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Visual Poetry: A Creative Guide for Making Engaging Digital Photographs |  | Author: Chris Orwig
Brand: Peachpit Press
Category: Book
List Price: $44.99
Buy New: $25.68
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Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 32301
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 7.9 x 0.9
MPN: 0321636821
ISBN: 0321636821
Dewey Decimal Number: 778
EAN: 9780321636829
ASIN: 0321636821
Publication Date: August 31, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Discover visual poetry in the creative process | | • | Use less to say more with your subject matter | | • | Learn to see light, color, shape and expression | | • | Understand what gear is essential | | • | Create compelling portraits |
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Product Description
A great photograph has the potential to transcend verbal and written language. But how do you create these photographs? It's not the how that's important, but the who and the what. Who you are as a person has a direct impact on what you capture as a photographer.Whether you are an amateur or professional, architect or acupuncturist, physician or photographer, this guide provides inspiration, simple techniques and assignments to boost your creative process and improve your digital images using natural light without additional gear.Chris Orwig's insights-to reduce and simplify, participate rather than critique and capture a story-have made him an immensely popular workshop speaker and faculty member at the prestigious Brooks Institute. His engaging stories presented as lessons follow his classroom approach and highlight what students say is his contagious passion for life.Chris also includes exclusive interviews with such photographers as: Steve McCurry, Chris Rainier, John Sexton, Rodney Smith, Joyce Tenneson, John Paul Caponigro, Marc Riboud and Pete Turner.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 37
 An unusual book. March 27, 2010
Shorescapes (New England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have found this book quite unusual. The structure of the book is not apparent. It feels like a ton of very short essays collected together. I liked the book but it always felt a little tentative. Why is Chris talking about this now? In this sequence? Definitely Chris is an inspired guy. A passionate guy. Its impressive that he continues with that animated enthusiasm. If you've seen his videos, you'll know what I mean.
The thing that struck me was that while I found Chris inspiring, I found very few of the photographs of his in the book engaging or compelling. I did find 99% of the photographs of his "guest speakers" very engaging however. I am not sure why this is. Chris is obviously an accomplished craftsmen, teaching at a prestigious photo school and with a nice client list. Perhaps it was the presentation of the image in the book. Some of the same photos on [...] and his tutorials look better there than in the book. The photos in the book seem quite plain. I have noticed this before in some of Chris' tutorials - especially an engagement shoot he has used as example many times. This is not a criticism really. I am just having a hard time understanding why it is.
I will go back and read it again however. I purchased David DuChemin's Vision Mongers at the same time and that definitely got read more quickly and pulled me in more.
I look forward to going back and getting more out the book and hopefully appreciating his photographs more the second time around.
 it refreshes, it makes you smile and it will help you enjoy photography! March 27, 2010
J. Kew (Vancouver, British Columbia Canada)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Review by Thorsten (Vancouver InDesign User Group member)
This is a great book, it refreshes, it makes you smile and it will help you enjoy photography! His images and examples have character, have a big story to tell and you can find yourself behind part of them. It is very easy to read and Chris makes it even easier by having small chapters, small paragraphs, so you can start and finish when ever you want to.
Its also very funny, if you just go through the book and look at the images reading the headers, like "Let Go", "Barbie", "Flash"etc.. in one chapter. In the same chapter, he is making it very simple for the reader to understand your equipment. He explains why you should use a zoom, makro, fish-eye, and other lens and gives great examples. Very easy to understand. He makes me go out and try similar images. "What Exposure?" is the next question and again, I was not able to stop reading!
Chris does not just focus on one part of photography, but he talks about all sorts of photography. This is a great book for me to have, something that I will read a few more times over the years, something that never gets old.
Opening my Eyes February 1, 2010
A. Knight
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book is an easy read. I felt as though I was getting into a rut with my photography and Chris provides thoughtful assignments that force you to try different things. Chris has helped me to see in a different way.
Great Motivation January 30, 2010
L. Crowe (Indianapolis IN)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Photography has been my hobby for over 30 years. The switch to digital from film was like someone opened a door and said "run with it." No more worry about cost of developing. But every once and awhile you hit a snag and need a kick in the butt. That is what this book will do for you. The first chapter is a tad slow, but plow through. Once you get to the meat of the book, it is inspiring, informative and a whole lot of fun. The author has set this up in a workshop mode, so you have the option of taking his assignments and posting your work to the website. Or not. Whatever you do, you will walk away with a new outlook on how to take photographs. I highly recommend this book for all photographers.
Visual Poetry... the Art of War for Photographers! January 27, 2010
N. Schale (Kansas)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
What an interesting book!
A little about me, I'm a long time professional videographer and hobbyist photographer. Recently (4months ago) I began offering photography as part of my freelance services. I understand my DSLR and am gaining experience.
So, that's me as a photographer, what did I feel about this book?
The bulk of the content is random short SHORT essays. It seems that Chris Orwig is a great teacher and has written down some of his better philosophical speeches/pitches. Collected all those notes organized them into a few categories, slapped a name on those categories and called them chapters. There isn't a lot of continuity stringing one essay to the next. In fact, if the traditional chapter structure was yanked out of the book it would work just the same.
An overwhelming pro of this style of writing is you can just pick it up and go! Comparable to the Art of War, or the book of Psalms. Lots of great short sections of knowledge. I was reading this book and listening to the audio book for The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People at the same time. If you are familiar with this book, you will find it actually has a lot of things in common and Visual Poetry could be the 7-habbits version FOR photographers.
The book teaches you how to approach photography in a meaningful, philosophical, poetic way. NOT a technical way. If you are looking for details in the technical aspect, skip this book.
Making up for the absences of technical instruction is the `Workshop Assignments.' These are a REAL gem. Mimicking a classroom structure Orwig gives you an assignment with multiple levels to complete. In this section is also a hefty amount of resources (with short descriptions) and sharing instructions (well, suggestions if you DON'T approach this as a classroom setup).
I have probably half a dozen post-it notes sticking out of this book, marking sections to revisit. Nearly all of them are the Workshop Assignments that I plan to fulfill. I believe these are the tools that will actually improve your product. The rest of the book improves your approach.
Chris Orwig interviews a couple professional photographers at the conclusion of the chapters, titled `guest speakers.' He highlight's their accomplishments and skill sets, then proceeds to ask them questions that I'm sure we ALL would love to ask.
Who is this book for?
1.The person that is JUST starting out and understand the basic technical side of their camera.
2.The pro photographer that is in a bit of a rut and could use some inspiration.
If you are one of the two people above, I'd rate Visual Poetry 4 out of 5 stars! The only reason a star is missing is because of the lack of technical instruction, not just actual photography but the `business section' could have had the chapter renamed to something like `thoughts on business' because there was VERY little content there. Overall great job Chris and thank you for the insight!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 37
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