Reader's Comments - Index of - Free

Dead Trees
photographed -- a novel approach that can engage readers with little technical knowledge as well as
masters of the art.
The pleasure here comes mainly from meeting this highly skilled photographer and hearing his
anecdotes, which take the reader to one session after another for Fortune, Time, Life, the Los Angeles
Times, New York Times, etc.
Read what Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Ed Asner, Eleanor Roosevelt, Andre Previn, Upton Sinclair,
Mickey Rooney, J. Paul Getty and John F. Kennedy -- among many others -- have asked Wiener.
Find out why Groucho Marx accused Wiener of shooting pornography.
See some fabulous black and white photos.
Find out how eating oysters makes it possible for Wiener to handhold a camera at one-half second.
All in all, an entertaining read for the backyard hammock or under a beach umbrella.
-- Michael Fuhrmann, June 29, 1998
Just grabbed a copy of The Complete Idiot's Guide To Photography by Roger Woodson. I would call it
easily the best introductory book targeted at the hobbyist I have found. It runs the gamut from point and
shoot to building and using an SLR system to doing one's own darkroom work. He covers the theories of
exposure and lighting and does a reasonably good job of it. I do however have a number of ethical
problems with this book:
1) He actually suggests that one spend time at a local camera shop trying out cameras and asking
questions and then buy from one of the NY mail order houses. This is a real good way of losing the local
camera shop and is also rude to a salesman who has spent time with you. For crying out loud, spend the
extra $50.00 the local store is charging and consider it the price of the time the clerk spent teaching you
how to operate the equipment. (The advice the author gave was directed at the rank beginner who would
need to have all an SLR's functions explained). If you don't by a camera there, by a lens, but making a
major purchase at a local shop develops a relationship.
2)The Author actually suggests baiting wildlife to one's back yard. All well and good if one is talking
bird feeders, but he suggests salt licks for deer and sardines for racoons. If you are wondering just what
is wrong with this, check out the Baiting Animals thread in Nature Q&A.
-- Rich Furman, December 7, 1998
This outstanding site is incomplete without a mention of John Shaw's work. For serious beginners and
intermediates, I especially recommend two of his works, "Closeups In Nature" and "Landscape
http://www.photo.net/books/ (7 of 20)7/3/2005 2:23:26 AM