Pixiq

Click: The Ultimate Photography Guide for Generation Now by Charlie Styr with Maria Wakem

Click

Click is designed as an easy-to-follow guide with an amazing showcase of incredible work taken by teens from all over the world. It was written by 17-year-old photographer Charlie Styr, with writer and photo editor Maria Wakem.

Special thanks to Amphoto Books an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications for sending in this review copy of the book.

About the Authors

Award-winning teen photographer Charlie Styr started flickr.com’s Teenage Photographers book in 2006. Today, the group has over 8,000 members, with more than 135,000 images from teen photographers around the world. Styr also has a photography blog at The AP Blog. He is a student at Shrewsbury School in England. This is his first book.

Maria Wakem was until recently the editorial director of custom media at Photo District News magazine and the editor of PDNedu, a magazine for high school and college students, as well as educators. Currently, she is producing a ten-month series of photo shoots through Asia with her photographer husband. Wakem is also a freelance writer and director, and has written for such publications as ELLEgirl, Men’s Fitness, and Women’s Health and Fitness. Her website is www.mariawakem.com. This is also her first book.

Breakdown

• Introduction
• Getting Started
• People Get Ready
• It’s Only Natural
• In The Moment
• Telling It Like It Is
• The World of Post-Processing
• What Next?
• Meet The Pros
• Photo Speak

Introduction

The introduction is a short back story on Charlie Styr, the young photographer at the helm of this book, and I loved that you can really feel his passion and excitement for photography in this introduction. He’s still an enthusiastic amateur who simply loves photography and the way it’s used in today’s age to connect people with the same passion.

Getting Started

As the title of this chapter suggests; this will help get you started. It’s all the basics here with equipment, some basic tech terms, and some introductions on composition and lighting.

People Get Ready

This is where the meat of the book really starts. This chapter delves into the world of portrait photography as teens see it. You immediately begin to see wonderfully fresh images from teenagers who’s main goal is to capture personality. Bold colors, great expressions, dynamic compositions…all of these things are discussed in easy to understand and follow terminology. Bonus: The section on self portraiture. Anyone with or around teens (visited MySpace lately?) knows that this is uber important stuff!

It’s Only Natural

This is more than just a chapter on nature or landscape photography. Perhaps that’s because teens are often handcuffed by their inability to escape their own surroundings? This is about environmental photography. Urban cityscapes were some of my favorite examples in this chapter.

In The Moment

Teens live fast moving action packed lives. Sports and action photography is discussed with the common strategies used to photograph subjects in motion-freezing motion, motion blur, and panning.

Telling It Like It Is

Oh the honesty of teens…they live their lives in an open window to the world. So it’s no surprise to see that teenage photographers would also excel at photojournalism and street photography. I loved this excerpt from the chapter “…I was asked to photograph a youth festival in Shrewsbury, a quaint town in England not too far from where I live. I had never really attended this festival before and was surprised to find that it featured live music, sports, martial arts, and other fun things. Had I not been asked by an acquaintance to shoot this event, I probably would have spent the day in front of the computer.” Instead, our young author has wonderful images, new insight, and material for a freakin’ book! Okay teens, it’s time to head out the door and shoot something…err…with your camera (you knew that right?).

The World of Post-Processing

A short chapter on what to do after capture. There are numerous tips throughout on simple image fixes as well as enhancing techniques for those times wasted away in front of the computer listening to…okay I don’t know what they’re listening to these days. This book is making me feel old…inspired…but old.

What’s Next?

This is all about sharing the images on various social networking platforms like flickr, MySpace, and facebook. It also delves into photo contests, exhibits, and books, as well as selling your images.

Meet the Pros

The book is filled with little “pro tips” throughout by some of the industry’s best photographers. This is a profile page for all of the professional photographers that helped to add some extra oomph to the book. Notable photogs: Art Wolfe, Vincent Laforet, David McLain, Sara Remington, and more.

Photo Speak

A cheat sheet to some common photography terms. Probably very useful to our new young photography brothers and sisters.

Conclusion

When I first told my wife about this book she looked at me a little funny. I told her the book was written by teens for teens and had thought that the book really nailed their audience. Then she reminded me that I’m 30 and don’t even remember what being a teen was like. Doh! I had already forgotten that I was 30…really?..30?..where does the time go?

Still, I thought the book was filled with fresh images from teenage photographers that really made me thankful that there IS a young crop of insightful and creative photographers that will capture their world like the world has never been captured before. The future is bright.

This book may not be for you if you’re over 20. This would make a great gift for that young shutterbug in your life. In fact, I know a young aspiring photography loving teenager that will be recieving a copy of this book very shortly and I think he’ll be very thankful. Or it’ll just sit on his bookshelf because teenagers don’t read books anymore. Not really sure…

If you are or know a young shutterbug you can find the book at Amphoto Books or at Amazon today.  You’d be pleasantly surprised.