Planes to go 2/5

The very dry air and reduced moisture is why thousands of aircraft are parked at three Arizona airports. They are there for storage, maintenance, or destruction. Aircraft are sleek on the outside but cut bits off and miles of wiring, structural supports and all sorts of metal shapes are revealed which is why partially destroyed aircraft are visually so fascinating.

I was disappointed with the fifty photos in the book. Photographer Bartsch has concentrated on the Arizona sky and ground as much as the planes, the book's cover is a good example of this. Other photos have almost black planes but with a light sky, some are out of focus. A filter has been used to get the vibrant blue sky shown in many photos.

Overall it seems a missed opportunity to capture the best of the Arizona plane boneyards. The book though is an excellent print job (with a two hundred screen) on a good matt art paper.

US

Amazon.com: Desert Birds: 9783868281798: Greiff, Sophia, Bartsch, Werner: Books

UK

Desert Birds: Amazon.co.uk: Werner Bartsch: 9783868281798: Books

 

Photos that told a story 4/5

ISBN 978-1597110143

This is probably the only book that considers photojournalism from before the twentieth century up to 1973. Current affairs titles originally used woodcuts until halftones could be made from photos in 1884. Now a photo from any event could be printed for the world to see. The author has used his collection of European and American publications to reveal the development of this important news source.

The nine chapters, each with an introduction in German and English use captioned spreads from news magazines rather pages from daily papers. A couple of points about the presentation: I thought the images could have been a bit larger on each page and they are a bit too dark overall. Other than that i thought Lebeck's book an interesting overview of photojournalism. A book that brings the subject more up to date is Things as they are, photojournalism since 1955 to 2006. An excellent survey that uses reproductions of spreads like Kiosk.

US
Kiosk. A History of Photojournalism: von Dewitz, Bodo, Lebeck, Robert, Lebeck, Cordula: 9783882437911: Amazon.com: Books

UK

Kiosk: A History of Photojournalism 1839-1973: eine Geschichte der Fotoreportage 1839-1973: Amazon.co.uk: Robert Lebeck, Bodo von Dewitz: 9783882437911: Books

Amazingly complete 5/5

I thought this title had two things going for it. Firstly, it's extremely comprehensive and secondly, as it was published in 1995 it can be bought for next to nothing (the postage could be more than the book). Don't let the fact that it's some years old put you off, virtually everything on these pages hasn't really dated.

The seven sections: Supports; Drawing media; Painting media; Colour and compositions; Subjects and themes; The studio; Reference. The longest section is Painting (ninety-one pages) broken down to oils, watercolour, gouache, tempera and acrylics. Each gets text with lots of technique photographs and long captions.

I liked all the supporting information about different papers, brushes, pencils and other drawing products, the sort of thing that's useful to know before you even start. The Subjects includes how to handle weather, sky, water, trees, urban landscapes, interiors, figures, portraits and more.

Worth saying also is that the book is beautifully designed and includes over seven hundred photos and illustrations, many of these are actual paintings (some by well-known artists) used to back-up the text.

US

Collins Artist's Manual: The Complete Guide to Painting and Drawing, Materials and Techniques: Angela Gair: 9780004125572: Amazon.com: Books

UK

Collins Artist’s Manual: Amazon.co.uk: Gair, Angela: 9780004125572: Books