NY_Dan
Well-known
Please view and rate my new book. No Man Is An Island is a photographic journey by foot and boat, around Manhattan Island. All 26 photos were shot over the past 2-years with Kodak 120 black and white film, hand-developed, scanned, adjusted in image software, and designed by me.
Link to free preview showing the whole book:
http://www.blurb.com/books/5670242-no-man-is-an-island
Front Cover
Sample spread - chosen for the twin Z compostions.
Back Cover
Rolleiflex 2.8f, Rolleiwide, Rolleinar, TMY 120 400 ISO, Nikon 9000 Scanner
Link to free preview showing the whole book:
http://www.blurb.com/books/5670242-no-man-is-an-island
Front Cover
Sample spread - chosen for the twin Z compostions.
Back Cover
Rolleiflex 2.8f, Rolleiwide, Rolleinar, TMY 120 400 ISO, Nikon 9000 Scanner
michaelwj
----------------
Hi Dan,
Always like seeing your book. This one is very nice. The individual images are great, but I really like the story in this one.
I've only been to NY once, briefly, over 10 years ago. You take us on a journey there, without really ever going there. You draw us into the city, show us glimpses from across the river, then its almost like we decide we don't actually want to get any closer and leave. Very nice.
Michael
Always like seeing your book. This one is very nice. The individual images are great, but I really like the story in this one.
I've only been to NY once, briefly, over 10 years ago. You take us on a journey there, without really ever going there. You draw us into the city, show us glimpses from across the river, then its almost like we decide we don't actually want to get any closer and leave. Very nice.
Michael
__jc
Well-known
Hi Dan,
Thank you for the opportunity to view your new book "No Man Is an Island". Great title.
I gave it 9 because I think it is wonderful. At your best you are a very very perceptive photographer indeed. You are at your best when you photograph people. You have the rare ability to not only put them at ease, but to divine something from them that adds to the story of their milieu.
Of course the pictures themselves are flawless - meticulously seen, composed, and executed.
For me, the one small point I'd make is that there seems to be, in a book of relatively few photos, a couple that are perhaps repetitive or add little to the overall feel. I say this understanding fully that it is important to include pictures that give a sense of the place as well as the people in it. Perhaps the Statue of Liberty picture is one I could use as an example but I'm not sure I'd leave that one out. There are a couple of bridge ones that could be left out, although there is one particular panoramic bridge shot that is superb.
My favourites? The stickball(?) games behind the cyclone fence, the bride, the people laying on their backs and the music-video-in-production. There is not a bad shot amongst your selection.
Cheers,
Thank you for the opportunity to view your new book "No Man Is an Island". Great title.
I gave it 9 because I think it is wonderful. At your best you are a very very perceptive photographer indeed. You are at your best when you photograph people. You have the rare ability to not only put them at ease, but to divine something from them that adds to the story of their milieu.
Of course the pictures themselves are flawless - meticulously seen, composed, and executed.
For me, the one small point I'd make is that there seems to be, in a book of relatively few photos, a couple that are perhaps repetitive or add little to the overall feel. I say this understanding fully that it is important to include pictures that give a sense of the place as well as the people in it. Perhaps the Statue of Liberty picture is one I could use as an example but I'm not sure I'd leave that one out. There are a couple of bridge ones that could be left out, although there is one particular panoramic bridge shot that is superb.
My favourites? The stickball(?) games behind the cyclone fence, the bride, the people laying on their backs and the music-video-in-production. There is not a bad shot amongst your selection.
Cheers,
NY_Dan
Well-known
Hi Michaelwi and Johnny,
Thanks for the feedback! I took some of the photos during a Circle Line cruise around Manhattan -- a lot of fun, even without a camera.
Thanks for the feedback! I took some of the photos during a Circle Line cruise around Manhattan -- a lot of fun, even without a camera.
jbrianfoto
Established
I really like the image, taken thru a fence, two men, one swinging a ball bat. Really stood out and kept my attention for a long time. Will go back and have a second look tomorrow, give them all a time to soak.
You have a firm grip on the technical, and you do have a vision, very nice in all.
You have a firm grip on the technical, and you do have a vision, very nice in all.
JChrome
Street Worker
I basically concur with everything that Johnny Scarecrow said. The photos with people in them strike a chord with me the most. And perhaps I would like the images of the bridges more if I hadn't already seen many of those bridge shots.
Excellent work!
Excellent work!
tunalegs
Pretended Artist
Change the title to No Dan is an Island I will gladly take a look at your book.
George Bonanno
Well-known
Hi Dan,
I did not vote because I don’t get it. Keep in mind I’m not too smart (read intelligent).
My personal opinion is you should keep your exposures limited to artificial flashbulb illumination.
Best,
George
BTW: Hand developed ? That’s a joke ? Right ?
I did not vote because I don’t get it. Keep in mind I’m not too smart (read intelligent).
My personal opinion is you should keep your exposures limited to artificial flashbulb illumination.
Best,
George
BTW: Hand developed ? That’s a joke ? Right ?
Vobluda
Well-known
The motive of the bridge is repeating way to many times, the book doesn't work for me.
Pherdinand
the snow must go on
i gave it an eight, not that i would ever pass a five on the same scale 
If print quality is perfect you'd get +1, if cheap you would get -1 for that
hard to judge it thru the web
but looks great
If print quality is perfect you'd get +1, if cheap you would get -1 for that
hard to judge it thru the web
but looks great
OurManInTangier
An Undesirable
I've only been to New York once, many years ago, so I'm speaking very much as an outsider; a stranger to NY.
I would agree with the sentiments regarding the bridges to some degree. Obviously the Brooklyn bridge and Manhattan bridge (if I recognize them correctly) are both iconic structures and would probably have a place in any cultural reference to NY, Brooklyn or Manhattan. However, I do wonder if they're a little "neither here nor there," in terms of placement within the overall book. They don't form a backdrop to virtually every image in some manner yet they are present enough to feel like a theme that hasn't been completed. As such I'm left feeling as if I'm being taken on a fairly well trodden tour guide of the area at times.
That feeling isn't helped by some of the repetition in image types either in my opinion e.g. the sunbathers in Brooklyn bridge park (a strong image IMO) followed a few pages later with a similar but less strong image of the man sunbathing on his own. There are several 'open water' shots that leave me with little or no 'sense of place,' whether these are immediately recognizable to New Yorkers or Americans I don't know. Having said all that, there are images here that showed so much more of New York and the area you photographed. Things that to me, an outsider, gave an impression of a real place with its high and lows, its industry and its leisure etc. The pages with the swing bridge and fortress like concrete tower gave me an insight into the area that was far more meaningful to me than some of the more usual imagery within the book. Again, the pictures of people using these spaces (the baseball, music video shoot, religious procession etc) alongside images of birds and flotsam, concrete towers, two trees against a glass wall of skyscrapers etc allows me to gain an idea of what the area may really be like than some of the other imagery.
The first impression is a very good one in terms of the cover and first page in my opinion. The cover, alongside the title, gives a clear impression of what to expect inside and the first page image is both a dramatic page filler and lends itself to the idea of the title too...I just wish that impression continued throughout the course of the book.
Overall, well its impressive simply that you get off your backside and do this (these, as you've clearly done this before from looking at your Blurb page) projects and simply for that I'm amazed you have two votes rating this a '2.' I loathe ratings as they seem quite arbitrary but as you asked I'd suggest a five for just doing it, perhaps a seven as it stands and the ability to go 8 or even 9 if there were a little rejigging along the lines I mentioned.
All my opinion of course and my genuine congratulations for doing it.
I would agree with the sentiments regarding the bridges to some degree. Obviously the Brooklyn bridge and Manhattan bridge (if I recognize them correctly) are both iconic structures and would probably have a place in any cultural reference to NY, Brooklyn or Manhattan. However, I do wonder if they're a little "neither here nor there," in terms of placement within the overall book. They don't form a backdrop to virtually every image in some manner yet they are present enough to feel like a theme that hasn't been completed. As such I'm left feeling as if I'm being taken on a fairly well trodden tour guide of the area at times.
That feeling isn't helped by some of the repetition in image types either in my opinion e.g. the sunbathers in Brooklyn bridge park (a strong image IMO) followed a few pages later with a similar but less strong image of the man sunbathing on his own. There are several 'open water' shots that leave me with little or no 'sense of place,' whether these are immediately recognizable to New Yorkers or Americans I don't know. Having said all that, there are images here that showed so much more of New York and the area you photographed. Things that to me, an outsider, gave an impression of a real place with its high and lows, its industry and its leisure etc. The pages with the swing bridge and fortress like concrete tower gave me an insight into the area that was far more meaningful to me than some of the more usual imagery within the book. Again, the pictures of people using these spaces (the baseball, music video shoot, religious procession etc) alongside images of birds and flotsam, concrete towers, two trees against a glass wall of skyscrapers etc allows me to gain an idea of what the area may really be like than some of the other imagery.
The first impression is a very good one in terms of the cover and first page in my opinion. The cover, alongside the title, gives a clear impression of what to expect inside and the first page image is both a dramatic page filler and lends itself to the idea of the title too...I just wish that impression continued throughout the course of the book.
Overall, well its impressive simply that you get off your backside and do this (these, as you've clearly done this before from looking at your Blurb page) projects and simply for that I'm amazed you have two votes rating this a '2.' I loathe ratings as they seem quite arbitrary but as you asked I'd suggest a five for just doing it, perhaps a seven as it stands and the ability to go 8 or even 9 if there were a little rejigging along the lines I mentioned.
All my opinion of course and my genuine congratulations for doing it.
JChrome
Street Worker
As an aside, this made me check out your main site.
Really excellent street photography there Dan!
Really excellent street photography there Dan!
sdotkling
Sent through the ether
Hi Dan: I, too, list myself as a big fan, but I'm going to give this a "meh." I think you did an excellent job of capturing a Circle Line ride around Manhattan, but I've been on a Circle Line and I would like to remind you that after an hour there's a bit off "When can I get off this thing?" even though you can't--if not just for the sake of the 8-year-old who is clearly having a great time. There's a thread in the book, too, of been there-done that, something that could never be said of your terrific street work. The title "No Man is an Island" seems to be leading somewhere you didn't go, and that's what I'm missing. I encourage you to keep on truckin', or whatever you young whippersnappers do these days.
Jamie Pillers
Skeptic
Dan, I like the book a lot. I think you've edited really well and covered the subject nicely. Image quality is superb. I gave you a 9 for the book, taking off one point only because I'd like to see MORE, MORE!!
Jamie
Jamie
doolittle
Well-known
Very evocative. I especially liked the images with people in them. They had a real insider feel about them, great sense of the place beyond what a tourist might see. For me the book is too short though, I would like to see more of the human interest photos - I think then the landscape photos would act more of an anchor to reinforce the sense of place, where at the moment they dominate a little (for my liking, which might be different from your intent).
Overall I would like to complement you on a great project, please take the criticisms above in the spirit they were intended.
Overall I would like to complement you on a great project, please take the criticisms above in the spirit they were intended.
kbg32
neo-romanticist
Can you explain the significance of the title and imagery? Maybe that would help some here Dan.
back alley
IMAGES
looks good...but i can't rate it...seems 'wrong' to rate images from 1 to 10...i find new york is so dense and packed with so many views on culture, architecture, food etc that no one set of images could ever capture it all...so very hard for me to rate them.
Wards Island makes an appearance...
bonatto
looking out
Hey Dan, I had a look through the book on blurb, as others have said, its certainly a positive thing to keep working on these.
From what I've seen in your past work you have some strong images and some that are not so much. Editing for me is one of the hardest parts, especially when trying to cull together a long series, exhibit or book. In a general sense, I think you need to be more heavy handed with yourself and try to weed out repetitive images, ones that are pretty but show little of your point of view and steadily work towards finding something that really resonates with what you're trying to say. I didn't read anything other than the title, and after flipping through I was left unsure what the series is about. Be strict - both when shooting and editing.
At the end of the day, how to do these things is never so clear cut, but it's often a question of time and application.
Good luck
From what I've seen in your past work you have some strong images and some that are not so much. Editing for me is one of the hardest parts, especially when trying to cull together a long series, exhibit or book. In a general sense, I think you need to be more heavy handed with yourself and try to weed out repetitive images, ones that are pretty but show little of your point of view and steadily work towards finding something that really resonates with what you're trying to say. I didn't read anything other than the title, and after flipping through I was left unsure what the series is about. Be strict - both when shooting and editing.
At the end of the day, how to do these things is never so clear cut, but it's often a question of time and application.
Good luck
AusDLK
Famous Photographer
i don't think the Internet is the place for getting serious feedback. no one wants for come across as a "bad guy". there is so much fanboy and back-patting activity going on such that the real truth of someone's opinion often cannot be trusted. or a response comes from a nincompoop who's opinion is not worth squat. if you are serious about your work and your book, show it to specific photographers and lay-people that you know and trust; take it to portfolio reviews. blindly asking for meaningful feedback from "the cloud" is going to be VERY hit and miss, mostly miss.