Origami Book Reviews

There are a number of origami books available which provide beautiful pictures, easy to follow guides and design ideas for all your origami decoration occasions. Origami books range from beginner origami difficulty with simple creations to advanced and expert design books incorporating mathematics and intricate detail into origami decoration production. To decide which book is best for you, here are my recommendations for which origami book you should choose depending on your skill and experience level:

Beginner - For beginners, the best origami book to get you started is the Absolute Beginner's Origami book by Nick Robinson. If online articles or other books with complex diagrams and confusing fold lines have previously deterred you from making origami decorations, then this is definitely the book for you. Featuring colour photos and a simple three step system, Absolute Beginner's Origami teaches even the most amateur of origami decoration makers to make some fantastic sculptures and models. The book can be purchased from Amazon with 20% off it's retail price, and is a great start for origami beginners.

Absolute Beginners Book
Intermediate -If you have some experience with making origami decorations, or want to challenge yourself with some trickier designs, then Ornamental Origami: Exploring 3D Geometric Designs is the book for you. Featuring beautiful colour images on glossy high quality pages, Ornamental Origami: Exploring 3D Geometric Designs has 40 projects for origami enthusiasts to create, with structured advice making creation as easy as possible. This book is best purchased off Amazon, where it can be picked up with a saving of over 10% on it's original price.

Ornamental Book
Advanced - If you are experienced with making origami decorations, and want to make some designs that really will impress and dazzle your friends and family, then Advanced Origami: An Artist's Guide to Performances in Paper is the book for you. This book goes beyond basic "how-to" origami guides, and looks into advanced techniques in origami paper and visionary art needed to make truly spectacular origami decorations. There are ten unique origami designs in the book which cannot be found elsewhere, with complete instructions, photographs and advice on advanced techniques such as wet folding. This book can be purchased for cheap on Amazon, with a 33% saving on it's RRP.

Advanced book
Expert - If you are a master of origami or want to become an expert in the art to produce spectacular origami decorations, then Origami Design Secrets: Mathematical Methods for an Ancient Art is the book for you. Origami Design Secrets is written by Robert J. Lang, one of the world's leading origami artists, and in the book you will learn to make your own unique and expert origami designs and origami sculptures. Techniques are explained in great detail using some fantastic diagrams, and include expert origami methods such as combining uniaxial bases, the circle/river method and tree theory. This expert origami book can be purchased most cheaply from Amazon, with a saving of 16% on it's standard price.

Creative Photo Book Ideas

Collecting and preserving photographs has been a favourite pastime with most people, young and old. Sometimes they get stuck with so many photos from various occasions and varying times in the past, they wonder how to put them all together coherently.

The most common and popular photo book themes include-

Baby Album - You could start your album with photos from various trimesters in your pregnancy and record your emotions. You could include ultrasounds and photos of the nursery too.

Family Holiday- Holiday pictures are best arranged chronologically, i.e. day-by-day. You could also theme them place- by-place, or you could simply put up your favourite pictures from your holidays and record what you liked most about them.

Graduation Day- You could make portrait portfolios of your friends and ask them to write something for you to give it the feel of a personalised slam book.

Wedding Album- A wedding is the most special and important day in a person's life. A picture tells a thousand words and your wedding album could tell your whole love story. You could start with the 'Proposal' and go on to add your engagement photos, bridal shower photos, wedding photos and honeymoon photos.

But here some not so common ideas that could also be fun and entertaining:

1. Pets and Animals- Pets are part of family too and deserve an album unto them. Your pet album could include the day you brought your pet home and how you decided on a name for him/her. You could also make a portfolio of your pet.

2. Sports and Hobbies- Sports never fails to thrill and exhilarate its fanatics. You could start with a 'Training Journal' and go on to add photos of your teams, your uniforms, your coaches and your favourite cheers.

3. Photo Cook Book- A way to a man's heart is his stomach, or so they say. So why not make an album to record that special dish you made for your loved one for the first time! You could also make an album of the first time your child was in the kitchen helping you or making something for you.

4. Family History Book- What better way to preserve your family heritage than a collection of photos creating your own family tree! You could go back as far as you would like and sometimes be amazed at how many people love you and care about you.

5. Road Trips- While on bikes, cars or hitchhiking on a truck, you will see many billboards, signboards and signals. Click them to create your own 'Highway' album.

Composing Great Photographs

I got my DSLR a few years back, and for a while was desperately looking for ways to improve my photography skills, particularly in composition. Photography is such an integral part of travelling. When I come home from a trip, sorting out my photographs and picking out good ones is one of the things I enjoy most. And so I went on the hunt for some of the best photography books on composition. While there are many factors involved in creating a great photograph, I believe that composition is as important as knowing all the dials on your camera and when or how to use them. After all, a great photograph that evokes strong emotions is most powerful, thus the image has to be something special that tells a story too.

Knowing how to compose a good photo is a priceless art and I have never been convinced it could really be taught. I strongly believed at one point that composition had more to do with the sheer talent and imagination of the person behind the lens. That is, until I read Bryan Peterson's book, 'Learning to See Creatively: Design, Color & Composition in Photography', which happened to be on a few professional photographers' reading lists. All the components that go into a well composed photograph is covered here, such as design, shapes, lines, colours and patterns. Subject placement and focus is one of the most important elements in designing a photograph. He invites readers to think critically when composing, so as when to realise that it is acceptable to 'break' basic compositional rules, such as the times when it is wise to place the subject in the centre of the photograph as opposed to following the common 'rule of thirds'. The bonus is that he includes many fabulous images from his portfolio.

Peterson further shows readers how to work with, and get the best out of different lighting conditions. He also writes on the various types of lenses and how to select the appropriate one to use on the field.

A highly regarded professional photographer, teacher and author, Peterson's writing style is engaging and his book is highly readable and easy to digest without being too wordy. While seemingly elementary, budding photographers and more advanced ones alike will likely find Peterson's book a great source of reference. I did find this book highly readable and a worthy investment in helping me improve my own photography skills. I do habitually try to visualise a powerful image in my mind's eye first before I release the shutter these days.

Spirit by: Q Wang - Book Review

Spirit: The Paintings of Q. Wang is a collection of contemporary paintings by Q. Wang, a current resident of Southern California. In this "Coffee table" style of high-quality art-book of 44 selected works of artist Q. Wang created during the period from 2006 through 2010, are displayed with only title and date of origin; leaving the viewer to "feel the art", or as stated in the Preface, "hear the music" without the distraction of a narrative.

Working with acrylic over conventional sized canvases, Q. Wang's work is easily categorized as being modern art, abstract, using color and lines in very unique and impressive ways. Although, admittedly Q. Wang openly discusses his attraction to the art of Maurice Utrillo, I sense some subliminal influence by other renowned artists. I feel the American legend Alexander Calder aligned with his floating shapes; along with aspects reminiscent of Andy Warhol in hisHillary Clinton portrait; Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gough with some cubism. This said, the originality of Q. Wang stands on his own merit with a fundamental Asian influence.

Just as it is obvious to a viewer if a picture on a wall is hung at an angle, not being straight, it is amazingly impressive how parallel, perpendicular, round and exact the geometric shapes are within Q. Wang's work. He definitely has a highly advanced mathematical spatial relation aspect to his art, resulting in hypnotizing introspection and, in my case, a highly emotional impact. His core talent brings simplicity in shape and form. One of, if not my true favorite, is titled, Woman. In it, Q. Wang takes a red circle, two red domes and a red triangle placed over horizontal colored backgrounds bringing to mind a "nude" like some Hermann Rorschach inkblot test revealing my own thoughts. Other favorites of mine are titled Kiss and Lovers, where two "stick figures" embrace each other, one yellow and one red, over a green background. Just as universal highway and building signage uses stick figures to represent men and women with respect to safety or even a restroom, these figures are international and global in its representation of the love within humanity.

I could go on and talk about Q. Wang's use of dimensional relations in his landscapes, or his obvious sense of passion for a lady he painted, or even the comedy within his work; but to understand his work you simply need to see it. This book is beyond excellent as a showcase for his talent. Next to having the opportunity to visit a gallery with his work, this book can be easily bought and will truly embellish the library of any art-loving collector. As the famous French film producer Jean-Luc Godard said, "It's not where you take things from - it's where you take them to." Q. Wang has taken me further into the appreciation of my surroundings, people, and love. That is what art is all about.

The Last Good War: The Faces and Voices of World War II

World War II was a defining event in history, especially America. I had a grandfather who served in that war, earning two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star. I've seen countless movies depicting events from World War II, and I've also read a number of books about those years as well. It was a different time, and the war helped shaped that generation's identity. It was a war that many refer to as the "last good war." Like my grandfather, many of the veterans from World War II are passing away each day. It is because of this, that I liked what Thomas Sanders and Veronica Kavass have put together. The book "The Last Good War: The Faces and Voices of World War II" is a beautifully done coffee table type book that pays homage to those who served our nation in war.

The book is filled with magnificent photographs of men and women who served, now much older, but often holding pictures of when they were younger. Many pictures are black and white, but there are also color photographs included too. These are men and women who are true heroes, that very few have ever heard about. They are heroes because they answered when their country called. They sacrificed and did what had to be done. They then returned home to become productive members of their communities and lead lives just like the rest of us.

Sanders dedicates the book to all American veterans and soldiers, especially to those who do not make it home. And while there really isn't anything good about war, just as Hampton Sides says in the introduction, there was a lot of "good" in the men and women who served, and this book helps us remember the selfless, determined, humble, and heroic veterans of that time. At the beginning of the book there is a quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower, General, U.S. Army. This was when he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during World War II and before he became President of the United States. He said, "The world must know what happened, and never forget." I think sometimes we do forget, and we shouldn't. Looking through the book, noticing the aged faces, I can't help but think what they went through during their time of service. And I can't help but feel a sense of gratitude and thankfulness for what they did. Reading their stories makes me ashamed at how some people today cry and moan about difficulties that are nowhere near what those men and women faced.

This is an important book, and I hope many will take the time to read it, and more than that, to realize the history that our older generation have not studied, but lived, and to take advantage of learning from these men and women, so we don't ever forget. Because, as the author says, one day they won't be here to tell their stories.