A leader of the most popular trend in photography teams up with fellow superstars of the self-portrait movement to deliver a lavish, inspirational book to a community of dedicated fans. They showcase the many possibilities of their audacious art form: posing for their own cameras in costume, in the nude, while performing stunts, against unusual backgrounds, and in other imaginative ways.
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Natalie Dybisz is an award-winning photographer better known by her Web name of Miss Aniela. Recently American Photo magazine featured her on its cover in a typical self-portrait, dubbing her a “superstar of Flickr.”
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I approached this book with trepidation, fearing an exercise in narcissism and self indulgence. The fact that the author called herself "Miss Aniela" did nothing to allay my fears. Instead I found a delightful examination of a photographic genre that I had never explored.
The book is a combination of portfolio and instruction manual. Each teaching point is laid out on a two, or occasionally four, page spread, with text and pictures of and by the author. The text ranges from introductory matters like choosing a camera, through posing and post-processing to marketing. There is also a section showcasing the work of eight other self-portrait artists.
Dybisz's photographs are quite wonderful. One might expect self-portraits to be an exploration of the photographer's view of herself, and at least when she started, the images were. As she began to get more involved though, she seems to have pushed beyond herself into experimenting with a wide variety of photographic techniques, and did so successfully. Her pictures usually are quite dramatic, often featuring lush lighting, and frequently consisting of collages of two or more images of herself. Although I frequently felt these pictures had a meaning that I couldn't deduce, they were still a pleasure to examine.
I suspect that the instruction might have been a publisher's requirement for better marketing. In most cases I find such material to be superficial. This text certainly was at a simple level, although it did point out the special requirements of self-portraiture. New photographers may get an introduction to photographic ideas and even the more experienced may get an idea or two. But aside from that, the author's style has a youthful enthusiasm that makes it delightful to read.... Read more ›
The book is a combination of portfolio and instruction manual. Each teaching point is laid out on a two, or occasionally four, page spread, with text and pictures of and by the author. The text ranges from introductory matters like choosing a camera, through posing and post-processing to marketing. There is also a section showcasing the work of eight other self-portrait artists.
Dybisz's photographs are quite wonderful. One might expect self-portraits to be an exploration of the photographer's view of herself, and at least when she started, the images were. As she began to get more involved though, she seems to have pushed beyond herself into experimenting with a wide variety of photographic techniques, and did so successfully. Her pictures usually are quite dramatic, often featuring lush lighting, and frequently consisting of collages of two or more images of herself. Although I frequently felt these pictures had a meaning that I couldn't deduce, they were still a pleasure to examine.
I suspect that the instruction might have been a publisher's requirement for better marketing. In most cases I find such material to be superficial. This text certainly was at a simple level, although it did point out the special requirements of self-portraiture. New photographers may get an introduction to photographic ideas and even the more experienced may get an idea or two. But aside from that, the author's style has a youthful enthusiasm that makes it delightful to read.... Read more ›
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Luke Burrage
Format:Paperback
A two part review:
1. The photos in this book are interesting, personal, engaging, and beautiful. Natalie is very talented, and obviously has strong feelings about her art. The decision to bring other self portrait photographers into the book adds a lot too. I loved reading about the processes behind the images.
2. Much of the writing is pretty terrible, and could have benefited from some heavy editing. The book begins very slowly, with an essay about self portrait through history. This is hardly anything more than a list of artists' names, and adds nothing to the book. If this was a college paper, I would mark it C-, and comment "Trying too hard to list every example without adding any original thoughts."
I know Natalie Dybisz through her blog, and love the personal nature of her photos and writing there. By trying to be more formal for this book, much of the personality is missing. She also continually says what is coming up in the book or chapter, which seems to be nothing but padding. One sentence reads "This chapter will cover these issues." Stop saying what you are going to write about, and write about it! We are going to read it, so you don't have to tell us what we are about to read on the following pages. Full paragraphs early on in chapters are given over to what is coming up. I've never read anything like it before. It's like the text of the proposal to the publisher was left in intact.
To enjoy this book to the fullest extent, skip reading the first few chapters, and just look at the images. The chapters on gear and equipment can be summed up by "Get a DSLR, a tripod and a remote." Start reading at the Shooting chapter, as that is where the real content begins, and we, as readers, begin to learn something.
1. The photos in this book are interesting, personal, engaging, and beautiful. Natalie is very talented, and obviously has strong feelings about her art. The decision to bring other self portrait photographers into the book adds a lot too. I loved reading about the processes behind the images.
2. Much of the writing is pretty terrible, and could have benefited from some heavy editing. The book begins very slowly, with an essay about self portrait through history. This is hardly anything more than a list of artists' names, and adds nothing to the book. If this was a college paper, I would mark it C-, and comment "Trying too hard to list every example without adding any original thoughts."
I know Natalie Dybisz through her blog, and love the personal nature of her photos and writing there. By trying to be more formal for this book, much of the personality is missing. She also continually says what is coming up in the book or chapter, which seems to be nothing but padding. One sentence reads "This chapter will cover these issues." Stop saying what you are going to write about, and write about it! We are going to read it, so you don't have to tell us what we are about to read on the following pages. Full paragraphs early on in chapters are given over to what is coming up. I've never read anything like it before. It's like the text of the proposal to the publisher was left in intact.
To enjoy this book to the fullest extent, skip reading the first few chapters, and just look at the images. The chapters on gear and equipment can be summed up by "Get a DSLR, a tripod and a remote." Start reading at the Shooting chapter, as that is where the real content begins, and we, as readers, begin to learn something.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Jg
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I found this book to be very helpful. It cuts to chase, and provides for stimulus for creative work. Instead of using this book to blow her own horn about how good she is, she tries to help the reader, and reveal some of the mystery behind beautiful self portraits.
I am very happy I have this book in my library. It is certainly one of my essentials.
I am very happy I have this book in my library. It is certainly one of my essentials.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By M. Sclafani
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is an excellent balance between the technical and artistic discussion of photography. It is not a cookbook, and you will not get recipes per se, but it will certainly help you reflect on the art. It will also give a clear sense of how things can be done so you can experiment on your own.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Jaime
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I haven't finished reading it, but what I have been reading it's excellent, this book it's not the artist's work, it has a lot of her work, but what it's great about this book is that she tells you how to make or how she achieves her self portraits.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is very inspiring to me. It tells you what techniques she use to create the image. I'm not sure that everything is self portrait though... A lot of images looks like someone else photographed. Anyways, I like the book, and still reading it. It's a book that doesn't teach technical things step by step but show you what amazing things cameras can do which is exactly what I need. Great book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By C. Bergeron
Format:Paperback
The book offers more than the coffee table collection of work and gets into the How and Why or this genre. I bought the book after listing the the authors interview on the This week in photo Podcast. While I don't plan on doing much self-portrait work, I would say 80% of the material here speaks to other things that all photographers have in common, with a fresh spin. The sections on marketing and work flow were top notch. Highly recommend this as a good source of technique and inspiration.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Miss Aniela at her finest
I paid a few hundred dollars to attend one of Miss Aniela's levitation workshops. While what I learned during the workshop was priceless and it has changed the way that I approach... Read more
Published 6 months ago by R. W.
5.0 out of 5 stars
good book
lots of tips and advice for creating your own self portraiture work. this helps you to go beyond simple snapshots in to work that is more artful and introspective.
Published 8 months ago by Vidalina P. Arthur-snead
5.0 out of 5 stars
INspiring
This book is so great. She gives tutorials on how she created the images and introduces a few of her admirable photography friends. Read more
Published 16 months ago by puddles
2.0 out of 5 stars
Cheesecake?
As I'm reviewing this, there have been 5 reviewers - 4 with 5 stars, and 1 with 4 stars. I believe all five must be men. Read more
Published 24 months ago by E.A. R.S.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspirational!
This is an amazing book. It's a story of a young woman's journey into self-exploration through photography. It's a manual of photographic and post-production techniques. Read more
Published on May 14, 2011 by Robert G. West
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