Tag Archives: photography

Mar 12 2014
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Books, Photography, Pop Culture

Meow Wow

Tips to turn your kitty-cat into an online sensation  

How To Make Your Cat An Internet Celebrity

How to Make Your Cat an Internet Celebrity

By Patricia Carlin

Photography by Dustin Fenstermacher

Softcover $12.95 (Quirk Books) / Kindle edition $9.99

Anyone with a computer knows that cats rule the Internet these days. So why not capitalize on the kitty craze? This humorous how-to manual shows you how to turn your feline into an online hit—and potential financial fur ball—with step-by-step instructions on picking out a “stage name,” setting up photos, shooting a viral video, selecting costumes and other props, and determining your cat’s purr-sonality (e.g., sweet baby, lazy bum, daredevil, moron, crazy). Don’t have a cat? Don’t worry—you’ll still howl at the outrageously funny photos and go-for-it advice.

 —Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Feb 20 2014
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Books, History, Photography, Pop Culture

The City of Angels

A photo-packed paean to America’s West Coast icon

Los Angeles

Los Angeles

By David L. Ulin

Hardcover, 572 pages / $69.99 (Taschen)

Ulin, the books editor for the Los Angeles Times, hosts this golly-whopping historical sweep to present an extraordinary depiction of the City of Angels, from the first known photograph ever taken of the shantytown that would become L.A. in 1862 to the modern-day urban metroplex it is today. Packed with more than 500 images from  photographers, archives and collectors, plus accompanying decade-by-decade  essays, it’s a sprawling, spectacular paean to one of America’s most iconic cities and its many contributions to world, cast in all its grit and greatness.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Feb 05 2014
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Books, History, Photography

Pioneering Photojournalism

Dorothea Lange depicted the Depression—and launched an art form

Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning

By Elizabeth Partridge

Hardcover, 192 pages ($50, Chronicle Books)

Lange’s groundbreaking work with a camera put human faces on the calamity and suffering of Great Depression—and planted the seeds for what would become the art form of documentary photography. Her iconic work is celebrated in this handsome, career-spanning collection, which includes more than 100 reproductions of her images and an introductory biography essay by Partridge, her goddaughter, which takes readers through the full, fascinating life of one of America’s most influential photojournalists, who died in 1965.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Jan 17 2014
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Books, History, Photography

Made in America

Photographer’s journey reveals handmade treasures

Portraits-of-the-American-Craftsman

Portraits of the American Craftsman

Photographs by Tadd Myers

Hardcover, 275 pages ($29.95, Lyons Press)

Myers, an award-winning corporate photographer, began this project as a commercial assignment about the restoration about an historic building in his home state of Texas, but expanded it as he began to wonder about other work across America still done by hand. This chronicle of his ensuing journey—a collection of images of musical instruments, clothing, long rifles and carving knives, surfboards and boats, stagecoaches and carousel horses, Grammy Awards, suits for country stars, other hand-crafted wonders and the people who make them—will give you a whole new appreciation for the phrase “made in the U.S.A.”

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Dec 30 2013
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Books, Pop Culture

Big Apple Core

Photos reveal hidden ‘underground’ side of New York nightlife

BOJ1-Bright-Nights-Covers-WIP-150713-2.indd

Bright Nights

By Tod Seelie

Softcover, 192 pages ($34.95, Prestel)

The New York depicted by photographer Tod Seelie in his first book isn’t one you’ll find in any Chamber of Commerce brochures. It’s an underground nighttime swirl of a gritty subculture made up of characters on the fringes, people who don’t come to life until everyone else has gone to sleep. His starkly beautiful, sometimes shocking images of punk musicians, performance artists, bizarro breakouts of who knows what, decrepit buildings and streets that most “daytime” people would never walk have a hypnotic allure that reveal explosively colorful sides to the core of the Big Apple that most visitors (and indeed, many residents) never see.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Dec 05 2013
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DVDs, History, Pop Culture

Seeing Deeper

Examining two centuries of photography and its artistry

Photo_DVD

Photo: A History From Behind the Lens

DVD $49.99 (Athena/RLJ Entertainment)

We take it for granted now that cameras are practically synonymous with cell phones, but photography hasn’t been around forever. (Only about 200 years, to be exact.) This 12-part documentary offers an entertaining, enlightening examination of the art form’s past and present and looks ahead to its high-tech future, using playful animation to illustrate complicated concepts and covering its many facets and uses. A companion booklet features a history of cameras and a timeline of photographic breakthroughs. So as you’re taking that next selfie or other snapshot, remember, there’s two centuries of technology, trial-and-error and artistry behind that simple “click.”

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Nov 13 2013
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Books, History

Wide Open Spaces

Panoramic photos show a spectrum of early 20th century America

TheBigPicture

The Big Picture

By Josh Sapan

Hardcover, 144 pages ($29.99, Princeton Architectural Press)

The invention of flexible film (as opposed to solid plates) in the late 1800s sparked a revolution in devices that could take “panoramic” photos. Before long, it seemed, just about everyone—and every kind of group—was hiring a photographer with one of the newfangled cameras, some of which could take a single image encompassing a full 360 degrees. These delightful reproductions from the collection of Sapan (the CEO of the company that operates the American Movie Channel, the Independent Film Channel and the Sundance Channel)—of circus performers, rodeo cowboys and Indians, football and baseball teams, church groups, Ku Klux Klan members, college students, beachgoers, firemen and policeman, tradesmen, bathing beauties, soldiers and more—offer a wildly diverse cross-section of early 20th century America, in all its wonderful, wide-angle splendor.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Nov 07 2013
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Books, Pop Culture

Loved to Pieces

Heartwarming portraits of childhood holdovers hugged to tatters

MuchLoved_Jacket_Mech_r3.indd

Much Loved

Photographs by Mark Nixon

Hardcover, 124 pages ($17.95, Abrams Image)

Inspired by the unconditional, unbounded attachment of his young son to his stuffed Peter Rabbit, photographer Mark Nixon began seeking out other people’s snuggly childhood holdovers, eventually amassing these 65 quirky, charming and heartwarming portraits of teddy bears, bunnies and other furry friends, all of them hugged, squeezed, kissed and carted around to tatters. Each one is accompanied by a brief bio (like “Edward,” the stately 104-year-old Steiff teddy bear rescued from a cruel fate by Dublin’s Dolls Hospital, or “Flopsie,” a 6-year-old bunny whose owner’s aunt, a nurse, put a bandage on his leg to keep its stuffing from falling out), and the back page includes a blank spot for the reader to include a photo of his or her own favorite childhood stuffed companion, and record its history.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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