“A National Geographic book.” That is all most people would need to hear to know that it would be a book filled with the best images you could find anywhere, and a perfect item to give as a holiday gift, or for any reason for that matter. This new NG book is huge, over 5-lbs, with 232 images that showcase the work of over 100 world renowned photographers. The book is a collection of the most beautiful images in the world, all of which come from one of the riches photo collections in the world, the National Geographic Archives.  Two of the first three images in the book will produce a verbal “WOW” from most people, along with the statement, “I have never seen pictures as like these before in my life.” They are incredible, to say the least, and that is exactly what you will also say about the image of a man filming as a humpback whale passes underneath him, or the silverback gorilla waist deep in a swamp munching on water plants.  This book is filled with both images of the natural world, and that of the people world, in all of its forms.

       Every time I look at a National Geographic book I think that I have seen it all, and then I get another one like Great Migrations and the standard of quality that every one has come to know is passed again. This book is the official companion to the National Geographic Channel Global Television Event that begins on November 7^th and runs to November 21^st.  If the series is anything like this book it is a MUST SEE for every one who loves animals and nature.

       It is page after page of amazing images as you expect from NG, but then there are those that truly will blow you away. Not just a few, but MANY are two page panoramic images like none I have ever seen before. One is of a group of Zebras that so fills the page that you can not see a single spot anywhere that is not their black and white strips, another shot was taken in the ocean of an image filled with white spots that turn out to be jellyfish. Then there is the panoramics that are a montage of many images of the same animals both near and far. Probably one of the most amazing shots in the book to me is of an Albatross nesting colony, that shows nothing but these birds from right in front of the camera all the way to as far as you can see in the shot, and the entire landscape is covered with white spots that are the birds. I will for sure watch this series, but I am really glad that I have the book because what you watch on the screen goes by so fast that you miss a lot of it if you blink, and the book gives me permenant access to look at the images whenever I want, for as long as I want to. If you want to give a great gift this holiday season, this book is it!

       It seems like forever since the last time a new book came out on the work of Ansel Adams, and it has been even longer since I have looked at one that didn’t seem like just another copy of all the others. This is a new day, and I would say that the new Ansel Adams in The National Parks book is probably the best one that has ever been published. From the very first image you will notice the top quality of its printing, which is how this whole book is done. Quality that you could actually frame and not be able to tell it was not an original print.

       There are over 200 images in the book, 50 of which have never been published before this. They are accompanied by a wealth of personal information about the images and Adams himself, including quotations by Adams on the creation of his images. All of this makes for a book any photographer would love in their photo library, and if you really want to make some points with a friend, give them a gift copy this coming holiday season.

       There are libraries full of books on how to make a photo business work, but this is the first one I have seen so far that actually tells you the stories of what it took for this group of photographers to become successful at it. The author covers what all he went through to turn a major interest into making a living doing what he loves the most, photography. This book not only covers the experiences he had, and the lessons he learned, but it also covers the  lessons learned by nine other photographers who took their own pathways to success. One of them, Darwin Wiggett, I have known for several years and have seen his images and articles appear more and more in major photo magazines, so the lessons he learned certainly worked well for him. This book is packed cover to cover with the same info that will help any one who has the will to put them to work.

       From the very beginnings of photography many images were made without the use of any camera at all, and the variety of ways to do that would fill a book. In fact it has, this one. Shadow Catchers discusses just about every method used, most of which I have never heard of before this. The images come from a group of artist/photographers and there are some incredibly beautiful ones. The text is mostly what I call “art talk” and tells you who did what back when, and sadly it is very lacking on technical info to do the processes yourself. This is not a how-to book, so to really learn these techniques you will have to research them in other places, but this book is a real nice way to start and learn just what all can be done, and well worth the reading.  It is very possible that you will come away with a whole new art form to keep you busy.

       If you like big cities shown at night with their millions of lights aglow, you should like New York at Night, a new book that cover to cover has images of that skyline at night. The images range from those of single buildings to panoramas of the whole island, taken from dusk to dawn. The book claims to include close-ups, but I do not consider the whole top of a building to be a close-up. I find the title to be a bit misleading as well. When I read “New York at Night” I expected to see images all over New York, street scenes as well, but all of the images in this book are skyline shots taken either from the air, or from the tops of other buildings. I feel that 95% of the city at night has been left out, and a better title would have been, The New York Skyline at Night.  With this title I feel cheated, but New Yorkers should enjoy the book.

       Good photography does not just mean being able to work a camera’s settings, but even more it has to do with learning to “see” the possibilities in a subject, and much of that seeing comes from inside the photographer. This new book is designed to help you develop your visual awareness, by showing you how to merge the essence of Zen and your photography.  The images in the book are accompanied by stories, and quotations to go with them. There is a lot of psychoanalyzing of every type of photo subject, even including old Hollywood movies, and you might understand it and you might not. To be honest this book to me seems more about the Zen way of life than it does about photography.

-------This new book is 320 pages of the most beautiful nature images that you will find anywhere. A documentation of the beauty found in Florida’s Everglades that could be lost forever if it is not protected from those who only see it as a way to profit. The book is an almost cover to cover collection of images like I have never seen before of this part of the country, with only about a dozen of the 320 pages set aside for the text. The full page images are outstanding, and the two page spreads are something you have to see to believe, like the one in the front of a Great Blue Heron gliding just feet above the water. The bird images are some of the best I have ever seen, some looking like they were taken from right inside the nest. From small bugs on a plant to giant Bald Cypress trees, the images are what I call, “framing quality” to where you can count the hairs on a River Otter.  This is one book that I would say would make one GREAT holiday gift, but you better hurry because as I understand it only 5,000 copies were printed.

-------It has been a long time since I have seen something from Bruce Barnbaum and knowing the quality of his work I wanted to check out his new book. Was not disappointed one bit.  As a master black & white darkroom worker, he has never had a problem finding students for his classes, and this new book is a perfect example why that is. The book covers all of the aspects of b&w photography as the masters are known to use them, but this book not only covers the b&w zone system and printing techniques, it also includes color work, and the zone system for digital photographers as well. I’d say that no one is left out, and the detail of the info given, and the quality of the images show just what can be done when you take that extra step to produce real quality work. The illustrations range from street scenes to a cathedral staircase, and they are the kind and quality that after you have looked over just a few of them you want to grab your camera and head out the door. This is one new book that anyone who strives for quality will want in their photo library.

-------This soft cover book is about 10x10 inches, with 351 pages, retails for US-$44.95 - and is published by RockyNook and distributed by O’Reilly Media and can be checked out at:   www.oreilly.com           I Rate it:  A+++

-------Every digital photographer should get this new book from the publishers at Course Technology,,, Period! It is cover to cover how-to info and examples of what can be done in the digital world when you use the zone system designed for it.  Yes, the zone system is still the zone system no matter what format you use, but since digital work on a computer, with the software programs made just for it, have a lot of requirements that never even existed before. This new zone system book handles all of those new problems and does it in a classroom type book. That is because these books from Course Technology are created as a technical class reference for each subject covered, in this case, the digital zone system.  The book is cover to cover info and illustrations on ever step needed to make top notch images. Each lesson includes the tools needed and their settings used, and the final image result. I have been reviewing these books for some years now and have never found one that wasn’t a top notch how-to reference.

-------This soft cover book is about 9x7 inches, with 257 pages, retails for US-$39.99 – and is published by Course Technology PTR and can be ordered from:   www.courseptr.com              I Rate it:  A+

-------This is a very well done guide to photographing glass, water and other such subjects. Very informative on the how-to end and also very well illustrated with both before and after images, and example images for all of the techniques shown. The info covers both studio set-ups, as well as how to shoot these subjects out in nature when you can find them there. When you see what all can be done with these subjects you will find yourself getting a lot more ideas for your own work.

-------This soft cover book is about 9x11 inches, with 123 pages, retails for US-$34.95 – and is published by Amherst Media at:   www.AmherstMedia.com              I Rate it:  A

-------This is a very good reference book for information about our twentieth century heroes of photography, and besides the ones we all think of first like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, it also includes Imogen Cunningham, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Arnold Newman to name just a few. The information part is very interesting as it includes the thinking behind how these photographers worked. The illustrations leave a lot of be desired. For one thing I did not see a single image made by any of the photographers that the book is about. Just a lot of what the author calls, “similar to” what these photographers took. For the most part they don’t look like they were even shot for this book, but instead just grabbed out of old file images the author had on hand. I also wonder how they got the 101 ideas as the book only covers 37 photographers, and there is no count on anything else that I saw.

-------This soft cover book is about 7x9 inches, with 232 pages, retails for US-$29.99 – and is published by Course Technology PTR and can be ordered from:   www.courseptr.com              I Rate it:  A-

-------This new book is a bit different from what I normally review, but one I wanted to check out anyway. It is exactly what it says it is about, "1000 Sacred Places," presented in photo illustrations and story text. But the story text is not exactly what you find in most such books. The info in this book is historical facts, legends, and myths, and a combination of all three, which makes for very interesting reading. It’s always a lot more fun to go and photograph places that have real interesting stories behind them, and this book sure fills that bill. The worldwide locations are listed by country, and probably 95% of these places you will have never heard of, but that does not make the stories any less interesting. I did feel cheated when it came to the American location though, as I know of many more places than the few that the author has in this book. (Not too sure that he spent very much time here)

-------This hardback book is 6x8 x 2.5 inches thick, with 960 pages, retails for US-$29.95 – and is distributed by Trinity University Press at:        www.ullmann-publishing.com    I Rate it:  A+ (for interest)

-----Tom Till has released another one of his landscape books, this one totally about the Canyons of Utah, his favorite place on earth. He has been photographing this subject for decades and you can see from the images on the cover just why. When I say that some of the images are beyond belief I mean just that. In fact before I would write this review I had to ask Tom about the colors in some of these images, just be sure that they were the real thing. They are! And I still have a hard time believing it. I especially love the images taken in the canyons, one of which looks like the walls were made of solid gold. Then there is the one taken in The Golden Cathedral that I don’t even know how I would describe that one. Beyond belief would be a start. I have reviewed Till’s books for some years now and there is not an image in this book that I have seen before, so I am guessing that they are all new. (I forgot to ask him about that) 

-----Scattered throughout the book are essays by Mikenna Clokey, his daughter, about the life and times of Till, his family, and the area they lived. It is filled with stories of what it was like to be his kid, and the adventures that created. I am kind of glad that they had more to do with those things than they did about the photography within. I see that in photography books all the time, and this is a nice change.

-----This soft cover book is about 9x12 inches, with 138pages, retails for US-$30.00 - and can be ordered from his web site at:   www.tomtill.com    --------------   I Rate it:  A