Product Description

This book is for the photographer who strives to achieve a higher level of results in their work. Take Your Photography to the Next Level is based on a series of essays originally featured on the popular Luminous Landscape website. Barr tackles some of the rarely discussed, yet essential aspects of successful photography. Here is where photographers will learn what is required in order to grow in their creativity and to gain a deeper understanding of their craft.

With a foreward by Michael Reichmann.

Topics include:

• Creativity
• Dealing with disappointment
• Developing an "eye"
• Making stronger images
• What photographs well
• Where to go looking for the best photographic subjects
• How to approach subject material
• A great image is just around the corner
• Dealing with failure
• Mind games
• Becoming a self-aware photographer
• Framing, cropping, & manipulating prints to create mood and transmit your message

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17919 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

About the Author
George Barr is a photographer living in Calgary, Canada. Serious about photography since age 12, working initially with a WWII Zeiss Ikonta in a basement-bathroom "darkroom", he has progressed through medium format, 4X5, and now digital SLR's. He earns his living as a family doctor with a special interest in psychiatry but his primary passion has always been the fine art print.

Major milestones include learning to make quality prints from Fred Picker, learning to really "see" photographs from Hubert Hohn of the Edmonton Art Gallery, looking at Edward Weston prints bare, attending workshops, working with galleries, and being published.

George has had his images published in the magazines Black and White Photography, Black and White, Focus, Lenswork, and Outdoor Photography.

By the time George closed his darkroom, he was making very high quality prints and carried on this quality with digital cameras and inkjet printing, producing some of the finest inkjet prints made, surprising many traditional 4X5 photographers with the level of quality.

Throughout his life George has been a teacher of medical students & residents, patients, and fellow photographers. A writer of understandable patient newsletters and handouts, it was a short step to writing essays on photography. George has bravely tackled the challenging subjects of aesthetics, seeing, and composing in a style that is clear, practical, and applicable to many.

Customer Reviews

interesting insights from an expert
This is most certainly not a technical book. It avoids the nitty-bitty techie jargon that so many photography books fall into. Instead it looks at the more difficult subject of *why* certain images work, and how to develop an eye for a better shot. It's an interesting book, full of spectacular images, though some are unusual choices, though he does go on to explain why each was selected. The author talks about how to 'read' images, what makes a good image great, and how the various parts of an image work together to form a more pleasing whole.

He goes on to discuss how to find an image and 'work the scene', getting more out of the location you've chosen. Lots of good advice in here on composition, cropping and using the edges of your frame. There's an interesting discusson on the 'mind games' of photography - how you wish you had better kit, how you get stuck in a rut (and advice on how to get out of it!), what to do when photographs go wrong and so on.

Overall, it's a fascinating read, with some great photos, including a selection which are analysed in more detail.