Studio: Photography and Emergent Technologies - Ang's The Digital Photographer's Handbook

Ang's book The Digital Photographer's Handbook would be an excellent resource for any photographer.

The book is well organized, with helpful sections and lots of colour pictures. It is well laid out, easy to understand, and very helpful.

I really like the quick fix sections, and the instructions were clear, and easy to use.

There is one new Photoshop trick I picked up from the book. Ang calls it the 'Sabattier Effect', but you make recognize it as solarization, or a rayograph (what Man Ray called it)

In the darkroom, this is a trial and error process, that may waste paper to get just right. With PhotoShop it is a cinch!

Above are the before and after effects of playing with the 'Curve Adjustment', just as Ang describes.

Studio: Photography and Emergent Technology - Nancy Howell-Koehler Photo Art Processes

If most of the books on the reading list are a DBAE approach, then Howell-Koehler's book Photo Art Processes represent a VCAE approach.

This is an excellent resource for the advanced photography artist who has a solid understanding of the processes of photography, and is now ready to move onto more 'artistic' endeavors.

The book does not offer much in the way of a how to approach on the science of photography, but provides an excellent resource for the artistic manipulation of photographs. It would provide an great companion for a mixed media book.

There are some excellent manipulations provided in the text.

Above are some examples of mixed media works involving manipulated photography. They are both vintage photographs.

Studio: Photography and Emergent Technology - Hedgecoe's Photography Basics

John Hedgecoe's Photography Basics is a good place to start to learn how to take better pictures.

Hedgecoe does start from the beginning, including a discussion about choosing the right camera. Some of the information is a bit dated because there is no section on digital cameras as a choice, but what he says about film cameras can be applied to digital cameras.

The lessons on photographic processes all still apply, and there are some neat tricks that are explained.

The sections are all accompanied by colour plates to demonstrate the techniques.

I have one concern with the book though. I found it had a confusing layout. Even though each discussion was accompanied by an appropriate picture, the placement of text and picture was not consistent. It had more of a 'scrapbook' feel to it, rather than a text concerned with a logical, consistent layout.

The last section of the book detailed some common problems in photography and would be helpful for the beginning photographer.

I liked the discussion on cropping your subject matter, and the above picture demonstrates an unusual composition as well as highlighting texture, two topics dealt with in this book.

Studio: Photoshop and Emergent Technologies - Performance Art

With the success and popularity of online web sharing facilities such as You Tube, Twitter and Facebook, I think that we are seeing a surge in popularity of "performance art"

Just the other day I saw a report on an artist who staged performance pieces in public spaces. He contacts his stable of actors online, has them meet in a public place and perform. Some of the performances are spontaneous, and some are rehearsed. He then films the performances and posts them on You Tube.

In one particularly entertaining piece, actors, costumed as fast food workers, burst into operatic songs about 'mustard on their pants' at a mall food court.

This is an art spiralling in ever more exciting ways - people had trouble wrapping their head around Christo! Students are way beyond me in this curve, but I think it is our job to help them discriminate on "what is good art?"

Studio: Photography and Emergent Technology - Blogging

I think that more and more artists are discovering the internet as a means not only to share their work, but as a means of expression in and of itself.

There is no telling where this will end!

I myself have a three blogs. This one, a purely craft oriented one, and one to document my husband's struggle during a (so far) 16 month labour dispute.

Whenever I want to access a new mixed media technique, my first source of information is always the internet. Mixed Media and textile artists are prolific bloggers, and are always willing to share their work to a world wide audience.

Studio: Photography and Emergent Technologies - PhotoShop for Dummies

I have been experimenting with Photoshop for a few years now.

With Kodak, and other manufacturers of traditional film closing plants, and moving into digital photography products, soon it will be impossible to even purchase new films, chemicals and paper for 'traditional' photography.

This does grieve my heart, make no mistake. I love being in the darkroom! The sense of producing a deep rich photograph is so satisfying. I don't think that digital photography, has of yet, produced that beautiful, deep rich depth of black and white prints that you hold in your hand and feel a sense of beauty.

However, I do feel it is only a matter of time before it will be possible to confuse a gallery patron between the difference of a digital print and a traditional photograph.

I tried to learn Photoshop on my own, with books like PhotoShop for Dummies, and I could not 'get it'. I took a course from Mohawk College, and have been experimenting with Photoshop ever since. Now, the book is a good companion because I'm used to the program, but at first it was not helpful.

There are so many possibilities with Photshop, that I always find myself learning something new. There are so many add-ons that the possibilities are endless.

Above are some digital scrapbook pages that I created.

Studio: Craft and Printmaking - Jo Moody's Making Bracelets

Jo Moody's books are great. She has a whole series of books for the beginner Making Bracelets, Making Earrings, and Making Necklaces. She has craft books for kids, and books for advanced crafters as well.

All of the books are well written, colourful, and simple.

These are an excellent resource set for a classroom, especially for a younger audience.

Moody's approach to crafting is one that I like, and can identify with. She creates jewelry from many found objects, and non traditional sources.

The above projects were created with inspiration from her books, especially her more advanced books. The altered puzzle pieces are lapel pins.