PopPhoto Flash

Book Review: Woman Twirling by Jo Ann Callis

(Getty Publications $30, direct)

Jo Ann Callis, an L.A.-based artist and photographer belonged to the vanguard of artists producing “fabricated photography” in the 1970’s and ‘80s.  Like the better-known Cindy Sherman, Callis doesn’t so much “take” pictures as “construct” them prop by prop and light by light.  A retrospective of her work is on view through August 9th at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and its catalog and, presumably the exhibition, too, are eye openers.

Surreal and dreamlike with dark narrative shadings, her constructions are simultaneously simple and extremely complex.  The more you look, the more you find.  Frequently domestic in focus, with props like curtains, chairs, cakes, beds, and decorative wall papers, her fabrications often introduce a lone individual, caught in blurred movement.  This person might be experiencing a fit of rage or rapture, you can’t tell which.  There’s rarely an identifiable face. Wardrobe and styling often harken back to the 1950’s, and are tinged by a singular darkness that contrasts ironically and frighteningly with the commonly held notion of the ‘50s as an era of simplicity and innocence.

Slideshow of the Past

Sports Illustrated is releasing their new book, Slideshow on May 5th ($30). The book is full of slides as they were in their files with all of the original markings and comments with stories of how they came to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated. For those who have only ever used digital equipment it will give you a better appreciation of how the pros do it and the extra effort that went into wading through slides to find the one shot. For a teaser of what is in store for you with this new book see A Photo Editor’s write up.

—Melissa Macatee
 Contributing Blogger

Book Review: Nitescapes 3-D’s Prelude Lake

A lot of photography books come across our desks, so it takes something different to make us take notice.

I can safely say that Bryan R. White’s “Prelude Lake” (Nitescapes 3-D Publishing, $65)  is the first 3-D photography I’ve seen in a long time. The coffee table book is comprised of images of the Aurora Borealis that can be viewed in 3-D with a pair of included glasses and along with an included music CD. 

White has also developed a 3-D slide show of his images that he shows at local schools and groups.

Visit www.astro-photo.com for more information or to order a book.
—Kathleen Davis
Assistant Editor

Book Review: Fashion Photography: A Complete Guide to the Tools and Techniques of the Trade

A through overview of the field, Fashion Photography: A Complete Guide to the Tools and Techniques of the Trade By Bruce Smith
(Amphoto Books, 2008; $23) covers many of the challenges and hurdles fashion photographers overcome on a regular basis.  Smith talks about finding and dealing with models, selecting and deploying equipment, scouting locations, finding and handling clients, building a portfolio and marketing a business.  

He’s at his best when offering how-to instructions for specific projects and for developing important skill sets.  One section explains how to obtain clean white backgrounds, without creating flare, and it may well be worth the price of the book, for some readers.  Likewise, Smith’s coverage of certain Adobe Photoshop skills — improving the impact of makeup or adding shape to a shapeless waist in postproduction—are excellently covered, and are required skills that any fashion photographer must ultimately master.  The useful Internet resources listed in the appendix is also nice.

Book Review: Digital Portrait Photography: Art, Business, and Style

Steve Sint, whom Pop Photo regulars will remember as the magazine’s esteemed studio photography columnist for many years, has just published another of his encyclopedic hands-on guides to better picture taking. “Digital Portrait Photography: Art, Business, and Style” (Lark Books, 2009; $19),  reads like a transcript of one of his popular portrait and wedding workshops, echoing with his distinctively knowledgeable, engaging, and humorous speaking style.  It’s a voice that lets him connect with students, readers, and portrait subjects on a direct and personal level, and makes his writing (and teaching) easy and enjoyable to digest. 

Skimming through Digital Portrait Photography, you’ll notice dozens of beautiful portraits, but also the densely packed text.  There’s a lifetime of useful information here, and much of it you won’t find elsewhere in print. The opening chapter on the psychology of portraiture, for example, offers a step-by-step strategy for gaining a subject’s confidence and complicity in the photographic process.  It alone is worth the price of admission.

The book’s subtitle, “Art, Business, and Style,” accurately states its three main concerns.  Art is covered in in-depth chapters on lighting, composing, and equipment.  Sint then shares secrets of the Business of portrait photography with sections on operating a photo studio, building a portfolio, writing contracts, and more.  Finally, he plunges into Style, with nuts-and-bolts coverage of makeup, wardrobe, and an extensive treatment of posing styles.

Whether you’re an accomplished portraitist, or a newbie who wants to get more serious about people pictures, “Digital Portrait Photography” promises an informative, entertaining read.   

—Peter Kolonia
Senior Editor

Book Review: Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, The Conde Nast Years 1923-1937

A photographer’s photographer, Edward Steichen (1879-1973) had his hand in both fine art and commercial photography for most of his productive career, which coincided with still photography’s rise as one of the defining media of the 20th Century.  While critics slammed his 503-image ‘Family of Man” exhibition for its sentimentality, it was nevertheless the most influential photo exhibition in history, ultimately seen by almost nine million viewers. The show, curated by Steichen during his stint as Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art (1947-1962) in New York City, and its phenomenally successful book, were in some respects the pinnacle of his career.

Long before “Family of Man,” however, this dynamo had an equally important impact on the history of photography, when, under the tutelage of Alfred Steiglitz, he became a driving force in Steiglitz’s Photo Succession movement.  Ultimately, Steichen would become the single greatest contributor to Steiglitz’s “Camera Work” magazine, among the day’s most influential publications recognizing pictorial photography as a fine art. Steichen was also instrumental in the success of the famous 291 gallery, accounting for more than 50% of the Gallery’s sales in its first year, with some prints commanding unequaled prices of over $50.  (Given that, it’s not surprising, that, in modern times, the highest price paid for a single photograph, nearly $3 million, went for a Steichen image made in 1904.)

Arguably, Steichen’s most important period, however, and the subject of a revealing new monograph, “Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, The Conde Nast Years 1923-1937,” was his stint as chief photographer for Conde Nast, and its influential titles, Vanity Fair and Vogue.  For the former he produced a treasure chest of era-defining celebrity portraits (Garbo, Churchill, DeMille, Gary Cooper, and dozens more), and for the latter, alluring fashion photography that, for the first time in history, would become an engine for selling magazines on a mass market scale.

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PopPhoto Flash Exclusive: Class of Contrast

Matthew Carasella is an event photographer based in New York City. He worked at Pop Photo from 2003 to 2005 as the Workshop Coordinator for Digital Days, and contacted us about a special photography project he was working on in Brazil. Here’s his story:

Seeking a change of pace, purpose and perspective away from the intense New York City event photography scene, I decided to embark on a journey to Brazil with the goal of teaching a basic photography workshop to disadvantaged children for a new photo project named “Little Shutterbugs”.

Prior to leaving the United States, I contacted Worldfund, an organization established in 2002 that finances and facilitates education initiatives in Latin America. Their goal over the next eight years is to transform the lives of 250,000 students by investing $50 million in schools and in gifted student programs. Upon learning of their goal, I was left with one question, “How can I help?”

The answer that followed complimented my original idea of teaching photography and led me to produce a photo book entitled, “Class of Contrast” to raise funds and awareness to support their mission. I was convinced that I could help by contributing my time, skills and resources to directly impact impoverished students in Brazil.

Through the support of Worldfund I was connected with Escola Estrela do Mar (Portuguese for "The Starfish School") and experienced the gracious hospitality of Founder David Leiner and his wife, Claudia. I was granted access to teach and to photograph at the school for three days all the while as a guest in their home.

With two cameras and nine kids, I had to be resourceful and creative with my lesson plans. I created fun activities that taught techniques and basic camera parts with homemade visual aids. Each class session was 50 minutes. The students ranged from 7-10 years old. I speak practically no Portuguese, the students spoke little English so visual communication was a perfect fit.

During the first day we made paper cameras to learn basic camera parts. The children instinctively began playing photographer by looking through their own viewfinders, kneeling to take pictures and pretending to click the shutter. The second day, we practiced shooting techniques. While alternating turns taking pictures, one student used the camera while the others wore animal masks. The final day, we took a field trip and the students were assigned to work in groups and to take pictures of their Vision.

Although most of my time was spent teaching and photographing within the clean secure walls of the school, I knew a world of contrast existed beyond the gates. Stories recounted told of the horrors of murder, drugs, poverty, unemployment and generations of illiteracy. These words were hard to visualize for the images within the school were quite different. Perhaps it was denial until I stepped into the neighborhood on that final day. The distant question of “How can I help?” had now given way to my new thought, “This is real?”

To learn more about Little Shutterbugs and purchase a copy of “Class of Contrast,” please visit: www.little-shutterbugs.com. Proceeds from the book will go directly to Worldfund and Little Shutterbugs.
—Matthew Carasella

The photographer's work can also be viewed at www.socialshutterbug.com and www.matthewcarasella.com

For more info on worldfund, click here

For more info on the starfish school, click here

Book Review: Incredible Stunts!

Crashing cars, flying motorcycles, men covered in bees, and lots more involving fire, razor blades, and shotguns are the subject of the new book “Incredible Stunts!” by Jeffery R. Werner (Incredible Features, Los Angeles, $50; incrediblestunts.com).

A look at decades’ worth of photos by Jeffrey R. Werner, the oversized volume lives up to its title, with 150+ pages of the goofiest, most grotesque, and bizarrely outrageous stunts ever performed and photographed.

Silly, stupid, and ridiculous? Absolutely. But I defy you to not look at ever mind-boggling photo.

Werner’s technical proficiency with a camera and the heavy, glossy stock of the book insure that you clearly see all the details. The face of the man being run over by his own truck? Got it. The blood running down the face of the guy intentionally clobbered with a bowling ball? You bet. The sheer terror in the eyes of the fellow who locked himself in a washing machine for a full cycle? Yes!!!.

And that’s not all. There’s a fiery flying garbage truck, cars in midair collisions, airplanes whacking into buildings, and even a tribute to the greatest daredevil of all, Evel Knievel, along with a photo of Evel in his Elvis-caliber coffin.

In all, your inner 11 year old will consider this “The Greatest Book Ever Published.”

More adult taste might label it as Popular Photography Senior Editor Dan Richards did, “The Big Book of Really Bad Ideas.”

—John Owens
Editor in Chief

Book Review: What Matters

Changing the world might sound like a lofty goal for a photo book, but that’s what the new book, What Matters, The World’s Preeminent Photojournalists and Thinkers Depict Essential Issues of our Time edited by David Elliot Cohen (Sterling Publishing, $28, 2008), hopes to do. Citing the power of socially conscious photographers over the last 150 years, the beautiful collection of 18 photo-essays by some of today’s prominent photojournalists hopes to “inform pre-election debate and inspire direct action.”

Regardless of what side of the political fence you sit on, this collection of heartbreaking and powerful stories and images is guaranteed to get you thinking.

The hardcover print version of the book will go on sale on Sept. 16, but the free online E-version of the book is available now at whatmattersonline.com. There you can also check out the “What You Can Do” section for a list of further information on all the issues covered in the book (from Climate Change to Child Labor, US Veterans, Global Poverty, etc.) as well as ways to get involved and help the change the world.

—Kathleen Davis
Assistant Editor
                                                    
Water is the responsibility of women and children in Africa. This four-year old girl walks four kilometers twice a day to fetch water for her family. From "Thirsty World," a photo-essay by Brent Stirton in What Matters: The World's Preeminent Photojournalists and Thinkers Depict Essential Issues of Our Time by David Elliot Cohen (Sterling 2008)

Finding Nostalgia: A Book of Found Polaroids

                              
The news of Polaroid’s decision to stop production of instant film, has made us nostalgic for the early days of instant gratification.

FOUND magazine’s 2006 book FOUND Polaroids is a voyeuristic glimpse into the lives of strangers through the rare (and dying) medium. A collection of Polaroid photos lost and forgotten on streets, sidewalks, and homes, the book is surprisingly heart warming (a photo of a mother and child with their newborn), funny (a defaced snapshot of a rival), sad and mysterious (a woman weeping in front of a basket of fries).

In a format largely disregarded by “serious” photographers, this collection of pictures is at once more compelling and intriguing than many other photo collections, and argument enough to keep instant film alive.
—Kathleen Davis
Assistant Editor