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Title: The Photographer's Guide to the Puget Sound & Northwest Washington: Where to Find the Perfect Shots and How to Take Them
ISBN: 0881507563
Author:
Rod Barbee
Publicate Date: 2007-06-29
Publish: 2007-06-29
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.97
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $8.98
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.17
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Loved this book!
I loved this book! The author shares many great secrets for finding out-of-the-way places to photograph. If you are looking for a book on technical how-to photograph, get another one. This book is all about location.
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2: Attractively priced so I went for it. Glad I did.
I will be extremely busy this year. I like that the guide concentrates on the "non" typical areas of the Sound. We all know that Mt.Rainier is the bomb. It can have it's own book. This book covers the areas a local would most likely seek out versus a visitor. (ie Bremerton, Poulsbo etc) As a local I'll be spending a lot more time than usual on the Olympic side of the sound this year. Very good detail on times of year, day and lenses types for the various locales. All in all very thorough and for 10 bucks! what a bargain.
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3: Very useful, but a bit too limited...
For those who live in the Seattle area, this book will be a great guide to some not-so-well-known (as well as some VERY well-known) locations in Western Washington. I've already used it to plan several shoots to locations I never thought of before, and have been delighted with the results.
Now for the caveats: first off, this is for full-time residents of western Washington, not the summer tourist to Seattle. Unless you're visiting for a month or more, have no intention to do anything other that photograph, and have access to your own vehicle, you simply won't have the time to hit more than a handful of the locations listed here. Second, and this is my biggest gripe, while the book covers Puget Sound and the Olympic peninsula, there's only one location listed in the Cascades, and NO coverage whatsoever of Mount Rainier! Considering that this is probably the most spectacular area in all of Washington for nature photography, its omission is a little like a tourist guide to U.S. cities leaving off New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. I wish the author/publisher could have seen fit to expand the volume to include Rainier, as well as other mountain areas such as Stevens Pass and the North Cascades Highway.
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4: An outstandingly useful book.
As a photographer who has lived in the Puget Sound region for over 40 years I was astounded by the numerous locales detailed by Mr Barbee that I have not(yet)visited. I found his directions and suggestions to be clear and concise and very user friendly. I particularly enjoyed Mr Barbee's unpretentious and conversational style of writing sprinkled with subtle humor.
I am a bit confused by "BookGeeks" negative comments. The purpose of this book is primarily to detail many of the exceptional photographic opportunities in the Puget Sound area. Certainly, for me, that task is well accomplished. In addition, Mr Barbee has included a substantial amount of very useful suggestions regarding the more technical and practical aspects of photography both in general as well as locale specific. I would also disagree regarding the quality of the photography in the book. Admittedly this is not a "picture" book and so does not highlight Mr Barbee's considerable photographic talents and yet I found many of the images to be exceptional and inspirational.
If one is looking for a "how to" book of photography there are many other books out there that will do the task. On the other hand, if one's plans include photography in the Puget Sound area this is the book to get.
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5: Best "get out there and do it" book for photography in the PNW
I have to respectfully disagree with BookGeek.
Before a two week vacation/photo trip to Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula I bought about 10 books through Amazon. Several had awesome photos (like Art Wolfe's book), but none gave much detail on exactly where a given photo was taken.
That's the purpose of this book, on the other hand. I felt (as I often have in real life) I had met a fellow photographer that was happy to dole out his local experience. My son and I spent several days on the Olympic Peninsula, and because of the book visited several places we otherwise wouldn't have - with great results (Rialto Beach and Sol Jardin for example).
I'm already on experienced photographer, and thus don't really need the input on wide vs telephoto, but I don't see anything wrong with his recommendations.
In summary, I think the book is great, and as an owner of probably 100 photo related books, this one stands out in practicality for what I like to do.
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