Portraits and Photos Books

An intelligent and funny coffee-table book for those who understand cats, or who are trying to understand cats.

I adore Claude, especially as I have one of my own.

Although this is a small book, it is worth its weight in gold. The photos are the best I have ever seen of a cat. The expressions on Claude's face (the cat) are just irresistible, and the text is just as charming. I am eagerly awaiting a second Claude book. As I said, the remarkable photos are precious - any cat-lover will appreciate this book and go back to it again and again for a mood pick-me-up and to share parts of this cat's life. Claude obviously has a wonderful personality and it is a great credit to Randy Moravec that he was able to capture this on film. I highly recommend it!

This book gives me a lot of hint for lightings and modelings.All the fashion photographers ,must see it!

This book gives me a lot of hint for lightings and modelings.All the fashion photographers ,must see it!

This is one of those books that makes a great conversation piece, but also is very impressive to look at. I'm not typically a big fan of celebrity portraits, but this guy knows his stuff, and can make just about anyone interesting.

These photos are also printed very large (and, for a book, nearly too large to get a proper viewing distance) but it's visually stunning, and always worth another look through. You'll see something new every time.

Moreover, at about $50, this is one of the biggest, coolest books you can get. A rare find to get such large/quality printing at this cost.

Martin Schoeller has definitely brought a special detail to life. It really shows more of the people who stand out in life.

If you are interested in photography and more importantly some fascinating and touching accounts of trans-gender individuals, then this is well worth a look.

I decided to write this review because I'v read the book and I personaly know Sara Davidmann, Its a great book because there are no other books out there that explore the secret world of Transvestism. Not only that but you get a real feeling for the people that are mentioned and photographed in the book and what their lives are like.

Digital Portrait Photography 101 (Digital Quick Guides series)

While this book is not very big it certainly had a lot of great information in it for a portrait novice like myself.

I had been asked to take some portrait shots over the holidays and I purchased this book to see if it would help. It helped alot. Mr. Hurter's writing style is clear and easy to understand.

As I knew nothing about portrait photography this book was able to fill in the huge gaps I had about lighting, posing, dealing with the subjects and much more.

I will use this book as a reference many times in the coming years!

Bill Hurter's DIGITAL PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY 101 offers quick lessons from a long-time master, covering all the basics of solving common portrait problems, posing, disguising flaws, and more. Make the most of digital opportunities to make the most of portrait subjects in this quick guide filled with professional insights.

danny is a brillant photographer--a master with black and white film and obviously a very creative guy with his subject matter. a lot of thought goes into his photos. this is an excellent book

Danny Clinch is, in my opinion, the most skilled rock photographer the genre has seen. And it isn't just rock - his subjects come from a multitude of musical backgrounds. His photographs are gorgeously composed, often spontaneous, intimate, insightful, and articulate. Most notably, his work breaks through the superficial shell of music legends that they have become accustomed to showing to the media. Clinch approaches these people on a personal level, and in doing so captures moments with a sensitivity and decisiveness that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere. He works in any number of formats, but regardless of the camera he's using, the results are consistently good. This book is an amazing showcase of Clinch's work and is something both music fans and followers of photography will find great value in. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed this book very much...it has an amusing touch of irreverence while still being very much a "fan" book. The photos are superb; there are definitely some jolting star shots here thatI KNOW I've never seen before. A lovely book which provides the requisite facts about the "hunks" but also has an element of whimsy & fun. I tried to track this book down before a year before locating it; it was worth the wait!

Magnificent photos, interviews and stories of a lost era. I especially enjoyed the Tony Curtis, Jeffrey Hunter, Jeff Chandler and Sal Mineo sections. The writing matched the photos - very upbeat and done more like an old fashioned movie magazine than a "tell all."

En 1906 le photographe Edward Sheriff Curtis tenait deux dernieres expositions de ses gravures en platine, du format et de l'echelle grands, a l'Hotel Astoria de la Nouvelle York et au Club St Botolph. Car le banquier John Pierpoint Morgan venait de consentir a payer photographier la vie des peaux-rouges des Etats-Unis. Plus tard Curtis vendait ses gravures les plus grandes au Dr Charles Goddard Weld, qui a son tour faisait le don des 108 photographes au future musee Peabody Essex de Salem, dans le commonwealth de Massachusetts. Les gravures montraient a merveille les effets chiaroscuro, le focale attenue, les fonds assombris, les poses romantiques et les regards de tres pres, pour faire ressortir les caracteres forts du paysage vaste. Pour en faire tout cela Curtis se servait d'un objectif tres vieux, fabrique en Allemagne, et d'un appareil photographique lourd a porter. J'aime surtout les gravures qui me font comprendre le milieu, telle que De la foret profonde; les routines journalieres, telle que la serie Battre, vanner, arroser et secher le ble; la solidarite du peuple, telle que Dans les rues des peuples Acoma et Walpi; et la vie familiale, telle que La maison des Hava Supai.

In 1906 photographer Edward Sheriff Curtis held the last showings of his large-format, large-scale platinum exhibition prints at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel and at Boston's St Botolph Club. He had gotten banker John Pierpont Morgan to agree to help pay for a complete photographic record of Native American life. So he sold his larger exhibition prints to Dr Charles Goddard Weld, who then gave the 108 photographs to what is now the Peabody Essex Museum of Salem, Massachusetts. My sculptress mother and artist sister had already shared with me Curtis's pictorialist photography: so in my opinion THE MASTER PRINTS from these last two exhibitions are excellent examples of how the artist-photographer used chiaroscuro effects, close-ups and soft-focus lenses for dramatic and focused lighting, dark backgrounds for adding or subtracting details, and romantic poses to bring out strong personality and sweeping landscape. The book has helpful, to-the-point, well-written foreword, appreciation, afterword, and notes: I find it interesting that the prints might have been made with just an old German lens and a heavy-to-carry 14x17 view plate camera and that all the head and shoulder shots were taken in a tent lined with maroon-colored material and under lighting controlled by a skylight opening on one side. And I particularly like the prints that give a sense of place, such as the clearly photographed nature in "The Mojave water carrier," "Out of the forest depth" and "Taos water carriers"; a sense of family, such as "Hava Supai home," "Inuit hut and family," and Yakutat Indian seal hunter's hut"; a sense of community, such as Acoma and Walpi street scenes, "Apache camp" and "Apache village," "Blackfoot encampment," "Census hogan," "Estufa of San Ildefonso," "Mishongnovi," and [Tlinkit] "Council house"; and a sense of daily activity, such as "Threshing wheat," "Winnowing wheat," "Washing wheat," "Drying wheat," and "Hopi girls grinding peke bread meal." So the book's collection of photographic artistry works especially well with Shannon Lowry's NATIVES OF THE FAR NORTH, THE PLAINS INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHS, and THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN: THE COMPLETE PORTFOLIOS.

Photography is about capturing light. The way light comes to life in these photographs, and dances over and through the subjects, is truly mesmerizing. Edward S. Curtis was undeniably an artist, and he left for his fellow mankind a wonderful gift. We benefit through his sight and likewise, his INsight. With the recognition of what was quickly vanishing, even as he strove to visually preserve it, Curtis dedicated his life to telling a story. One very true and also very sad due to its cessation.

Although certainly he achieved fame, his name is not as well known as it deserves to be. Just about any of his images contained within this collection can be termed a work of art. Each scene or vista is a pathway for the eye and mind to experience. These are unforgettable and deeply enriching. A wonderful beautiful compilation.

If you read this book you will never be able to look at a Curtis photograph in exactly the same way again. Most people have seen Curtis photographs (often not attributed to anyone in particular) of Chief Joseph, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Red Cloud and other important Indian chiefs, but he also documented the lives of ordinary Indians. I have a number of inexpensive prints of these photographs and I knew he was an important American photographer, but that was all. This biography puts him in his proper place as one of America's great photographers and photographic artists. He was a successful Seattle photographer when in about 1900 he set himself the task of documenting the vanishing culture of the American Indian. This task resulted in the production of a 20-volume set of books on the North American Indian. He supported his work (or at least tried to) by selling subscriptions for the series. At $3000 per set they available for only the most limited of audiences. (In about 1910, $3000 was worth more than $200,000 in current dollars, so these books were only purchased by the likes of J.P.Morgan and the King of England.) He originally expected to finish in a few years, instead of the 30 years that it actually took. Instead of just abandoning the project when it became clear that even at $3000 per set he could not hope to cover his costs, he felt he had an obligation to the original subscribers to provide all 20 of the promised volumes. This cost him eventual control over the project (including the engraved plates of the photographs), his photographic studio and even his marriage. Along the way he became a pioneering ethnographer, using both glass plate photographs and early motion picture technology capture Indian life. His photographs do much more than document Indians and Indian life; his composition and use of light make them great art.

There are several books currently on the market that contain more extensive collections of Curtis photographs and if this is primarily what you want they would be better choices. Buy this book if you want to find out more about the man who took them and the price he paid to do so. This book, while not an extensive biography, details all of the aspects of his life, augmented with many of his photographs. It strikes a very good balance between text and pictures. It provides some famous Curtis photographs (such as that of Chief Joseph), some of his most artistic ones (such as "The Storm" and "An Oasis in the Bad Lands"), as well as providing a very informative text.

I had been waiting since May for the release of this book! It is an honor and a privilege to see our elders dipicted with such natural grace & beauty. Chester Higgins is a absolutely centered photographer! He sees with such clarity. He captured everyone's beauty, emotion, prowess & coutenance. I walk around with the book to show it to everyone I encounter, especially the elders & the children. Everyones' first expression is Ahh! The elders start to reminisce, the rest of us can see how we will grow old 'gracefully'!

Chester Higgins captures the beauty, strength and courage of the African-American elders he photographs. I am awestruck by the depth he achieves in these portraits. This collection of photos along with tips from the subjects on how to get along in life is truly an inspiring book for anyone interested in viewing a piece of history.