Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston - The Greatest Hits

 

 

Whitney Houston, 1963-2012

Whitney Houston has died at the age of 48. Best known for hits "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" and "So Emotional," Houston is the only artist to consecutively chart seven No. 1 hits. During her illustrious career she earned 415 awards, making her the most-awarded female music artist of all time. Houston paved the way for female vocalists and will endure as one of music’s most beloved voices...Read more in Amazon's Whitney Houston Store

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During the 80s and 90s, Whitney Houston was an unstoppable force in pop music. With sales estimated to exceed 200 million records, she is one of the biggest-selling female singers ever.

Whitney Houston was born to a family with impressive singing credentials - her mother was gospel singer Cissy Houston, her cousin was five-time Grammy winner Dionne Warwick, and her godmother was the 'Queen of Soul' herself, Aretha Franklin. Her first break came when she sang backing vocals on Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman” when she was only 16. She continued to record, sing and tour with her mother, but although she was offered recording contracts she turned them all down until, in 1983, she signed with Arista.

Her debut album Whitney Houston appeared in 1985 but it was not an instant hit. However, due to the singles “Saving All My Love for You” (which won a Grammy), “How Will I Know” and “Greatest Love of All”, it eventually reached the top of the Billboard charts and lodged there for several weeks. Critical praise, awards, television shows and massive sales ensured a grand entrance into the music world for new superstar Whitney Houston.

Her follow-up album was 1987’s nine-times platinum Whitney. It debuted at the top of the charts in many countries and the success of the singles “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”, “Didn’t We Almost Have it All”, “So Emotional” and “Where do Broken Hearts Go” gave her a record of achieving seven consecutive singles at No.1.

In response to an enduring criticism that she was somewhat bland, she experimented with a more urban feel on her next release. I’m Your Baby Tonight (1990) found her exploring her versatility as an artist, with a fair degree of success. The album was certified four-times platinum.

Her next endeavor was her acting debut in The Bodyguard. It was a huge box-office hit and the accompanying soundtrack album went on to achieve 17x platinum certification in the US alone. The lead single from the album was a cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” which cemented itself to the top of the charts in many countries. Her next two releases were soundtrack albums, Waiting to Exhale (to which she contributed three songs) and The Preacher's Wife, both of which were supporting films in which she had acting roles.

In 1998 she released My Love is Your Love which continued her exploration of urban sounds such as hip-hop and reggae. Two years later she released Whitney: the Greatest Hits, but unfortunately this marked a slide in her fortunes. When Just Whitney was released in 2002 it received poor reviews and the singles failed to chart well. She followed it with a Christmas-themed record, One Wish: the Holiday Album, which performed even less well. Since then, column inches have been dedicated to her battles with drugs, and with her husband Bobby Brown (whom she had married in 1992 after a 3 year courtship and divorced in 2007).

In Memorial :

 

The"Thriller" of the 90's.Just perfect, June 21, 2001

By 

Bob Waskiewicz (Wintersville, Ohio United States) 

This review is from: The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album (Audio CD)

"The Bodyguard" soundtrack is one of the biggest selling albums from the 90's.The 6 cuts from Whitney are all masterpieces.I was shocked to find out She co-wrote "Queen of the Night," along with Babyface.This has got to be one of the hardest rocking songs from Houston,and my favorite from the album."Jesus Loves Me" is another great song not played on the radio."I will always Love you," written by Dolly Parton,is beutifull.This was Kevin Costner's favorite song,and his idea to have Whitney record the number for the soundtrack.The Kenny G/AAron Neville duet,"Even if my heart would Break," is another great cut,but the real killer is "Its Gonna Be A lovely Day," by (The S.O.U.L.S.Y.S.T.E.M.)A fantastic rap,early 90's,HipHop sound. After almost 10 years,"The Bodyguard" soundtrack is still fresh.It would be great if Costner and Houston got together again for "The Bodyguard,Part2."Whitney's stlye has changed alot since the early 90's,and I think the record and Movie would be a huge hit. 

Sketching Light: An Illustrated Tour of the Possibilities of Flash (Voices That Matter)

Sketching Light: An Illustrated Tour of the Possibilities of Flash (Voices That Matter)

Following up on the great success of The Moment It Clicks and The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes, legendary magazine photographer Joe McNally takes us on another memorable ride with Sketching Light, another trip into the land of light--but this time running the gamut from small flash to big flash, and everywhere in between.

Of course, Joe includes coverage of Nikon Speedlights, but he also covers big flash, as well as "in-between" lights as the Elinchrom Quadra. The exploration of new technology, as well as the explanation of older technology. No matter what equipment Joe uses and discusses, the most important element of Joe's instruction is that it is straightforward, complete, and honest. No secrets are held back, and the principles he talks about apply generally to the shaping and quality of light, not just to an individual model or brand of flash.

He tells readers what works and what doesn't via his let's-see-what-happens approach, he shows how he sets up his shots with plentiful sketches and behind-the-scenes production shots, and he does it all with the intelligence, clarity, and wisdom that can only come from shooting in the field for 30 years for the likes of National Geographic, Time, Life, and Sports Illustrated--not to mention the wit and humor of a clearly warped (if gifted) mind.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews


Like Sitting Down With the Reigning Master of Flash Photography, December 13, 2011

By 

Syl Arena (Paso Robles, California)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sketching Light: An Illustrated Tour of the Possibilities of Flash (Voices That Matter) (Paperback)

If you are a student of light, then consider Joe McNally`s new book Sketching Light to be a must-read. Sitting down with Sketching Light is like sitting down for a beer with Joe as he talks you through his favorite pix in a photo album. The conversation will wander, stories will be spun, jokes will be told, detailed insights will be shared, advice will be given, and you'll walk away grateful for the opportunity.

Short bits to know about 'Sketching Light'...

>The book is Nikon-centric. Joe is Nikon-centric. Don't let this worry you. If you shoot Canon, or Sony, or any other brand, don't despair. Strip out all the Nikonian jargon and 'Sketching Light' remains a heavyweight when it comes to lighting. (And, if you shoot Canon, check out Speedliter's Handbook: Learning to Craft Light with Canon Speedlites
-- written by yours truly. It will give you all the buttons and dials info that you need to drive a Canon Speedlite.)

> 'Sketching Light' is a book about the possibilities of flash and it covers the full spectrum. Joe shoots Speedlights. Joe shoots big lights. Sometimes you need just a breath of on-camera fill flash from a Nikon SB-910. Sometimes you need the punch of an Elinchrom Ranger. Sometimes you need one light. Sometimes you need to haul out every light that you can get your hands on.

> There are plenty of set shots that show Joe and his gear in action. You'll also find Joe's signature lighting diagrams--drawn by hand on napkins and sketch pads--for nearly every shoot in the book. I recommend keeping a highlighter and a black marker on hand so that you can annotate your "aha!" moments as you read.

> Yes, there are photos in the book that no mere-mortal could make. Joe is, after all, the Indiana Jones of photographers. Yet, there are also dozens of shots that you can make today with gear that you likely have around you right now.

> There are no photo captions in the book. At first, you'll hate this. You've likely grown accustomed to flipping through photo books, pausing at a pic, and having the caption give you the basics so that you can move on. 'Sketching Light' makes you earn your knowledge. I guarantee you, however, that as you read Joe's narratives and decode his photos, you'll be a stronger photographer for your efforts.

> This is not a beginner's book that lays a foundation of basic concepts and then layers new ideas on top. Rather, Joe starts right in at an intermediate level and keep moving. Think of 'Sketching Light' as a long conversation that jumps around and you won't be disappointed. Each "chapter" is really another "hey, let me tell you about this now...." And yes, you can jump around 'Sketching Light' and read the chapters for the pix that interest you today and then jump to another spot tomorrow.

> 'Sketching Light' may give you deja vu. If you've read Joe's blog, watched his videos on Kelby Training, or attended one of his seminars/workshops, then you've likely seen some of these pix and heard some of these stories before. I see this as being like catching up with an old friend rather than a shortcoming. Of course, there were pages and pages of material in 'Sketching Light' that I'd never seen before.

While wrapped in a cover that says "flash", for me, 'Sketching Light' is really about vision and using whatever gear you have to craft images that express that vision. It's about dreaming big and having the courage to fail. It's a book that says "go out there and create the images that only you can create."

Awesome and inspring... and an important note on Nikon vs. Canon, December 16, 2011

By 

Hankk (Boulder, CO) 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sketching Light: An Illustrated Tour of the Possibilities of Flash (Voices That Matter) (Paperback)

Amazing book. He's a frikkin' genius writer, because he's so uninhibited and confident and smart that he gives you a brain-dump of everything in his mind. Take from it the bits you like, run with 'em, and have fun making some awesome shots.

If you haven't used a lot of flash before, you'll sometimes read over a page and have no idea what he's talking about. WTF? Not that he's overly technical... kind of the opposite, that he's so gushing and enthusiastic and dropping all the hip terms for everything ("start with a bit of a hot rim and then back it off, 'cause in a sidelight situation it's gonna blow it out by a stop... then it gets piped backed to the lens and baby, it's dark out there!"), that it's hard to bring him out of orbit and back into the land of 'OK, what button do I push?' But stick with it. Read the book, shoot, read it again, shoot some more. You'll get it.

McNally gets a lot of attention for using flashes in extraordinarily complex setups -- and yeah, he does. But he's always focusing on the people... the story... the eyes. He's not a landscape photographer. His stories about interacting with his subjects (models, celebrities, musicians, quarterbacks, astronomers, bagpipe makers) are what this is really about.

This book has longer stories, more details and more diagrams compared with the previous books. If you don't have his other books (Hot Shoe Diaries, or The Moment it Clicks) and you want to learn his techniques, *get this one instead*. It's fatter, it's got more writing, and the narratives are longer and more intricate. This one is more chapter-based with various techniques, and the other two are closer to "here's a cool photo, and here's a page about how I took it." If you have the other two and love him, then get this one since it's essentially all-new material, and his technique and philosophy are so useful and inspiring, that the more you read and see of his work, the better your photos will end up as a result.

*** Important note: McNally uses only Nikon and makes only passing mention of Canon. Everything is virtually interchangeable, *but* there's one important difference about flash exposure you need to know if you're a Canon shooter. All over the book, he's talking about the EV exposure compensation being a global adjustment (e.g., p. 213, 345) -- that is, if you change the EV on the camera, you program underexposure into the flash as well. That's how it works on Nikon, but *not* on Canon!

On Nikon: the camera EV and flash EV are indeed linked: lowering the camera EV lowers the flash output. So, to highlight the foreground, you go -2 EV on the camera, and then back up +2 EV on the flash to compensate.

But on Canon, this is *not true*: the camera EV and flash EV are independent. Dropping the camera EV drops the ambient exposure, but keeps the flash output the same! So to do the same as above on Canon, you want to do -2 EV on the camera, and leave the flash at 0 EV. If you do what McNally says, you'll end up over-flashing your subject on Canon.

This difference is *not* well documented, but you can find some more info on it at Canon's web page -- Google for "Canon EOS speedlite system tips" and click on the tips by photographer Stephen Wilkes, and there are a lot of sample photos for how this works. Neither system is better or worse -- but you do need to be aware of the differences!

*** Update February 2012. Nikon's new D4 will ship soon. The D4 offers the option to set the flash level using the Canon way, not the Nikon way... that is, on the D4, doing a -EV on the exposure will now leave the flash EV unaffected. Nice change, since it means you need to do one adjustment, not two, to lower the ambient level. It appears that this is an option (not a full-time change), and that this applies to the D4 only, not the D800. For details, search for an article called "Exposure Compensation When Using i-TTL Gets Easier with the D4" on Nikon's site.

Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images

Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images (Voices That Matter)

David's best book to date, October 30, 2011

By 

DanielJGregory  

This review is from: Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images (Voices That Matter) (Paperback)

This is the fourth book of David's that I have purchased (not counting his ebooks over at craft and vision), and it is probably my favorite. I have been teaching an intro to photography course using his within the frame book, but next time I teach this class, I'll be using this book instead. It does a great job of focusing on a something that matters more than f/stops and shutter speeds---the vision of the artist and the grammar to talk about it with others.

On of my biggest frustrations as a photographer when talking to others about their work is how little they are able to discuss why they like certain photographs and what it is about those photos that make them unique to their vision. With so many people creating and showing great images, it is not enough to just be a good photographer. You have to be a creative photographer whose work stands out as different from others. I have found that to understand how your work is different and what your sense of aesthetics are requires a vocabulary/grammar to discuss the work so that you can continue to push those elements in your work that are unique to your vision.

David does a good job in this book by helping the visual artist begin this process. The book starts with some background on how David came to this book and what to expect. He spends some time discussing vision and intention in photography; and how vision is often times lost in conversations of gear, technique and tangible skills. In these early pages, much of the conversation is about the nature and intention required in the building of a "good photograph"

The second part of the book looks at two critical components of a photograph. The first is the elements within the image and their impact on the viewer. Elements such as lines, color, repetition and light are discussed in-depth as a language to discuss images rather than as a set of rules that need to be followed to create a good image. The second component is the decisions that are made when the camera is pointed at the subject and the shutter clicks. From lens choice, focus points, to framing and exposure; all these critical decisions are often made very quickly with little thought while shooting. David provides a chance to look at the impact of these decisions, and how we can use our awareness of these components to make more interesting photos.

The third part of the book is a collection of David's images where he spends a lot of time looking at the application of the conversations in the earlier chapters of the book. We get to look at not only a variety of photographs and subjects, but also exactly how David uses these concepts in the creation and post-production of his own images. I found David's openness and honesty refreshing. He is willing to talk about what worked and didn't work for him and things he might change in the future. Having 20 examples of David's work builds a great foundation to start with before taking on your own work.

As I said, I am a fan of David's work; and I think he has an amazing gift to write so that you feel as if you are talking over a cup of coffee. He finds a way to make the conversation seem to be both educational and conversational at the same time. I have found him to be great mentor over the years and look forward to continuing to use his guidance to improve my own art for many more years.

Message, Elements and Decisions, October 25, 2011

By 

Conrad J. Obregon (New York, NY USA)  
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images (Voices That Matter) (Paperback)

Anyone who has read David duChemin's other books will know why I regard him as a thoughtful photographer. In this book he returns to the starting place, discussing composition.

The beginning of the book talks about photography as a means of communication of the photographer's vision, and defines a few concepts that the author uses throughout the remainder of the book, particularly "Message, Elements and Decisions". The selection of an Element or Decision should enhance the Message. Next he discusses what he calls Elements, like line, light and moment. For Decisions he considers topics like framing, placement and exposure. Finally he presents twenty of his own photographs, explaining how the Elements and Decisions explicate the Message.

Early in the book the author discusses photographers who say they don't need to understand what he means by Message, Elements and Decisions because they say they shoot intuitively. DuChemin charitably suggests that the best of these have probably internalized those elements. The remainder are probably just lazy photographers who would probably most benefit from duChemin's analysis but are those most unlikely to try to understand it. (This harsh conclusion is mine, not duChemin's.)

This is an excellent book and the author's analysis of his photographs will prove useful to readers in trying to internalize the concepts of Message, Elements and Decisions. Sometimes I disagreed with the author's conclusion that a particular technique had enhanced the meaning of an image, but even in those cases, I believed the examination of the technique would ultimately improve my own photography.

The concepts presented are not new and have been presented in many other photography books. In fact as I read, I wondered why he had not stuck to the traditional terms of description and analysis of the arts, like form and content, or technique and product. Although the author does not explain the advantage of a new taxonomy, he obviously feels that it will help the reader to get a better grasp on the underlying concepts. I'm not certain that it does, but on the other hand, it certainly is no worse than the more traditional form. In any event, my own belief is that multiple approaches to concepts help us to get a better grasp, and reading duChemin can only help, even if you are an experienced photographer.

It seems to me that the author's earlier works, like "Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision" served to develop concepts that had not been emphasized enough to photographers. This book covers ground that studious photographers will be familiar with, but the path may be more attractive.