27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Creditable first effort, August 7, 2007
This review is from: Girls Money & Sexy Snaps: What Really Happens When A Girl Strips Naked For A Photographer? (Paperback)
Holmes' work is a creditable first effort with some amusing anecdotes and worthwhile advice, but it is more of a collection of anecdotes rather than a "how-to" book. The writing style is simple and direct making it easy and accessible reading. It suffers from a high number of typographical errors which reflects poorly on the editing and proofing.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Books About Photography Should Always Include Some Photographs, May 23, 2008
This review is from: Girls Money & Sexy Snaps: What Really Happens When A Girl Strips Naked For A Photographer? (Paperback)
Like many potential readers of this book I'd never heard of Nigel Holmes. That being the case, I find it difficult to know just how much authority to give the author/photographer credit for. A photographer writing about photography should always include enough samples of his or her work to allow their readers to judge the quality of their advice. After reading the volume I did find it amusing in many parts and the photographer/author seems to know what he is talking about. One of the tip-offs to his knowledge of his subject is that any photographer who has done much work with nude models does discover that it no longer turns him on. He is so busy concentrating on the details of his nude or erotic photography that he doesn't have time to play voyeur. Like most types of photography, it takes constant and careful attention to the task at hand to achieve the desired photographs. There isn't time to act like a dirty old man or even younger pervert. The photographer is simply too busy trying to get his model to relax and direct her expressions and body language to bring out the pre-visualized photograph. He also has to pay attention to the minor details in the entire photograph's composition or he may spend untold hours trying to correct the image through PhotoShop.
However, anyone who has studied photography in art school learns quickly that people who are the most articulate about the many meanings of their images are often only defending poorly done and lousy photos. With such photographers it's almost a fact that the less successful the photograph, the better the verbal arguments of denial. Too many people, critics and even museum curators, can talk a great picture but can't really produce or sometimes even recognize them. While this book did include a cover photograph which wasn't too bad "a snap" as the author calls his work, and some postage stamp-sized pictures on the back cover of the book, they are too small to really tell how good they are. For some reason, instead of photographs the book is illustrated with black and white cartoons that are intended to be amusing. Too bad. They reminded me of the movie "Roger Rabbit." Photographs would have worked better in the same space. And the book is printed on high quality paper that would have allowed good photo reproduction. The book is also written in Australian and reminds the reader of "Crocodile Dundee" talking, which isn't all that bad, mate, for conveying the author's "down under" humor. That's only an observation about the book and not a criticism of its readability or understandability. One should read the book but take the advice with a grain of salt until they find out more about the skill of the photographer/author. The book also cries out for a photograph of the author at work. Is he simply so handsome and good looking that would-be models find it impossible to turn down his requests for nude photos? What does he look like? Without some sample photographs the reader has to wonder if they are learning from a real expert on the subject or just reading a bunch of Crock from some bloke on the other side of the world. This reader is going to see if I can locate any of his pictures on the Internet. Then I'll have a much better idea of how good the "how to" advice in this book really is.
Maybe that rule should be forever inscribed on a stone tablet in the great marble photography temples on Mt. Olympus, Mt. Nikon, Mt. Canon, etc.? "Thou shalt not write or publish a 'how to' book on photography without including some samples of Thy own photographs."
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good book, March 25, 2010
This review is from: Girls Money & Sexy Snaps: What Really Happens When A Girl Strips Naked For A Photographer? (Paperback)
I got the book for information use on photographing glamour, the information is sorta there in a story style, so you have to read every story to get it all, over all its not a bad book and I have gotten alot of ideas from it.
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