Places of Power 
by John Sexton
Hardcover, 128pp, ISBN: 0-96721881-0

There are very few master printers.  John Sexton is one of them.  Sexton studied under Ansel Adams, an outdoor photographer that you may have heard of, and it shows.  His prints are nothing short of amazing.  I got the chance to sit in on one of his seminars recently where he explained in detail how to make such prints and the stories behind them.  You'll find some of that information in the book but the real magic is in the images.  

Places of power explores man's technological accomplishments from an artistic perspective.  Sexton's prior work was primarily in landscapes.  He has turned his eye for form and line to the interiors of stone homes built into cliffs in the Desert Southwest, to the Hoover Damn, to steam power plants on the Mississippi, and to the space shuttle.  The results are stunning black and white images that are simply arresting.  

In short this book gives you the opportunity to see a master at the top of his game.

The Nikon Guide to Film Scanning    
Bob Krist with Helene DeLillo and 
Michael Brown
Video, 45 minutes    item #5388

This video is geared towards Nikon scanners so parts of it may be of limited use to those who own other brands but there's a lot of information packed into 45 minutes here, much of it generic to any scanner.  I wish I'd had this kind of tutorial when I purchased my first scanner.  Bob Krist narrates this journey through the details of scanning that starts with some basic concepts and takes you through some of the more intricate things you can do with your scanner.  Everything from printer resolution to understanding curves and levels is here.  If anything there is almost too much information to take in at one sitting.  For the novice user this tape would be best taken in small bites with your scanner close at hand for experimentation.

Like coverage of any technical subject, this tape can get a bit dense at times.  Lets just say that gripping is not an adjective that jumps to mind.  But the production team does an admirable job of getting the information across and keeping this one from becoming a yawner.  If you want to improve your scanning skills this video is a good place to start - especially if you own a Nikon scanner.

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