Light Screens Illustrated

Visionary and prolific, Frank Lloyd Wright conceived leaded-glass windows for almost every one of his buildings between 1885 and 1923, his most celebrated years. His output was prodigious: an estimated 4,365 window designs for over 160 structures, more than 100 of which were realized. Here, Julie L. Sloan presents the largest gathering of these windows ever published. In this accessibly written, impressively researched volume, Sloan shows how Wright revolutionized a centuries-old art form. With the boldly abstract glass he called "light screens," he distanced himself from Louis Comfort Tiffany and John La Farge and invented a fully modern language of design. Wright's windows were integral to his architectural conceptions, as Sloan demonstrates with a wealth of illustrations-- including rarely seen drawings and on-site photographs made especially for this book. In recreating the master's integration of his windows into his structures, the author brings to life such lavish landmarks as the Susan Lawrence Dana house, the Darwin D. Martin complex, and Hollyhock House, while she traces three phases in Wright's evolving language of geometric patterns. According to Sloan, the master's vision grew from the curvilinear Queen Anne-style motifs of his earliest glass; through the chevrons, rectangles, and autumnal palette of his famed Prairie-period windows; to the jazzy asymmetries, dancing triangles, and primary colors of his 1911-23 work, when vanguard European art and architecture helped inspire his most joyous, innovative light screens. In the same years, Wright expanded his use of glass from the single opening to the casement, the clerestory, and the skylight. "While providingharmonious ornament, control of illumination, and privacy," Sloan writes, these ensembles of intricately patterned glass "negotiate the boundaries between interior space and exterior view." "Light Screens "proposes a structuralist analysis of Wright's evolving typology of geometric forms and provides a cogent art-historical summary of what shaped them. Concise chapters describe the impact on Wright's glass of the Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts movements, "Japonisme," and Friedrich Froebel's educational exercises. Sloan also explains Wright's design theories and elliptical writings on glass. And she includes useful reconstructions and little-known primary-data: for example, on period terms and fabrication techniques for ornamental glass, and on Wright's clients, assistants, and suppliers. Such rich detail commends this book to connoisseurs and collectors of 19th- and 20th-century glass and modern design alike. Groundbreaking in content and commanding in scope, it is essential reading for scholars and enthusiasts of Wright.

In a world marred by light pollution, this quest for true darkness is a clarion call to turn out the lights--so that all may see.

An expert explains how the conventional wisdom about decision making can get us into trouble—and why experience can’t be replaced by rules, procedures, or analytical methods In making decisions, when should we go with our gut and when should we try to analyze every option? When should we use our intuition and when should we rely on logic and statistics? Most of us would probably agree that for important decisions, we should follow certain guidelines—gather as much information as possible, compare the options, pin down the goals before getting started. But in practice we make some of our best decisions by adapting to circumstances rather than blindly following procedures. In Streetlights and Shadows, Gary Klein debunks the conventional wisdom about how to make decisions. He takes ten commonly accepted claims about decision making and shows that they are better suited for the laboratory than for life. The standard advice works well when everything is clear, but the tough decisions involve shadowy conditions of complexity and ambiguity. Gathering masses of information, for example, works if the information is accurate and complete—but that doesn't often happen in the real world. (Think about the careful risk calculations that led to the downfall of the Wall Street investment houses.) Klein offers more realistic ideas about how to make decisions in real-life settings. He provides many examples—ranging from airline pilots and weather forecasters to sports announcers and Captain Jack Aubrey in Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander novels—to make his point. All these decision makers saw things that others didn’t. They used their expertise to pick up cues and to discern patterns and trends. We can make better decisions, Klein tells us, if we are prepared for complexity and ambiguity and if we will stop expecting the data to tell us everything. “I know of no one who combines theory and observation—intellectual rigor and painstaking observation of the real world—so brilliantly and gracefully as Gary Klein.” —Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers and Blink

Blue Light of the Screen is a memoir about the author's obsession with horror and the supernatural. Blue Light of the Screen is about what it means to be afraid -- about immersion, superstition, delusion, and the things that keep us up at night. A creative-critical memoir of the author's obsession with the horror genre, Blue Light of the Screen embeds its criticism of horror within a larger personal story of growing up in a devoutly Catholic family, overcoming suicidal depression, uncovering intergenerational trauma, and encountering real and imagined ghosts. As Cronin writes, she positions herself as a protagonist who is haunted by what she watches and reads, like an antiquarian in an M.R. James ghost story whose sense of reality unravels through her study of arcane texts and cursed archives. In this way, Blue Light of the Screen tells the story of the author's conversion from skepticism to faith in the supernatural. Part memoir, part ghost story, and part critical theory, Blue Light of the Screen is not just a book about horror, but a work of horror itself.

Now that you’ve had your DSLR for a while, are you ready to take a much closer look at what creating a great image is all about? It’s all about light! The ability to see, influence, modify, control, and create light will take your images from snapshots to great shots! In Lighting for Digital Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots, photographer and bestselling author Syl Arena begins with a primer on light itself—how to see its direction, intensity, color, contrast, and hardness—and quickly moves on to discussions of shooting both indoors and outdoors in the many different conditions of natural or man-made light. Then the book digs in to begin creating light with photographic lights, whether that’s small flash or big strobe, the pop-up flash on your DSLR or continuous lights. Follow along with Syl and you will: Learn the basics (and beyond) of light modifiers that make light bigger and softer, such as umbrellas, softboxes, beauty dishes, and diffusion panels Understand how to control and shape the light itself with flags, grids, snoots, and the zoom function on your flash Appreciate the color temperature of light (whether that’s the sun, a light bulb, or a flash), and how to influence it with white balance settings on your camera and colored gels on your flash Learn how to take great pictures across many different genres, from product and still life images, to simple (and not so simple) portraits and group shots With Lighting for Digital Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots, you’ll learn not only how light behaves—you’ll learn all you need to know to get started on the journey of creating and controlling light in order to make great shots. And once you’ve got the shot, show it off! Join the book’s Flickr group, share your photos, and discuss how you get great shots at flickr.com/groups/lightingfromsnapshotstogreatshots.