Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision

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1. 

   Kirk P. Fisher / September 18, 2010

   Review by Kirk P. Fisher for Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision
   Rating:
   I’ve bought and read dozens of how-to photography books over the years. I enjoyed Peterson, Freeman and many others. In the digital age we have a glut of books on digital photography and post-processing by well-known self-promoters churning out the product. Until now, the only two remaining on my shelf were Galen Rowell’s Inner Game of Outdoor Photography and Bob Krist’s Spirit of Place.
   
   Within the Frame will join them. When millions of photos are snapped by cameras and phones or produced via software, David eloquently reminds us that vision, creativity, sensitivity and thought are (and always have been) at the core of making (not just taking) meaningful images. This book is a must-read, and one which you’ll return to again and again for inspiration and insight. Deserves to be in hardcover, and easily earns the right to be called a classic.

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2. 

   Conrad J. Obregon / September 18, 2010

   Review by Conrad J. Obregon for Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision
   Rating:
   Taking a picture is easy. You aim the camera, fiddle a few dials if you have a digital single lens reflex camera, and press a button. Taking an image that speaks to people, perhaps even rises to the level of art, is much harder. You have to add a secret ingredient, vision, to get that kind of image.

   There are tons of books that talk about technique, like exposure, composition, post processing and so forth. As far as I know there are only a handful of good books that tell about how to get the secret ingredient. This book is one of them.

   A description of the chapter headings doesn’t do justice to the book, or even a look at the subheadings. What can one learn about a book from a heading like “Indecisive Moments” in a chapter called “Within the Frame”? It all sounds so vague.

   A few years ago in a review I wondered whether you can teach someone to be creative (which I took to be similar to developing vision.) The author took issue with me in a conversation, even though I had praised her book. Now six years later I still wonder if you can teach someone vision.

   Vision is not like exposure. It’s not a matter of setting menus and dials and getting feedback from a histogram. It’s vague and amorphous and not everyone will view a subject and see it with vision. Yet it’s critical to photographic success.

   DuChemin gives the effort to teach vision a good shot. For example early in the book he urges the reader to “shoot what moves you”. Good advice that almost doesn’t need any explanation, although the author’s discussion certainly reinforces the point.

   In the later chapters, the author provides more specific guidance about things to look for in certain subjects. For example he notes that in photographing places we should “slow down” and “try going deeper rather than broader”.

   The author’s images are all striking and support his thesis. Moreover he notes that post-processing is essential to realizing the vision you had when you captured the image. It is a minor quibble but I certainly wished that he could show how this worked with a few more of his images. Almost none of the books on post-processing do this. Perhaps that can be a subject for his next book.

   Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching “In Treatment” on television, but it seems to me that the author can’t teach you how to get good photographic vision. Rather he can just walk along with you and point to things while you find your vision buried deep within you. Fortunately duChemin is an excellent walker and pointer and most serious photographers will benefit from reading this book.

   Given the nature of this book, especially the point regularly made that seeing is more important to a photographer then is equipment, it seems almost sacrilegious to point out that there is an additional chapter on line about gear for the traveling photographer.
   

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3. 

   I. Fydyshyn / September 18, 2010

   Review by I. Fydyshyn for Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision
   Rating:
   After I have read so many positive reviews of this book, I decided to order it. What struck me is the fact that not many photography books have rating that high at Amazon, and most of them have valid criticism. DuChemin’s books seemed like an exception to the trend. I cannot tell you how much my expectorations went up but I was very eager to get it.

   Let me first say that I’m new to photography and as many others looking for things that are most valuable to get started and continuously improve, that is- train my eye, search for vision, get inspired whenever I grab my camera and go out. Under these circumstances you have to consider things how much you travel and what you like to photograph. David DuChemin is inspired by visiting new places and meeting new people, he is inspired by sacred houses of worship, new cultures etc. The title itself contains the main theme of the book: journey of photographic vision.

   However, after one reads the reviews, one gets the feeling that it does not matter if the book talks so much about travelling, it is all about bringing out your vision. The only question I have how? The book does give you some valuable tips like what accessories you should take with you, how to interact with people from different cultures, should you pay people for photographing them etc. Do these things really help you to bring out your vision?

   Moreover, I was not impressed with the photos in the book, but I like examples how light influences the portraits. The lighting tips were the most useful even though they are thrown here and there.

   Now my advice for potential buyers and beginners in photography would be omitting this book and buying Photography and the Art of Seeing by Freeman Patterson and The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman. The former has very valuable tips that could help to improve your creativity, inspire you and most importantly it’s very practical. The latter will show you what to look for in photographs and teach you many valuable things about composition and design.
   

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4. 

   Paul R. Greenhow / September 18, 2010

   Review by Paul R. Greenhow for Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision
   Rating:
   Yep. I’m ambivalent about this book. No question that David DuChemin is a very gifted photographer, but this isn’t a coffee table book. It’s about vision, but what the other reviews don’t seem to mention is that his vision is not about photography in North America or the west in general, but Kathmandu, Havana, Cairo and the banks of the Ganges. The advice he gives appears very sound, but approaching somebody in Kathmandu and somebody in Des Moines strike me as quite a different tasks. Most of us are far more limited in creating our vision than the author and I’m sure I’d have enjoyed it and gained much more from it if he had shot more in his hometown of Vancouver.

   His vision is beautifully executed, but I’d have liked an indication before I bought this book that it was more about travel photography.

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5. 

   Busy Executive / September 18, 2010

   Review by Busy Executive for Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision
   Rating:
   Perhaps it’s me, but I purchased this book with the idea that it would reveal the artist’s thoughts on composition and technique, and in this regard, I found it disappointing. Although it includes plenty of wonderful and well composed photographs, there’s very little accompanying dialog explaining the thought process behind the technique. Nothing really wrong with that, but I suppose if I wanted a coffee table book of photographs, this wouldn’t have been my first choice.

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