Talking Photography: Viewpoints on the Art, Craft and Business [Paperback]

Frank Van Riper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2002

In Talking Photography, award-winning Washington Post photography columnist Frank Van Riper assembles the cream of his popular columns to delight readers with a treasure chest of photographic insights.

Readers will find expert answers to dozens of basic, yet rarely addressed technical questions, from shooting pictures under fluorescent light to defending oneself against bloodthirsty mosquitoes. They'll also find cutting-edge interviews with industry icons; captivating essays on the everyday events and great moments in the life of a photographer; and reviews of great photography-related books and shows. Engagingly written and packed with technical tips, creative inspiration, and intriguing anecdotes, this remarkable guide is an absorbing read for every photography lover.
 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The best written and most entertaining general interest photography writing in the nation."
(The Picture Professional )

About the Author

Frank Van Riper has been the photography columnist for the Washington Post for the past ten years and now appears exclusively every week in the Camera Works section of Washingtonpost.com. He is a distinguished commercial and fine arts photographer whose photography criticism has appeared in PhotoVision (Madrid), Contretype (Brussels), and in magazines across the United States. A former political journalist, he is also the author of Glenn the Astronaut Who Would be President, as well as two acclaimed photography books, Faces of the Eastern Shore and Down East Maine, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His photographs are in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of American Art and Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine. Van Riper was a 1979 Nieman Fellow at Harvard. The author lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and partner, photographer and sculptor Judith Goodman.
 

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Allworth Press (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581152086
• ISBN-13: 978-1581152081
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,101,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Frank Van Riper is a nationally acclaimed Washington-based photographer, author, journalist and lecturer. His current book, done in collaboration with Judith Goodman, his wife and professional partner, is 'Serenissima: Venice in Winter.' A collection of atmospheric black and white photographs and essays, it was published in Fall, '08 to rave reviews both in the United States and in Italy.
A documentary photographer in the tradition of Cartier-Bresson and Gianni Berengo Gardin, Van Riper also is an award-winning writer, having served for 20 years in the Washington Bureau of the New York Daily News, as White House correspondent, national political correspondent, and Washington Bureau news editor. He currently is the photography columnist of the Washington Post, where his column, Talking Photography, is carried worldwide on washingtonpost.com.
'Serenissima' is Frank's fifth book--others include the biography of Sen. John Glenn and the Pulitzer-nominated 'Down East Maine / A World Apart.' During the course of six years working on location in Venice, Frank (who is half-Italian on his mother's side) finally convinced himself that he had to learn the language of his forebears. He finally did and was conversant enough to speak to audiences in Italian during a ten-day, four-city book tour in Italy in May, 2009

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Thoughtful and Comprehensive Compendium on Photography, March 23, 2002

By 

David Enzel (Chevy Chase, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Talking Photography: Viewpoints on the Art, Craft and Business (Paperback)

Frank Van Riper writes a weekly column about photography for the Washington Post. This book collects Van Riper's best columns. The book is well organized with sections on the "State of the Art," "On Becoming a Photographer," "Shooting People" and "Technical Tips." There are also articles about equipment and famous photographers. Some of the articles are illustrated with black and white photos. Most of all, the reader gets the benefit of Van Riper's years of experience and thoughtful writing. The book is well indexed, which I find very useful. The index allows the reader to locate any topic quickly. I highly recommend this book to readers with a passion for photography. The book will inspire you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good overview on what photography is about, June 22, 2002

By 

Clarence Carvell (Fulton, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Talking Photography: Viewpoints on the Art, Craft and Business (Paperback)

To produce a quarter to half page article each week on a topic such as photography, intended to appeal to a large and varied audience, requires a pretty good understanding of the medium as well as an understanding of the audience. After nearly ten years of writing for the Washington Post, that's over five hundred articles, on everything from photography etiquette to the latest and greatest in film and equipment, including all the techniques and sundries in between, Frank Van Riper has won the following of nearly every amateur and professional photographer in the Washington, DC area and now with Camera Works online, his articles are available anywhere there is a computer. Talking Photography, Viewpoints on the Art, Craft and Business, is a selection of Frank's best articles, one hundred in all. Suffice to say, there's something for everyone in Talking Photography.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting account, March 3, 2003

By 

Greenbloody "greenbloody" (Sammamish, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Talking Photography: Viewpoints on the Art, Craft and Business (Paperback)

Quite an interesting account of his encounters and experiences with the different facets of a professional photographer. If you have a problem or a scenario as a photographer, it's probably in there.
The book is NOT a how-to book so finding things may be difficult if you are already uptight and furious about a problem which you're having. It's more of a book for you to read it now and possibly return to refer to it when you need to.