Abandoned: Hauntingly Beautiful Deserted Theme Parks


Seph Lawless - 2017
    Take a strange and wonderful photographic journey into a world time has forgotten—amusement parks that have been shut down and overgrown.The “artivist” known only as Seph Lawless has spent the last ten years photo-documenting the America that was left behind in the throes of economic instability and overall decline—decrepit shopping malls, houses, factories, even amusement parks.Through nearly two hundred gorgeous and elegiac photographs, Abandoned details Lawless’s journey into what was once the very heart of American entertainment: the amusement park. Here is includes:Disney World’s Discovery Island and River CountryJoyland Amusement ParkDogpatch USAFun Spot Amusement Park and ZooBushkill Amusement ParkLand of OzLake Shawnee Amusement ParkGeauga Lake Amusement ParkSpreeparkChippewa Lake Amusement ParkEnchanted Forest PlaylandAnd more!Lawless visits deserted parks across the country, capturing in stark detail their dilapidated state, natural overgrowth, and obvious duality of sad and playful symbolism. Previously self-published as Bizarro, this updated edition of Lawless’s photographic tribute to decaying American amusement parks contains new content and a new foreword.

Looking at Pictures


Susan Woodford - 1983
    Some pictures are easily appreciated at first glance, but others - often the most rewarding - require some explanation before they can be fully understood. This clearly written and enjoyable book is intended to increase pleasure and stimulate thought. It tackles many aspects of looking at paintings as well. Starting with familiar ideas, Dr Susan Woodford moves on to explore subtler, less obvious concepts. For example, she shows how paintings can be appreciated as patterns on a flat surface emotional effect; how ordinary objects can conceal hidden meanings and how knowledge of tradition improves our understanding of revolutionary works.

We're Desperate: The Punk Rock Photography of Jim Jocoy, SF/LA 1978-1980


Jim Jocoy - 2002
    It developed concurrently everywhere, and every region had it's own identity. But it was in San Francisco and L.A. where the most radical behavior in stateside punk rock style and attitude was exhibited. It was anti-hippie, anti-disco, anti-parent and anti-"nice". And it was shockingly new. These photos are ground zero of punk rock style—delirious innovation and a snarling takeover of youth culture still resonating more than 20 years hence.

Insights From Beyond the Lens: Inside the Art & Craft of Landscape Photography


Robert Rodriguez Jr. - 2012
    Based on real world experiences as a photographer as well as an instructor, speaker, and blogger, Robert distills his approach to capturing evocative images in a series of essays based on his popular Beyond the Lens blog.Beautifully illustrated with Robert's original photographs, you'll get an inside look at the mental process Robert uses when he's in the field scouting and making his images. While many books focus on the gear and technology, the aim here is to look inside the motivation, passion, and vision involved in successful landscape photography. Go behind the scenes as Robert explains how several images were made, how he draws inspiration from the Hudson River School of painters, and what resources he recommends for further exploration.

Granta 149: Europe: Strangers in the Land (The Magazine of New Writing)


Sigrid Rausing - 2019
    It harks back to the 1989 issue of the same name, themed around the response to the fall of the Berlin wall. Through the lenses of exile and migration, we ask ourselves what it means to be European now. Featuring a photoessay by Bruno Fert who steps inside the temporary homes of refugees in camps in Greece and France.

The Creative Photographer


Catherine Anderson - 2011
    For Catherine Anderson, it's just the beginning. In a wide array of projects using techniques from Photoshop to needle and thread, she shows beginner and experienced photographers alike how to turn their pictures into handmade objects of art-from books and collages to customized greeting cards.

50 Paintings You Should Know


Kristina Lowis - 2009
    Starting with Giotto's Arena Chapel frescoes and continuing through Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, as well as works by Monet, van Gogh, Cassatt, Cezanne, Dali, Kahlo, Hopper, Pollock, Rothko, and O'Keeffe, nearly every important painter is represented in this book. It features works that may be familiar to the eye, but whose histories are even more fascinating. Readers will learn about the painters who created them, the reasons for their importance and the places the paintings can be found. As entertaining as it is informative, this beautiful book is the perfect introduction to great paintings that have stood the test of time.

The Fairest Fowl: Portraits of Championship Chickens


Tamara Staples - 2001
    But few meet the standard of perfection of the American poultry show, the beauty pageant of the barnyard and the true test of poultry pulchritude. In The Fairest Fowl, photographer Tamara Staples celebrates the champions of the chicken world at their best. Dozens of stunning portraits capture the quirky personality and undeniable grace of these noble birds as you've never seen them before. Location photography of the shows, details of the judging process, strategies from poultry farmers, and profiles of each prize breed set the scene and offer insight for the discerning chicken aficionado. And an appreciation of Staples' photography by public radio's Ira Glass of This American Life explores the finer points of chicken portraiture. Finally, chickens receive the respect they're due.

Instant Love: How to Make Magic and Memories with Polaroids


Jenifer Altman - 2012
    This friendly and informative guide is the essential how-to book for shooting gorgeous instant pictures with personal panache and a touch of romance. Packed with tips on how to shoot with various cameras, details about the different types of film available, advice on composition and lighting techniques, plus creative projects to transform snapshots into keepsake mementos and portfolios of beautiful images for inspiration, this is the ultimate companion for capturing instant memories.

The Genius of Photography


Gerry Badger - 2007
    Exploring the key events and the key images that have marked the development of photography, this title examines the evolution of photography in its wider context: social, political, economic, technological and artistic.

Subway


Bruce Davidson - 1980
    Originally published in 1986, this dark, democratic environment provided the setting for photographer Bruce Davidson's first extensive series in color. Subway riders are set against a gritty, graffiti-strewn background, displayed in tones Davidson described as "an iridescence like that I had seen in photographs of deep-sea fish." Never before has the subway been portrayed in such detail, revealing the interplay of its inner landscape and out vistas. The images include lovers, commuters, tourists, families, and the homeless. From weary straphangers to languorous ladies in summer dresses to stalking predators, Davidson's compassionate vision illuminates the stubborn survival of humanity. From the spring of 1980 to 1985, Davidson explored and shot six hundred miles of subway tracks. In his own words, "I wanted to transform this subway from its dark, degrading, and impersonal reality into images that open up our experience again to the color, sensuality, and vitality of the individual souls that ride it each day." Now nearly 25 years later, and on the eve of the subway's 100th anniversary, St. Ann's Press is publishing a new edition of Davidson's classic book. This edition adds forty unseen images to the original book, and includes a new introduction by Arthur Ollman of the Museum of Photographic Art in San Diego, and a foreword by Fred Braithwaite (aka Fab Five Freddy), the original graffiti artist. It also includes Bruce Davidson and Henry Geldzahler's original essays.

Looking in: Robert Frank's the Americans


Sarah Greenough - 2009
    Drawing on newly examined archival sources, it provides a fascinating in-depth examination of the making of the photographs and the book's construction, using vintage contact sheets, work prints and letters that literally chart Frank's journey around the country on a Guggenheim grant in 1955-56. Curator and editor Sarah Greenough and her colleagues also explore the roots of The Americans in Frank's earlier books, which are abundantly illustrated here, and in books by photographers Walker Evans, Bill Brandt and others. The 83 original photographs from The Americans are presented in sequence in as near vintage prints as possible. The catalogue concludes with an examination of Frank's later reinterpretations and deconstructions of The Americans, bringing full circle the history of this resounding entry in the annals of photography. This volume is a reprint of the 2009 edition.

Brian May's Red Special: The Story of the Home-Made Guitar that Rocked Queen and the World


Brian May - 2014
      In 1963, Brian May and his father Harold started to build the Red Special, an electric guitar meant to outperform anything commercially made. "My dad and I decided to make an electric guitar. I designed an instrument from scratch, with the intention that it would have a capability beyond anything that was out there, more tunable, with a greater range of pitches and sounds, with a better tremolo, and with a capability of feeding back through the air in a 'good' way'." (Brian May). Brian used the Red Special guitar on every Queen and solo album that he recorded and at the vast majority of his live performances: the roof of Buckingham Palace, Live Aid, the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics . . . and beyond. Here, Brian talks about his one-of-a-kind instrument, from its creation on. Along with original diagrams, sketches, and notes, May has included a great selection of photographs of himself with the guitar, in action from the last 40 years, and photographs of every stage of the Red Special's creation, which was fully dismantled and photographed inside and out just for this book, as well as close-ups and X-rays, and Brian will be commenting on it all. It is a unique guitar with unique sound. Any fan of Queen, Brian, or electric guitars will find this book utterly fascinating. 200 clr and b&w illus.

Dirty Wow Wow and Other Love Stories: A Tribute to the Threadbare Companions of Childhood


Cheryl Katz - 2007
    Whether clutched securely in little arms each night or dragged gamely through the playground each day, these fiercely loved companions universally ease the uncertainties and loneliness of childhood. DIRTY WOW WOW AND OTHER LOVE STORIES celebrates the lives of fifty transitional love objects: a sweetly poignant collection of stuffies, blankies, lovies, and dolls who inspired and comforted their owners. Bundles of love and warmth fashioned from fluff and fur, these cherished friends have a lifetime of stories sewn up in their tattered bodies--a trip to Paris smushed in a suitcase, a secret hiding spot behind the family liquor cabinet, an interminable wait in the lost-and-found bin before a joyousreunion at home. With stunning photographs that reveal the personalities within, this thoughtful tribute is at once funny and oddly soothing-like a certain shabby buddy who'¬?s tucked away but never forgotten. Hear the NPR Weekend Edition interview with the authors of Dirty Wow Wow Reviews"This charming book would be a perfect gift for collectors and also an offbeat surprise for new parents."-Minneapolis Star Tribune"Dirty Wow Wow'¬?s striking photographs and brief narratives stir up vivid memories of . . . long-lost companions."-Southwest Spirit Magazine"This clever work, peppered with sumptuous snapshots of raggedy dolls, pays tribute to the beloved companions of childhood."-Entertainment Weekly'¬?s "Must List" View the gallery of entries from the Show Us your Dirty Wow Wow Contest

Tattoo Culture Magazine #1


Nicki Kasper - 2013
    What we have created together is truly distinctive in the tattoo media marketplace and, (in the opinion of our partners and artists ubiquitously), something long overdue- a serious and respectable publication for the entire tattoo culture, built by the tattoo community itself!Issue 1 features: Jeff Gogué, Mike Rubendall, Freddy Negrete, Valerie Vargas, Robert Ryan, Lucero and more...