Reddit mentions: The best city photography books

There are lots of options - I'm not quite sure if they all transfer over to Europe but I'll give it a try.

• Lush has these really cute sets that they are offering for Christmas.
  
• You could make like a spa kit? Include some lotions, nail polish, and some slippers.
  
• There are lots of books out now, you could get a fun memoir that almost everyone will like. A couple of good ones are Mindy Kaling's, Tina Fey's, and Amy Poehler's
  
• Another really fun book is Humans of New York which is on sale right now.
  
• Otherwise people always enjoy going to the movies - you could get them a gift card or make a little gift basket; include your favorite movie or one you think they would enjoy and then some popcorn and various candy [http://www.grannastreasures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/movie-night-gift-basket.jpg]
  
• Pinch Provisions offers some really cute emergency kits [http://www.pinchprovisions.com/]
  
• a perfume set?
  
• a cute mug with a starbucks gift card or some tea
  Hope this helps!

I would suggest signing up for New master's Academy. It looks like you need a lot more figure drawing. I don't know the standard for your school, but if its anything like RISD or Calarts here in America, you're going to need more practice.

But if the exam is in 2021, you've got PLENTY of time.

First things first, you need to do figure drawing every single day. Do at least an hour everyday and aim for 3-4 hours. Do mainly 2 minute drawings. Here is something that I like to do in 2 min. I feel the need to put down volumes in proper perspective with good simplified anatomy every time I do a figure drawing. You can also do 5 min drawings if you feel the need to. You can use any medium.

Secondly, watch Steve Huston's Lectures on New Master's, especially his figure drawing lessons. It clears up a lot and it will help you also learn to draw from imagination. It'll also show you how figure drawing skills apply to drawing interiors and still-lives.

Thirdly, do interior perspective drawings every day. Buy a book like this and copy the drawings in there using horizon lines and vanishing points. It helps with speed, accuracy, and understanding.

Fourthly, study anatomy from Bridgman and Victor Perard. Copy each drawing 20-30 times in each book and draw each part from imagination all the time. Here is one of my comments on how I like to go about studying anatomy.

Lastly, you can go ahead and study any mediums you want. Just play around with them. I would also not exclude watercolors, because when you're good with watercolors, you can do them on any paper that will take water. Also, you can erase charcoal with kneaded erasers.

About Rendering, that will come with an understanding of form. It's as easy as tracing once you've got a good drawing. But for more understanding of rendering, New Master's has several classes on rendering, but a better option would be to sign up for schoolism. Especially Craig Mullin's Digital Painting course. The course is called digital painting, but all he talks about is fundamental painting principles and their relation to drawing.

Good luck man. Keep it up. You've got plenty of time to get good.

Maybe a book? I think the Humans of New York book could pretty much be given to everyone, it's all happy and uplifting and cool.

You said she's on her feet all day so maybe something to help relax a little like a foot spa? Otherwise they make these little balls that you roll under your foot (my grandma used to do this with just a tennis ball) and it's supposed to good for your muscles and kind of like a mini massage.

Does she use anything to help treat her bunions? They make some cool products like this and this that might be helpful! They have some really good reviews, she may already have something like this though?

Not the best ideas haha but maybe it will help! Good luck with shopping! :)

That is amazing! So weird, but amazing!

I would love to be able to shape shift. It's the perfect power. Need to be invisible? Cool, become a tiny insect or something instead. Need to fly? No worries! Bird! Need to walk through walls? Easy, become a ghost! (I'm sure that counts as shape shifting, right? Right. ¬_¬)

Failing that, I would love to have the power, that when I go to buy anything, I have the exact amount of change in my pocket (or if it's bigger, the exact amount needed in my bank account). Think about it, if you just had a load of money, you would run the risk of running out, this way, you will always have enough for what you want/need. Fabulous.

If I win, I would very much like you to surprise me. Or, failing that, I would really like this, this, this or this. I'm sorry, I couldn't decide D: (all are in my wishlists)

We are RAOA. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

Edit: words

JFRHorton had a good guess but Autographic is not correct. From the /r/photography thread, user av4rice says:

"4x6" glass plate negatives and a good long lens in soft light. That format used a large wooden box camera on a tripod with accordion-looking bellows and a black blanket over the photographer in the back.

The size and chemistry of the medium brings out nice details and tones. A soft-lit scene also contributes to the look. The lenses use a long focal length which narrows the depth of field and blurs the background, but still provide a relatively wide angle of view due to the large format."

And my comment from that thread:

In case you're interested, these are from the book called 'City of Shadows', a collection of police photographs out of Sydney. Great book, you can get it here though Amazon's price is way high. I think I got it for about $40-$60 from book depository though they're out of stock.

And in response to another question about the book (if it had details on the process):

From memory it doesn't go in to a huge amount of detail about the photographic process so much (I could be wrong) but I think there's a fairly large section on the archiving and all - if I remember they basically dug up thousands of these slides and had to sort them all. It ended up being a gallery exhibition in Sydney (if I remember at the old police station / museum by Circular Quay) which is where these photos and the ones from the book are taken.

Sorry I can't be more of a help as far as details go, it is a really interesting book and the portraits have a distinctly... Creepy tone to them. Crazy old ladies and cold eyed killers.

I think u/hellosputnik's list of already-purchased gifts was really helpful, so here's what I bought so far:

• HONY Stories book for SO's mom
  
• Bracelet made from my handwriting for my mom
  
• Romantic cabin weekend for my SO (king bed, hot tub, etc) :)
  
• A Louise Belcher mug and chocolate for my boss
  
• DJ Khaled - The Keys for my roommate
  
  Also, my boss got me two thoughtful gifts:
  
  
• Guitar pick puncher (you can make picks out of credit cards, etc)
  
• Business Cat calendar (I LOVE cats and work in business, so this is perfect)

1 Cake or birthday related

2 Simon Pegg (zombies remind me of him)

3 A book you are eager to read

4 Eating Utensils

5 Animal

6 Purple

7 A game

8 A guilty pleasure

9 A Tool (for learning!)

10 Something from your childhood

11 An organizational item

12 Hobby

13 Nerdy/ Geeky

14 Something Natural

15 Green

16 Something you wear

17 Funny

18 Beads, Bees or Beans

19 Gardening

20 Your absolute favorite item on your wish list no matter the price.

Darn, got all but one!

Thanks for the contest and Happy happy cake day

This and many like it are featured in a collection at the Sydney Police and Justice Museum after being lost for many years. I forget the exact context but my neighbour worked on the initial collection and many of the old police files were lost due to buildings being transferred between departments. Eventually a building, then belonging to the Historic Houses Trust, was flooded and boxes of hundreds upon hundreds of these glass negatives were found in original condition however the attached notes were destroyed. Peter Doyle has (I'm sure along with many other people) worked for a number of years to put together information on these and created a book called City of Shadows which we gave to our neighbour last Christmas and was captivating just to look into these people's faces, stories, and I really loved the emotion in their eyes.

We went there back in Year 12 a few years ago and they were telling us how the criminals were allowed to adopt any pose they desired, but with the photography at the time (early 1900s) were essentially long exposures so some have blur as one of the men in the picture. Other images can be found here including the man who refused to open his eyes . Doyle has also noted that many faces appear several times with differing names and outfits showing the success of their alias'. Cool Stuff.

I just have a casual interest in this stuff. You can find a lot of things online if you google something like “railroads in New Jersey” or check out the old threads on sites like railroad.net

Or you can start with the timeline here and google anything that seems interesting.
This book is pretty interesting too.

I can highly recommend this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Baltimore-Beer-Satisfying-History-Brewing/dp/1609494571/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405869800&sr=8-2

It's not comprehensive, but is a great read.

There's also a great one that's textbook sized, but I can't find it on Amazon.
I'll keep looking.

Great examples by others here. It is becoming more and more accepted for sure. You're coming into a growing scene. The city is really big on keeping it current too so the murals are not forever. They eventually get painted over by new ones. You should check out both Palm Beach Countyand the City of West Palm Beach's "Art in Public Places" websites. Also be sure to check out Sharon Koskoff's new book Murals of the Palm Beaches! annnnnd Welcome!

Haha, thanks! No gold needed. If you want to learn more about the subway, I highly recommend checking out Jake Mecklenborg's book: http://www.amazon.com/Cincinnatis-Incomplete-Subway-Complete-History/dp/1596298952

Jake's an awesome guy who I had the pleasure of seeing the subway with once and who taught me all I know about it.

Hello! Nice to meet a fellow art deco enthusiast. As far as books I have this one which is general Oakland https://www.amazon.com/Oakland-Postcard-History-Annalee-Allen/dp/073853014X/ and Theaters of Oakland - https://www.amazon.com/Theatres-Oakland-Jack-Tillmany-ebook/dp/B0099EAJFO/ They have pictures and a lot of interesting facts and descriptions on the buildings. I found them cheaper on booksprice btw. There is also the Art Deco Society which I have not participated in yet but heard good things http://artdecosociety.squarespace.com/ Welcome :D

If anyone's interested, this book is a pretty interesting rundown on Torre de David, though it's not quite as in-depth as I'd like. I guess like Kowloon, it'll be history now...

A short but good chapter on Wonderland (among other oddities) in Carl Swanson's Lost Milwaukee WorldCat; Amazon; Milwaukee Independent; OnMilwaukee. It skews toward parks and attractions like entertainment and infrastructure along the rivers and Lake, rather than the architectural/built environment, but lots of fun stuff. Cheers, Carl.

For lost architectural gems in Milwaukee, pre-historic (lol) preservation, you'll want Yance Marti's Missing Milwaukee, WorldCat; GoodReads; RadioMilwaukee; OnMilwaukee.

Then there's always the obligatory selfish plug for my prewar apartment buildings map for anyone who gives a shit.

It's pretty neat searching ebay for old postcards and going to google streetview and looking at what it's like today.

Here

Got my mom this book for xmas. I thumbed through it when it came in and ended up reading the whole thing right then.

Also, I'll post some pictures I took of RiverMills before it burned down in a couple days. They're kinda neat.

wwwwwThis is a real photo taken by a 1 of the 4 FEMA photographers allowed at Ground Zero during the direct aftermath (all other photopraphers/videographers were prohibited). More specifically, I believe that FEMA photographer was Kurt Sonnenfeld. Mr. Sonnenfeld is currently fighting extradition from Argentina and is wanted for questioning in Colorado in relation to the 'suicide' of his ex-wife in 2002. The most recent interview from Argentina (that I could find) was this TV news 10th anniversary 9/11 special report (10min/English with Spanish subtitles).

As to what this particular photo actually means (or implies), look a bit closer. There are signs of melting at the cut on the beam. As to who&what made the cuts, no removal teams appeared to have penetrated that tangled toxic mess yet. That said, I'll just leave you with an interesting collection of Ground Zero / FEMA video(9min31sec) by Mr. Sonnenfeld (notice the signature thermite flare at the 6:00 mark).

Pass it on...

edit: ZOOM

edit2: The TVTechnology article reported the Ground Zero photographers to be Andrea Booher & Michael Rieger and the videographers to be Kurt Sonnenfeld & Jim Chestnutt. Can not find any evidence directly linking the photo to EITHER Sonnenfeld OR the others, though other WTC photos & video stills have been posted on WordPress by his new Argentinian wife. Also found a much better and more recent TV interview at Vimeo (13min).

edit3: Photographer found. Sam Hollenshead apparently won a Pulitzer for this photo...and I win a Booby for believing it was FEMA videographer Kurt Sonnenfeld...plus a Lark for believing that only FEMA photographers had access. Apparently other photographers like Joel Meyerowitz and a police officer named John Botte also gained Ground Zero access and published identically titled "Aftermath" scrapbooks. That said, let the foo fly and PhotoShop debates begin.

edit4: I can find no evidence on the Pulitzer website that Sam Hollenshead won a Pulitzer for this photo.

edit5: Sam Hollenshead was queried 2 weeks ago as to the date and circumstances of the photo in question. Result: no answer.

edit6: Pulitzer website was queried 1 week ago as to whether Sam Hollenshead won a Pulitzer prize for the photo in question. Result: no answer.

edit7: Kurt Sonnenfeld's collection of GroundZero/FEMA video showing thermate/thermite (6min mark) burning metal in Ground Zero ruins has since been removed after the link was posted above 28 days ago.

THIS might be exactly what you're looking for...

There are lots of great books on the history of Long Beach.

And all of Tim Grobaty's books are great.

Read this book. It's really fascinating, and sheds a lot of light on the situation.

The Charterites pushed out the Republican machine, who was behind building the subway, and when the Charterites (Murray Seasongood) got into power, they canceled the subway to embarrass the previous administration (the machine) by making them responsible for a boondoggle of epic proportions. (Very similar to what Cranley tried!)

If Cranley had succeeded in canceling the streetcar, realize that 80 years from now (if it were spoken about at all) the line would probably be "the city ran out of money building the streetcar".

Edit: It's also interesting to read about the formation of the Charter Party.

The reason I bothered writing a long comment was because I got the general sense from what you've posted that you were passionate about what you were trying to do, and working it out/improving and not just an asshole. Glad I was right.

See if you can get a copy of this book from your school or local library: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597111945/ref=s9_simh_gw_g14_i1_r?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1VBT2F8340N6KEZVM8KK&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop

or any Bruce Davidson book for that matter. I think he manages to capture 70s/80s NYC, which was arguably a far worse place than current Baltimore, in all of it grit/grime/crime/drug use. Try to understand what about his photos works, and what doesn't. What compositionally elevates his subjects of helps you connect with them, then go out shooting with that in mind. To be honest, I think the biggest thing you can do to help yourself is to edit yourself much harder. I think a class where you are getting ripped apart can be good for teaching you to be even harder on your photos than anybody else. This will also make you shoot more because fewer things will make it past your cuts, and shooting more will always make you better (though, for me at least, posting more can sometimes be a negative to me getting better). I think if you can learn to see your photos in the harshest of lights then the good ones that are left will really be great.

http://www.amazon.com/Lewis-Ginter-Richmonds-Gilded-History/dp/160949380X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343328654&sr=1-1&keywords=lewis+ginter


It's a biography, but this guy helped to basically create the way that the city we know now is laid out, along with some great old pictures.

All his books are good. I especially enjoyed reading about the rise of the punk scene in Sacramento. You won't get that history anywhere else.

Also recommend "Lost Restaurants of Sacramento and Their Recipes" by Maryellen Burns.

Make it something related to what she likes related to, but outside of interior design. First thing that comes to mind would be travel and fashion:

Worlds Greatest Trips
Humans of New York
Paris in Color

I wholeheartedly agree.

Did some research!

The photographs were exhibited at the Historic Houses Trust, and taken down on Sunday 11 February, 2007. A 239 page book was later formed called the City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948, though a little out of my price range. Fortunately there are tons more mugshots floating around for those interested.

Cheers.

My friend (Cincy native) just wrote a book about it. It's really comprehensive. If you're into this sort of thing pick up a copy, he could use the support!

http://www.amazon.com/Cincinnatis-Incomplete-Subway-Complete-History/dp/1596298952

I recently read a book from the architecture library where I work on Torre David that provided great analysis on how the vertical community came to be, etc. I highly recommend it.

Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities https://www.amazon.com/dp/3037782986/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_u-91AbHF7AS8V

It’s kind of expensive, but if one can track it down through their library, I highly recommend it.

Taschen makes some wonderful budget photo book options. They have this one on New York which is $10. Bernice Abbot's Changing New York is a wonderful book but is most likely out of your price range unless you're willing to buy used. Diane Arbus' Revelations also falls into that category. There is also Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton though I don't find the photography particularly compelling.

Humans of New York is a wonderful book. It also happens to be a blog and an Instagram account. By interviewing his subjects, Brandon Stanton brings an interesting sense of reality to his photographs.

Are you looking for a novel or a non-fiction book? If it's the latter, maybe this one? It's about the Torre David in Caracas, Venezuela. I'm sure there are other books about it as well.

I was given this book on one of my first dates with my now husband. It's still one of my faves.

Also, I love to give the book "Humans of New York" to people who don't live here.

Pretty sure they're taken from here or here.

This pic is from a great book called City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948. seems all these guys were freshly arrested and these special photos were made allowing them to pose as they wished.

Brian May also has a very good book about a lost collection of stereoscopic photos that he and his co-author reassembled. It also goes into detail about stereoscopic photography and includes a stereoscope so you can view all the pictures. It's amazing!

A Village Lost and Found

He's also an avid fan of stereoscopic (aka "3D") photography and has a published collection of Victorian stereoscopes.

Amazon link for those who are interested.

For those that don’t know - Humans of New York is about a guy that goes around the city every day and finds one person to talk about their life. It’s almost always eye-opening, and an absolutely incredible Facebook page to follow.

He has also written a book, which can be found here for $16.
https://www.amazon.com/Humans-New-York-Brandon-Stanton/dp/1250058902


I can’t express how incredible this page and book are. For what it’s worth, this redditor gives it a 10/10 and recommends it to EVERYONE!


Edit: For those of you without Facebook, here’s a website! http://www.humansofnewyork.com

This is the work of photographer Bruce Davidson! Find his book here. Just wanted to get visibility for him :)

He also makes these sweet 3D Victorian historical picture books

It's a set of images from a Bruce Davidson book - "Subway". First published in 1986.

Anyone interested can have a look at amazon.

May also co-authored a stereoscopic book called "A Village Lost and Found" which depicts scenes from a small English village ca. 1850. The cool thing about the book is that it uses a stereoscopic viewer to make the scenes appear to be 3D. http://www.amazon.com/Village-Lost-Found-Brian-May/dp/0711230390

He's an interesting guy

Those are photographs by the well known photographer Bruce Davidson.

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: A Village Lost and Found


|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Spain|amazon.es|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Germany|amazon.de|
|Japan|amazon.co.jp|
|Canada|amazon.ca|
|Italy|amazon.it|
|China|amazon.cn|




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the book is 400 usd and up on amazon. it's from australia. however, if you go to australia, the book is much, much less.

http://www.amazon.com/City-Shadows-Sydney-Photographs-1912-1948/dp/1876991208/

http://shop.hht.net.au/Home/Catalogue?productid=e5ebe56a7a9ed9a6

I've wanted to buy this book for ages, it's called City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948 by Peter Doyle.
It's on Amazon here but it's rather expensive.

He also co-authored this book.

born november 14th and girl.

$20 $40

> 'Subway' by Bruce Davidson

http://www.amazon.ca/Bruce-Davidson-Subway/dp/1597111945 ?

1. Photographer Bruce Davidson
   
   
2. Here's a video of Bruce Davidson talking about his experience taking these pictures
   
3. This is the book http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-Davidson-Subway/dp/1597111945

Read Jake’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Cincinnatis-Incomplete-Subway-Complete-History/dp/1596298952

Here you go.

https://www.amazon.com/Humans-New-York-Brandon-Stanton/dp/1250038820

All by Bruce Davidson from his book 'Subway'
http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-Davidson-Subway/dp/1597111945/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382469250&sr=8-1&keywords=bruce+subway

My brother just finished a book on the abandoned subway of Cincinnati. He had to sneak down there to get shots for the cover and insert. Check it out, we're finishing up a promo video today that will have more of the photos that didn't make it into the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Cincinnatis-Incomplete-Subway-Complete-History/dp/1596298952


EDIT

Here's the video we just finished about an hour ago.