Do It Yourself | 
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| Creators: Renaud Marchand, Uwe Ommer
Publisher: Taschen
Category: Book
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $26.37
You Save: $13.62 (34%)
New (30) Used (7) from $26.37
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 33980
Format: Illustrated
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Mul
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.3
Dimensions (in): 11.9 x 9.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 3822856282
Dewey Decimal Number: 778
EAN: 9783822856284
ASIN: 3822856282
Publication Date: August 1, 2007
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Product Description
Shoot yourself: Sexy self-portraits by everyday women Inspired by a babysitter he surprised in front of the bathroom mirror shooting pictures of herself with his Polaroid, photographer Uwe Ommer decided to put together a book of erotic self-portraits by inexperienced photographers. Arming participants with cameras and basic technical instructions, Ommer asked them to photograph themselves in any way they pleased?liberated, so to speak, from the voyeuristic eye of the photographer. Some chose to use mirrors as they captured their portraits, while others braved the camera without the help of their reflections. While many subjects required no intervention by Ommer, for others he acted as ?ghost photographer, ? helping them with the lighting and setup; in both cases, the models were free to indulge their inspirations in any ways they pleased?from sexy and provocative to romantic to simply being themselves. The cast of self-portraitists includes a wide range of personalities, from students to artists, actors, stylists, dancers, models, musicians, teachers, and more. This highly original book gives us a rare glimpse at the way everyday women see themselves?or wish they did.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 concept: good, pictures: not so much. June 24, 2008
I bought this book on a whim. I liked the concept of the book and I saw some nice photos from it, like the one on the cover. The content however, dissapoints. The photo's just aren't very good. The overall atmosphere is that of 1990's amateur nude photography.
Perhaps not much more can be expected of non-photographers. But I was hoping for a charming, low-fi low-tech DIY look that would make up in personality for what it lacks in professionality. In stead, it's aiming for a high-key 'glamour' look and failing miserably.
I also thought the idea of having the camera and cable release in most of the photos would be charming, but in stead I found it distracting. Paradoxically, I feel a good photographer would have been less noticeably there than the cable release is - in other words, the photos would have felt more private if they had been shot by someone else.
Interesting to browse through once or twice but not a book I could recommend.
 Excellent Collection March 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This large hardcover collection of erotic photography is one of the best books of erotica to come along in quite a while. The premise is simple, allow models to photograph themselves in the nude. The result is a memorable collection of unique and borderline voyeuristic images that are just as artistic as they are erotic.
The photographs have an amateur feel to them, you get the feeling you're looking thru the personal photo collections of each lovely young woman, and in a way... you are. The personalities of most of the women come shinning thru in their selected poses. For example, it was easy to see the naughty playfulness of a young blonde woman, who was laughing as she snapped a pantyless upskirt shot of herself. You could tell that she was thinking she might be going too far, but that people would freak when they saw the picture!
Some shots are artistic, some playful and some all-out erotic. Some are in black and white, some in color. Some of the models look like top fashion models, some look like amateurs, but all of the content in the book is top-quality. Full page photos on heavy stock paper makes up the book and it's a fair price for such a large amount of content.
This is my favorite erotic photography book since Roy Stuart, Vol. 4: The Fourth Body (Book & DVD) and I highly recommend it.
 Noble experiment February 3, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The idea of having models choose their own poses and snap their own photos is a good one but, for the most part, this book shows the value of a professional photographer.
The models are beautiful and the lighting and technical aspects of the images are fine. But there are inherent difficulties of taking a good image of oneself, not the least of which is knowing exactly when the shutter will snap. Maybe it would take 1,000 attempts to find 50 or 60 happy accidents of spontaneity. Either this book drew from fewer photos, or happy accidents are rarer than I would wish.
It is not hard to look at the pictures, and they are not in bad taste -- just not likely to become new classics. I bought the book, I looked it once, then put it up for sale.
 Truly naturally beautiful women in beautfully composed shots January 25, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this book on a whim. I had a feeling the women didn't compose all of the shots themselves. Not because a woman couldn't but because they weren't professional photographers. Some of the lighting and composition wreaked of a professional photographer. After looking through the photos I read the intro and indeed it addresses the fact that Uwe Ommer helped with lighting and composition with some of the shots. So, kudos for not hiding that fact.
I think the book is beautiful works of art of beautiful women and their surroundings. I don't believe for one second this is porn. There's nothing vulgar or disrespectful here. Just really nice shots.
Also the book is a lot bigger than I expected.
Highly recommended.
Misses the mark December 11, 2007
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
The concept is a good one: let the model choose pose herself and work the camera, as Andre Rival did with Self-Images. Given Ommer's past work, including Black Ladies, I had the highest hopes for a this new collection of figure photography.
Rather than use the controlled environment of his studio, Ommer tracked his lovely subjects to their lairs, to show them in their native environments. Ideally, the home and its content should have framed the model and exposed more of her personality. Instead, the backgrounds came across as cluttered and distracting. Even if the models controlled the camera and poses themselves, I counted on Ommer and his artist's eye to select those few snapshots that truly rose above the ordinary. Instead, the collection conveys an amateurish look.
I hoped for better, and he's done better. I hope he does better again in the future.
-- wiredweird
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