy and desperate sympathy for her, whoever she is. A darkly made-up punker in ripped nylons holds a doll (p.58). Somehow, these and many others each capture a stretch of time, as close as last night or as far away as decades gone by.

A number of photos appear in pairs or larger groups. Sometimes, the pictures in a matched pair (e.g. p.112-113) each reverse the sense of the other. A few times, the person or group appears once clothed, then again nude (p.80-81). Nearly all of them carry some sense of decay, one way or another. Flaking plaster forms the most common background, for example. A claustrophobic room with a window looking onto nothing frames another set of pictures. The people themselves often convey decay of some kind, too. "Ballerina" (p.57) shows a strong and shapely figure, with the woman's face seemingly decades older than the body it attaches to. Full figures appear often, ranging up to obese (p.174), suggesting decay of another kind. Another woman (p. 132) just looks life-long tired, her body seemingly softened and veined by her children's demands on it, maybe demands that ended years ago.

Saudek offers plenty of humor, too, from simple expressions (p.158), to seemingly impossible poses (p.160-161), to bawdy picture-pairs where one figure appears with or without the other (p.88), proving that context is everything. Open eroticism appears frequently, too, often mixed with the humor or other mood. Although some of these pictures are black and white, some were taken in color, and many seem to have been hand-colored and modified after the fact. Saudek's unique and often anachronistic vision unifies this set, a visual sensibility that simply has to be seen. If you like your figure models young, pretty, and only hinting at sexuality, you'll find some of that here. That's just a small part of this collection, though. Lots of these models aren't young, some are hard to call pretty, and very few just give hints. If you like photography that demands something of the viewer, you might find this very enjoyable.

-- wiredweird

I ran across this publication in a used book barn and thumbed through it. What I saw made me wonder what kind of a violent lunatic Jan Saudek is, and what kind of a sadistic perverted mind would create such photos? But something about the book peeked my interest. I reminded myself that I am an artist, so I at least owed it to the photographer to objectively evaluate his work, so I did...two more times, from cover to cover, and quite thoroughly. What I discovered was a myriad of hidden and intwerwoven themes, many which had almost no relation at all to the photos themselves, and which all tied into one central theme. Whether this is a collection of political, moral, ethical, and social issues can only be known for sure by Jan Saudek, but all these things can be deduced if you put forth the effort and see with an artist's eye. Perhaps my favorite two photos in the entire book is one where a nude woman is sitting upright with her legs folded behind her head as she peers through a set of binoculars, and a photo of an overweight woman standing naked with large dark freckles and rosy cheeks painted on her face. They are humorous but quite thought provoking if you get past the initial images and attempt to interpret what the artist is saying. I can almost assure you that nudity or eroticism are not the issues at all. Another set of photos shows Jan lighting a cigarette. His head is shaved. In the opposing photo a woman has a pistol in her mouth. Both are killing themselves, but in different ways. It really appears to go much deeper than that, but I do not have time to explain all that I and a friend interpret from those photos. Two others that hit a sore spot, however, are: one where Jan is walking off into a rainbow with a stick slung across his shoulder and a small rag full of his bare necessities suspended from the pole. Someone who appears to be his wife is inside a barren house. She appears to be crying as she peers through a window and watches him departing. The other photo is of Jan kissing a woman as they both lie in a field, while in the distance another woman is hanging by her neck from a tree branch. These two photos spoke clear messages to me...the man leaves his true love for happier days and greener pastures, not understanding that his quest for selfish satisfaction is killing the one who truly loves him and with whom he has the most promise of happiness. These, of course, are only my own interpretations. I HIGHLY recommend you take your time viewing this book, and avoid being overly judgemental of it at first. It is truly not what it seems, and is certainly one of the best marriages of art and photography on the market.

Jan Saudek's deeply erotic and personal photographs have rarely been seen outside europe. It is remarkable that most of them were produced under communist rule. Saudek's hand-coloration is absolutely unique. His studio is a cellar and the peeling brick walls his trademark. This book is an excellent example of his work

Jan Saudek is the most important artist of his type. This beautiful hard-cover edition has many of Jan's most obscure work as well as some of his earlier works, many of which can not be found anywhere else. I have been amazed by this work and recommend it to anyone. It shows both the power and the development of Jan. We can see his style change from a wide eyed-ideailst to a bitter man, consumed with the evils of life and the horrors of humanity. Jan Saudek is truley the master.

It's also the best I own all of them and let me tell you this is a good buy. I bought it in the marketplace for $3.77, most places want to sell it for over $30. The way the pictures are laid out in the book it's as if the photographer is telling a story w/ pictures. Amazing, absolutely amazing.

After over forty years, the JFK mystique is still with us, tempered and expanded over the course of time. There are two main themes that strike you when reading this book. The first is that in the initial stages of his campaign for President in 1960, JFK did not generate a great deal of interest. He toured the primary states and in some cases addressed very hostile crowds. In other cases, it was a misnomer to describe his audience as a crowd. However, he persevered and by the end of the campaign the crowds to see and hear him were enormous. His was the last successful presidential campaign that began at the bottom and was not carefully orchestrated with the aid of political handlers.
The second main theme is how incredibly photogenic John Kennedy and his wife were. Not only were they beautiful people, but they were people whose good looks survived the often-harsh reality of the camera. While some of these pictures were posed, most were not and yet both of them still maintain a certain regal quality. Pictures with a small amount of explanatory text cannot truly do historical justice to the Kennedy presidency. However, this book is literally and figuratively a snapshot of his presidency and therefore is of historical interest.

A beautiful book on the former first family. The perfect book to share with family and friends. Highly recommended!!!!!! FOR QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSIONS ON JACKIE ONASSIS, PLEAE E-MAIL ME AT MellissaLD@aol.com. HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

The text are complete, and there are a lot of rare and cute photos. The book tells about Jack, Jackie and bobby so it's great. I suggest it too all Kennedy fans. I enjoyed it.

I'm an italian student in Economy and I'm a great fan of Jfk. Probably I think this is one of the best book I have ever read. The photos are very nice and the text of Schlesinger is very interesting.

i purchased this book for my 17 year old son as a christmas gift. he's a fan of music in general, no specific genre. and he absolutely loved it. pictures and the quick stories are fascinating.

I really appreciated seeing proof sheets created from Marshall's rolls of film. For every pair of pages in this book, a black-and-white positive proof sheet is on the left-hand page, and the chosen (usually quite famous) print from that roll of film is on the right-hand page, along with a short paragraph describing the occasion of the shoot. The individual frames of the proof sheet are quite viewable: there are usually 35 frames printed on each sheet, and each sheet is printed in the book at about 8x10". As a photographer, I envy other photographers' final products, and many times I like to see their rejected frames to catch a glimpse of their decision-making and their ad hoc/candid photos. The proof sheet serves as a documentary on how Marshall worked that day: how many repetitive frames he takes for well-prepared money shots, how he shoots horizontal portraits with the rule-of-thirds, and how many candids he takes. The only thing missing is that the short paragraphs describing each shot do not delve into how Marshall selected the one shot from each roll. Looking through the proofs, it's clear that many good frames were left behind. Finally, there is also a very nice picture evidently of Marshall's gear bag, containing several Leicas, rolls of film, and other stuff.

As a photographer myself I have always been attracted to the idea of seeing the original contact sheets from which a finished print is first judged.

One of the greatest photo shows I have ever seen of Gary Winogrand included large scale preproduction's of some of his contact sheets and it has always stayed with me.

In Jim Marshalls "Proof" that is exactly what you get. A contact sheet with all of his markings and foot notes and then the print that was pulled from that process. Side by side.

It is a great learning tool and a great visual look into the mind of a Photographer that has taken an inordinate amount of iconoclastic images, particularly from within the music world.

Photographer Jim Marshall captured some of the most notable musicians in historic candid shots still remembered today: Janis Joplin with whiskey bottle and the Beatles racing across Candlestick Park at the end of their final public performance: but what about some of his other shots. Proof shares his contact sheets from the concerts, sessions and sittings of his more famous shots. These contact sheets, nicely accompanied by background history and explanations of the photographic methods and shot settings, are outstanding representations and when viewed here as a unit and package, explain the origins of the famous works. Highly recommended.

After the stunning achievement of Not Fade Away Jim Marshall has equaled that effort with this important book. If you care about music or photography this is a MUST HAVE book. Period! Buy the book - pour yourself a single malt, put Jimi Hendrix on a (good) stereo system and enjoy!!!

The bygone days of steam-powered logging railways come back in this fascinating collection of B/W images.
As the title says, the locomotives are the protagonists, but many other details about the whole life of a logging railway in the Pacific Northwest manage to sneak in around the main subject - logging crews, base camps, service cars, rails and trestles - and of course the trees, both standing and felled, some quite awesome by their sheer size.
For the steam enthusiast, a visual feast: the logging locos were often quite off the beaten path - literally, of course, on their crude, temporary rails, but also in their design; several types of odd-looking engines were developed for the particular needs of this job, and rarely seen on mainline rails: all were different fron the conventional, side-rod driven locomotive and especially suited to sharp curves, uneven right-of-ways and, above all, unbelievable grades (happily, they very uniqueness made them survive until comparatively late in the steam era and some are to this day under steam in tourist service).
And for any other one, an interesting and entertaining trip down nostalgia lane; the well-written text complements nicely the images and makes the book enjoyable also to the newcomer.

This is an excellent book with great photos of many geared locomotives. A must have for anyone wanting to detail a model of a geared locomotive, or just for looking at the pictures. Each photo has a short narrative describing the photo. A well done book.

This book is a source of absolutely excellent photos of Shays, Heislers, and Climaxes used in the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest. With his huge box cameras and glass image plates, Kinsey was to B&W photography of the period as IMAX is to color motion pictures of today. The photos are the best B&W photographs I have ever seen on any subject. They are definitely of museum quality.

Geared Steam Locomotive Works

This is a beautifully produced work of a master photographer. The large format duotone prints are a joy to look at, with crisp detail and lovely tones. The book provides excellent examples of Darius' ability to capture the majestic beauty of hard working (but well cared for) steam locomotives (both geared and rod), along with the people whose lives they touched (engine crew, loggers, camp crew and families). I would have paid $20 each for several of the prints in this book. This is primarily a "picture book", but the additional commentary from railroaders and loggers of the Kinsey era adds that personal touch that the photographs so often contain.

I have looked at many hundreds of railroad books (and well over 100,000 photos), but the photographs in this volume are the best I've ever seen. Kinsey used a view camera and 11"x14" glass plate negatives to produce large contact prints for sale to the subjects (locomotive crew members) early in this century. The results are absolutely stunning; every photo has extraordinary tone and detail, impossible to produce with the small format (35mm and rollfilm) cameras commonly available today. This is a "must have" book for any photographer who wants to see what print quality large negatives are capable of producing. Darius Kinsey is the "Ansel Adams" of railroad photography.

This book gets a high recommendation from me. You will read this book and often say to yourself, "aw-ah". Lighting Techniques for High Key Portrait Photography is for those of you who are just starting out and those of you who have been at it a while and just can't quite achieve the results you are looking for. It's easy to read, easy to understand, offers great diagrams and wonderful examples. It will definitely help you take the guess work out of studio photography...aw-ah!!

I have been able to master most of the lighting set ups it want except of coarse for that challengeing one of high key. This book I found to be a real help with finally understanding why i never could really get the backgrounds gleaming white. This book explains well and gives specific instruction. A good book.

As a proven do-it-yourselfer, I can recommend reading this material for understanding light ratios used in high key lighting. Over the years I stumbled with this and never figured it out on my own. I managed to achieve a style by accident but I never did find the right combination for glowing white portrait lighting. Now I have read just some of the first portion of this book and find it so very worth my money to have this explained to me I look forward to reading the rest and testing more.

I have learned portrait technique from some great professional photographers and I never uncovered this info until reading this book. My equipment is professional, my comfort with my skill level is moderate/intermediate but I am producing professional looking work with knowledge like this. Thanks to Norman.

This book has indepth but easy to understand guidlines and instructions for high key photography. I would recommend it highly.

This give all the info you need to get perfect High Key images. It gives all the light setup, type of backgrounds to use, model placement, and f/stop measurement. There are lot's of photo examples. Very well written.

I cannot say enough with how Howard Roffman can photograph young men. He does it in a way that you can understand personal things about the man. The young man is nude but it is done in a classic way with style. You are not looking at a porno book you are looking at an artist showing his works. Buy the book you will not be sorry you did.

Again I'am a very big fan of Howard Roffman .. so this is a MUST BOOK TO HAVE ,, HE IS ENDLESS WITH GREAT WORK

For anyone who enjoys this type of genere, you will enjoy this book. The pictures are beautiful, whether you are gay or straight.

What a totally beautiful book. This is a photographic essay of merit. Real good coffee-table stuff.

"A great look at a man exploring his sexuality. Howard Roffman goes into the world of an 18-year-old male, Brian, and documents the journey on film. Don't Miss this 2006 Collector's Edition! FULL COLOR!"--© zebraz

I love Lukas and continue to follow his images as he gets older. This book presents wonderful images of him, but not enough! The other boys are handsome, but I thought there'd be more photos of Lukas, since he was the name holder in the title. In spite of the shortage of Lukas' photos, the book is a good addition to a well rounded collection of male nude books. I'd recommend it to anyone who smiles when viewing young, handsome, male nudes.

What can I complain about? This book is so beautiful. Lukas is twice as handsome at 30 as he was at 18. All the boys are breathtaking, beautiful and perfect.

"Bel Ami magazine brings you Lucas in Love the most adorable young male diary around. This twelve month diary features the most beautiful young men from Bel Ami magazine showing all their stuff in full color images. Fill your year and each day with these hot boys because you know they`re worth it.
Don`t Miss this 2006 Collector`s Edition! 9" x 12" FULL COLOR!"--© zebraz

No matter how many photo books I buy, BelAmi will always rank number 1 with me. The photos are always clean and crisp with the most beautiful young men.

Lukas is one of those boys who can evoke a smile on just about anyone's face. He can also evoke a stirring in just about anyone's libido. The book is wonderful. The boys are adorable. This is just PRIMO.

A collage and kalidescope of photographs of the one and only Madonna taken over the years. Many looks and messages from the world's biggest icon.

What do you do if you have tons of Madonna pictures?A photo book galore!!!This jewel encompasses her early years,from the wild lion mane,bracelet wearing,Boy Toy,Take it or Leave it era to a more sophisticated,cropped haired,blonde, True Blue til Who's that Girl? incarnations.Photographed in full color,this one's a Fan delight!!!

I bought this book when it first came out in the very early 90's. Madonna looks gorgeous in the photos. All of the photos are beautifully shot and Madonna looks fabulous! I was the biggest Madonna fan back then and loved this book to death. now, pushing 30, I am still in love with this book because the photos are so amazing!

You won't be disappointed! I think the best photo is the one where she's kissing the mirror. Great photographic techniques!

The photographs in this book capture the "glamour" Madonna perfectly. The pictures have a very crisp feel to them, at times verging on remote; Madonna's glamour shots, though largely reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe in this book, do not have the same "inviting" allure that Marilyn had. I suppose this is because it is unmistakable that Madonna is a powerful woman who must always be "in charge" and is in complete control of her career and her image, whereas Marilyn Monroe projected an air of vulnerability for which Madonna is probably without the capacity. But Madonna is still a beautiful and at times "exotic" creature.

Several pictures in this book had previously been published in magazines, the cover shot, for example, was once the cover for Life magazine. Many pictures from that same photo shoot are reproduced here, with the most touching being the "group hug" between Madonna and about seven siblings. A few out-takes from the "Like a Virgin" album cover photo shoot are included in this book as well.

The era of Madonna's career that is covered in this book is somewhat small, considering that she has now been in the public eye for nearly 20 years. All these pictures seem to be from the the years 1984 to 1987.

The book isn't very long and contains very few pages with actual words on it, but I didn't buy it for a story, I bought it for pictures of Madonna. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because it was made near the end of 1987, so it only has pictures and information on Madonna from 1982-87. In the back portion of the book it does however have a short year by year biography on her. The pictures are black and white or colored. Many of them are from her different concerts. The book also includes some information on the earlier movies Madonna starred in such as Who's That Girl? and Shanghi Surprise. There are alot better books on Madonna that you could get, but for the price this is a great book. The pictures are beautiful and it is a welcome addition to my Madonna collection.