Joel Meyerowitz: How I Make Photographs

Excellent Book for Street Photography and Master Joel, Hon. FRPS is really very bold to have used 35mm wide angle lens for 55 years to shoot among groups of people. I prefer to use 135mm F2 to shoot at a distance because people are not that friendly nowadays.

I’ve been a fan of Joel Meyerowitz ever since discovering videos of him on YouTube many years ago. The way he speaks so eloquently about the craft he loves has always inspired me. I’ve probably listened to every interview he’s done that is out there to find. As soon as I received “How I Make Photographs”, I was impressed with the graphic design, layout and even feel of this DVD case-sized book. The cover has an unexpected satin finish to the paper used. Once you get the book home and are able to study the cover image, you start to notice the brilliance of Meyerowitz’ vision and talent that he implemented into this particular capture. So many things happening at once and yet you begin to notice how the various subjects are interacting. This, of course, is one of his M.O.’s. One reviewer mentioned that some of Meyerowitz’ works in this book were cropped considerably from their original form to a detriment. This wasn’t done to too many of the photographs. Even when they were cropped down, usually for a chapter introduction, they were later shown in their entirety on a following page. The interesting way Joel captures moments in a frame, is that often times, there are multiple photographs being captured at once. Meyerowitz’ approach to image creation and the way he describes his methods throughout the book are simple and refreshing. He offers insights to some of his most famous photographs. I found myself studying each image in its printed form as I have mainly only seen these on videos in the past. Some have negatively commented on the printing quality of the images in this book. I feel overall, though, they are printed to a satisfactory level. One thing to keep in mind, we are looking at images captured with technology that wasn’t capable of the tac sharp images we have come to expect today. Famous photographer, Art Wolfe, once said that the more time goes by, the softer his older photographs become. No matter where you are in your journey as a photographer, you’ll enjoy having this book in your collection. At this price point, just go for it.

A very talented photographer

First off, if you write a book called, "How I make photographs" and you are indeed a prolific photographer with a multi decade body of work, then who can say you are wrong? Obviously this is the working methodology of the author. It works for him and you can pick and choose any, all or none of his many suggestions to apply to your photography. I know the author's work and have several of his previous books including his compendium of his full career spanning photography. This book uses several of his famous and lesser known images to illustrate each topic that forms the basis of each chapter. Each chapter begins with a statement such as, "be inspired", "anticipate the moment" or " be one with your camera". There are 20 such chapters and they are not sequential. You can start at page one or you can open randomly and read the chapter you land on. Then you can either mentally contemplate the material or grab your camera and hit the streets with a lesson to work on. One odd choice (for me, anyway) was to lead off several chapters with a cropped image from the photographer's catalog of famous photos, seemingly to extract the intent of the chapter's lessons. Some of these shots are world famous and have been presented full frame in dozens of books and expositions. It seems strange to crop them to reveal what has always been there. It's almost like saying he left too much in the frame. Physically, the book is quite small, (think DVD case), but the cost was not too much for the size. This book should be fine for street photographers that would like to get in the head of one of the masters of the genre.

Joel Meyerowitz is one of a few artists who can speak as beautifully about his art as his art speaks for itself. Great book. On a scale of one to five, the reproductions here are a zero. They’re a muddy, blurry mess. But the content is a ten. I love the book. Horrible Printing. Beautiful Photos. Inspiring & Instructive Words.

Inspiring and insightful is how I would describe this book. Joel has a wonderful way of expressing himself. This book has caused me to look deep within myself to try to find my own voice and to then translate that to a photograph. Every time I pick up this book, it gets me thinking, which in turn, gets me out there shooting.

This book has photos on every page and short chapters that teach lessons of how Joel Meyerowitz creates his memorable street photos. If you like his photography and/or you like doing street photography yourself, you need to have this book.

Love info

Joel Meyerowitz, great author, good book.. master of photography, stimulation for pro photographers.

Die Welt hat er seit vielen Jahrzehnten im Sucher, darunter zahlreiche Ikonen der street photography, als deren wichtigster Protagonist er duchaus betrachtet werden kann. Im Zentrum steht dabei seine Fähigkeit, in einem Bild eine Szene abzubilden durch Komposition verschiedener Elemente, die in der Realität oft in keiner Verbindung zueinander stehen. Seine Fotos sind bewußte Irritationen, erst der Betrachter macht sich daraus sein eigenes Bild, wird in Erstaunen versetzt, oder in Besorgnis, oder in Heiterkeit. Und den bingt Joel Meyerowitz immer mit, wenn er sich bevorzugt an einer Straßenkreuzung positioniert, Anderen zu begegnen. Diese Bereitschaft zur Offenheit gegenüber den Mitmenschen ist für ihn wichtige Voraussetzung auch ohne fotografische Absicht. Hinzu kommt seine Fähigkeit, vorauszuahnen, was sie als Nächstes tun werden, so daß er vorbereitet ist, bis sie zu seinem Bild verschmelzen. Das kann man trainieren.

It is nice affordable quality, Joel Meyerowitz is one of my favorite photographers, his works are great and inspirational. I highly recommend it, but when I bought it in Amazon packaging of this product is not good at all, the corners are damaged be careful. But this one not that much damage but the other 2 books are damage, i returned it the day it was came to me.

This is a good book full of nice pictures and helpful hints. It's nice to flick in.

Joel - Leica's style street photographer. In this short, easy to read book, all the key concepts that he shared on many youtube videos - nicely documented in this book. I knew about this book as it was recommended in dpreview website (I think it was one of the ideas for Christmas gift to photographers). I did some research about Joel, watched some youtube videos featuring him, and decided to get the book. No regrets!