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As part of the Your Photo Tips Book Club we will be reviewing How to Photograph Your Life: Capturing Everyday Moments with Your Camera and Your Heart.

This is the first book that YOU chose. That’s right, you, the audience, has the vote on the books read as part of the book club. So if you aren’t seeing the types of books you want reviewed, then you need to be proactive. Vote for the book you want reviewed and if you don’t see something you like use the comments section to suggest books to add to the poll. Or you can just use the contact form as well.

How to Photograph Your Life: Capturing Everyday Moments with Your Camera and Your Heart

by Nick Kelsh

So, I have to be honest. This is a book review after all so I’ll give you my first impression of the book. It’s got a terribly ugly cover. Even seeing it’s sort of cliched tacky framed pictures and a hanging point and shoot digital camera and super cheesiness wasn’t as apparent on the amazon website as when I held the book in my hands for the first time.

My wife looked at me crazy. She didn’t know that I had implemented a poll on the website to allow you guys to pick the book to be reviewed. So her thoughts were along the lines that I had lost my mind. Never would I have plucked this book off of a shelf at a local book store.

Yes, that’s harsh. But it’s honest.

This book is ugly!

But the inside of the book was genius. Here’s a professional photographer, Nick Kelsh, who decided to really get into the shoes of his audience. Instead of somewhat unachievable beautiful images done with professional gear and lighting, Nick chose to pack up his gear and only use a compact point and shoot digital camera in the making of this book. Brilliant!

Nick’s writing style is easy and conversational, at times witty, although I did feel that there were a few places that could have used a little more technical explanation.

The sections of the book range from “How to photograph a child’s first bike ride” to “How NOT to photograph your vacation”.

Each tutorial has a “bad” example and his “better” example and I found his images to be very good indeed. You can get some really great images out of a compact point and shoot with the right technique and that’s the whole point of this book. It’s all about how you use your eye and how to work within the limits of a camera that is less robust.

Who is this photography book for?

I honestly don’t know that you would buy this book for you. Regular readers of this blog are probably also regular readers of other photography blogs and you have a wealth of knowledge around the Internet that offer more intuitive knowledge on how to get great images out of your camera.

This book does have value though. This photography book actually may make a great gift for a family member that isn’t quite privy to RSS feeds or doesn’t typically spend much time on the Internet. Uncle Bob or Auntie Helen who only has a point and shoot, doesn’t subscribe to websites, and just wants to get better family pics would benefit from this book. If you have a sibling that likes to scrapbook, this book may be a great gift for them.

So those are my thoughts on How to Photograph Your Life: Capturing Everyday Moments with Your Camera and Your Heart.

On Tuesday I will be announcing our next book to read as part of the Your Photo Tips Photography Book Club so you have the weekend to cast you vote. Right now there is a tie so I really need to see your votes come through. If you’re reading this in a feed reader you’ll have to visit the website and check the sidebar for the poll. There is an Amazon widget with the books in the poll underneath the poll if you want to look into them a little further before casting your vote.