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Imagine quitting your job to drive around and take photos. David Bradford wanted the freedom to do what he really loved - create art -- so he quit his job as an art director for an American advertising firm to drive a taxi in New York City.
Originally, he planned on creating paintings of the photos he took, but then he quickly realized that the photos were his art. From a year's worth of photos he produced a thick little yellow book [568 pages] entitled Drive-By Shootings: Photographs by a New York Taxi Driver. |
Gerhard Waldherr's added commentary reveals wonderful text snapshots of what it's like to be a New York cabbie. Not only does he give a day-in-the-life biography of Bradford, he also interviews Bradford's gruff fellow cabbies.
The bulk of the book, however, has Bradford's black and white images of the buildings, statues, traffic, and people of New York. If you like taking candid street photography, this book has some great ideas. If you like New York, you'll love Bradford's unique point of view.
Other candid street photography books worth taking a look at:
The Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition “New Photography 2010” will feature works from four artists: Roe Ethridge, Elad Lassry, Alex Prager and Amanda Ross-Ho. New York Times, July 30, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/arts/design/30vogel.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
Alex Prager. Julie. 2007. Chromogenic color print, 36 x 47 1/2" (91.4 x 120.7 cm). Image courtesy the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York. © 2010 Alex Prager
Requiem for print photography: As Kodak's final roll of Kodachrome film goes to the lab, a look back at what that means -- and what we've lost.
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2010/07/28/kodachrome/index.html
My old sculpture instructor was Swedish. An amazing sculptor, this man was interested in "stroocture", always "stroocture". The word in English is structure. Ole walked around our sculpture stands chanting that one word repeatly - STROOCTURE trying to make certain that we understood the meaning of form. Ole was fond of the human figure and as students we worked almost strictly from it. However, when I came across the photographs of Karl Blossfeldt, the same principles shouted out from the pages, only with plants as the subject.
Structure and form are the words that come into the mind when looking at the work of Karl Blossfeldt. This Austrian photographer who worked around the turn of the 1900s and worked without colour. His subjects were plants. The forms he coaxed from his photos emphasize the plant's structure as it was formed by growth.
There are two books by this artist in the library's collection. Illustrated below is the larger of the books weighing in at 359 pages; the other, the more portable version has 79 pages. Both books are on the shelf under 779.34 BLO. |
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More photography books continue to arrive every week.
Some of the new directions that photographers are exploring, thanks to programs that allow images to be altered and recombined, are explored in “The Digital Eye: Photographic Art in the Electronic Age” . This may not appeal to everyone; however, it does show some of the endless ways that technology is being used to free the imagination and push the limits of picture making.
This week, Calgary Public Library’s collection grew with two new Magic Lantern Guides: Canon EOS 7D and Canon EOS Rebel T1i.
The book “Photography: The Most Influential Photographers of all Time” follows the personal history of notable photographers starting with the Early Pioneers then focuses on the different specialties such as Fashion and Photojournalism where each has had considerable influence.
The chapter “Land and Topography” features Ansel Adams one of my favourite photographers. Many of his pictures of Yosemite in California live in popular memory. I image the photographer hauling the huge view camera that he used up mountains and through meadows waiting for the perfect time and the perfect light with which to take his exquisite pictures. Two short pages outline the basics of this man’s contribution, but it leaves me wanting more information and more images.
This leads me to one of the titles in the Calgary Public Library DVD collection: Ansel Adams: a film directed by Ric Burns. This hour and a half long documentary provides an intimate portrait of a great artist who was also an ardent environmentalist. |
I use Gmail and have signed up for a Picasa account. It proved useful for sharing my pictures of Italy with friends and family. It is supposed to be very simple to use. This should be perfect. So why, I ask myself, do I manage to get so confused almost everytime that I try to use it? I did manage to get the pictures of that trip into a folder in Picasa and share it with a few people. Things have not gone so smoothly with the photos from another trip. I now have one empty folder, two pixs and a short temper.
Picasa for seniors had me getting out the trusty library card and putting on my hold.
Picasa for seniors : get acquainted with Picasa, free, easy-to-use photo editing software by Ligthart, Jolanda.
CALL NUMBER: 775 PIC P
Supporting by the website: www.visualsteps.com/picasa
Picasa is free software application that allows you to organize and edit your digital photo collection. Besides adding tags (on names) to photos, you can organize them into albums and create slide shows. There are tools to do basic photo editing. Importantly to many of us, you can share photos with others (like with Flickr, which uses a Yahoo email account).
This book teaches the basic functions of Picasa using visual instructions. Through the use of icons, each step guides you to the next step. There are even icons to tell you that you have made a mistake.
As previously stated I am no technical wizard myself. I appreciated explanations such as the following: “A Picasa album is a virtual collection of photos… This means that a Picasa album is only visible in Picasa itself. “ This means that I have to sign into Picasa to look at my albums. Anyone I have allowed to view my albums would have to sign in.
In the Appendices, Appendix E., is called How Do I Do That Again? This is a section that I can see myself looking at more than once.
The last Central Photo Club meeting before the summer break was a field trip to Inglewood. Seven members met by the WilderNest Cafe at 10 am on Saturday, June 19th to take photos of this interesting and historical part of Calgary. The feedback has been very positive: all commented about the weather.
It forgot to rain!
Take a look at what Calgary Public Library Photography Club members have posted to our Flickr site. |
Members’ photographs are their intellectual property and can be defined as being an “intangible property that is 
the result of creativity”. The protection of the individual’s rights is considered to be very important by the Calgary Public Library.
Calgary Public Library cannot ensure that images posted to the Calgary Public Library Photography Blog will be protected from being used in a manner that differs from the photographer’s original intention.
This means that members’ images will not be posted to this site.
Members of the Calgary Public Library Photography Club who wish to post their images electronically are encouraged to use the Flickr: Calgary Public Library Photography Club site @ http://www.flickr.com/groups/1037952@N23/
photo by visual.dichotomy (Flickr Creative Commons)
Image from Flickr Creative Commons. Photographer: Alaskan Dude
The 2010 Fall Photography Club at Central starts on September 18th continuing on October 16th, November 20th and December 18th.
The meeting room has changed to Meeting Room #2.
Central library Photography Club will meet every third Saturday of the month in the same place from 11 am to 1 pm.
The Photography Club strives in an informal way, to foster a love of photography by providing a supportive space in which members can share their photos and their knowledge with others. A wide range of library materials are available for use by members.
For the past year, our very able facilitator has been Dwight Adams.
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One of our newest photography book arrivals is Better Photo Basics: The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to taking Photos like the Pros by Jim Miotke, Call number 771 MIO. Founder of the BetterPhoto.com, Jim shares his extensive knowledge in this well laid out book. Illustrated with loads of examples and very clear instructions, the beginning photographer can find lots of information whether the camera is a DSLR or a point and shoot.
Three more new photography books that are definitely worth borrowing follow: 
A wealth of information about all aspects of photography from getting better snaps from a cheaper camera to choosing a better camera is contained in these new books. There are "make it yourself" props or tools, information on lens, to information on free software and calibrating colour on your computer.
Black and white photography requires that the photographer look at the subject of the picture in a different way. There is no colour to seduce the eye. It is here that the composition becomes all important. This book also describes the technical aspects of converting colour pictures into powerful black and white pictures.
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