Book Review - The Photographer's Assistant Handbook by Matt Proulx

Must-Read For Prospective Assistants

This book is an absolute must-read for anyone looking at becoming a photographer's assistant. Matt has worked for many different photographers in the New York area. His advice is right-on and his long list of humiliating accidents covers the full gamut of what NOT to do. I didn't come to this book as a prospective assistant but rather as a professional photographer hoping to pick up a few tips and tricks from the author's experience with other photographers, a good spy novel in other words. Therefore, I was most looking forward to Chapter 9, Tips and Tricks. I found a few neat ideas, but nothing that Earth-shattering. Of course, mileage may vary and I readily admit the target audience is for assistants-to-be. If you are coming from that perspective, you unquestionably want to read this book and break out a box of highlighters. It would also be a great read and general overview for high school students thinking about entering the field. The only downside is that the book doesn't cover the digital era, so there is a lot of information about digital workflow and different photographer's preferences in that area which is missing.

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Book Review - Photoshop Secrets of the Pros: 20 Top Artists and Designers Face Off by Mark Clarkson

Illustration Inspiration

Photoshop tennis anyone? In Photoshop Secrets twenty designers face off in ten different matches, two designers to a match. One designer starts an image through a combination of photo clips and Photoshop actions then passes it to another designer for the next "volley". Each match has ten volleys and produces ten completely unique images. These are images that fit the digital illustration genre. If you're looking for photorealistic techniques, check out one of Bert Monroy's books. How much you'll learn about Photoshop techniques certainly depends on your current knowledge level, but based on what I found this book will give you a few interesting things to try and, even more, a good bit of inspiration if you're interested in doing some professional illustration.

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Microsoft Sponsors Censorship

Microsoft has agreed to ban words like "democracy", "freedom", and "democratic movement" from Chinese users of its MSN Spaces blog service:

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=FT&Date=20050610&ID=4884671

Also, the Chinese government has recently required all owners of websites within China to register with the government.

Audio CD Review: The United States and the Middle East: 1914 to 9/11 by Salim Yaqub

Average

This is a 12 CD lecture series by Professor Salim Yaqub of the University of Chicago. Professor Yaqub is an expert on Middle East history. The content of this series is quite good, but I found the delivery of the lectures to be lacking. Quite simply, the lectures are not palatable to listen to. Maybe Professor Yaqub is more entertaining with a live audience than in a recording studio. In any case, I found the series to be nothing but a recitation of dates and names and events. The facts are all there, but it is not presented such that you will have a decent chance of remembering them later. It would be much better if a good writer polished the script a bit and if a professional audio book narrator read it.

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Blog History - An Interview with Meg Hourihan.

If you're interested in the history of blogging, ITConversations.com has a great interview available online with Meg Hourihan. Meg co-founded Pyra Labs, the company that produced Blogger. Pyra was acquired by Google in 2003.

http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail541.html