New Books to Consider

I have been privileged to see a lot of wonderful photography over the years, both as a lover of photo books and when I was editor of Outdoor Photographer magazine. I want to share a few things I have run across recently that you might find of interest, too.

Dewitt Jones shot for many years for National Geographic and is a columnist for Outdoor Photographer. He is a friend and teacher to me. He does a wonderful, weekly e-mail called Celebrate What's Right With The World that includes a photo and a short text. He has put these together into a terrific e-book, iPhone Art in My Life, that is available for all e-book platforms, such as the Kindle from Amazon. You do not need a Kindle or Nook -- in fact, those devices will only show you poor black-and-white images (except for the color Nook). You can download apps that display Kindle or Nook books for an iPad or for your PC or Mac computer. These will display photos in color.

Connie Toops is a bird photographer who lives in the Southeast U. S. and has a new and very unique field guide out, Hummingbirds and Butterflies, a Backyard Bird Guide from Peterson Field Guides. This is more than a simple field guide -- it will show you terrific images of birds and butterflies, but it also gives great ideas on how you can make your backyard more attractive to this wildlife. Then you can photograph them in your backyard, too! This is a really excellent book for nature photographers and will inspire you to make your yard more friendly to great subjects for your camera.

Ian Shive is a terrific up-and-coming young photographer who you will hear more and more about in the future. He did one of the best new books on the national parks I have seen, The National Parks: Our American Landscape. His work is innovative and fresh and shows us new ways of appreciating our parks. But he has been working on a really cool project, a television show, Wild Life: A New Generation of Wild, that has its first show on line. Ian is working hard to get this produced on television, and this first short show is terrific. You can see it at www.generationwild.tv. He and some other friends go exploring in Florida. This is compelling, interesting television about nature that is much better, I believe, than most hyped up nature shows out today. I wish him a lot of luck as this plays out.

And remember, I have my first iPad app, Rob Sheppard's Digital Landscape, at the Apple App Store, and an e-book for Kindle, Nook, etc., Selling Photos.