Photography Q&A with Zack Arias...

In the interest of full disclosure, I have made it pretty clear on this blog that I am a HUGE Zack Arias "fan boy"!

We have posted about Zack more than a few times, reviewing his One Light Workshop DVD (which we also named "product of the year"), we reviewed his CreativeLIVE workshop, and also shared his tutorials on using white seamless (to name a few).

With that being said, lets talk about the latest book to do the "UPS thud" on my porch, Photography Q&A: Real Questions. Real Answers from, you may have guessed, Mr. Zack Arias.

Believe it or not, the first thing I read when I open a book is the dedication, I think it speaks volume about the belief structure of the author.

Now, about the book itself.

Q: Who is the target audience of this book?

A: Anyone who takes their photography seriously, being an amateur or professional photographer has nothing to do with it, being serious about the craft of photography does.

Q: What was the origin of Photography Q&A: Real Questions. Real Answers?

A: It started with Zack's Tumblr blog Photography Q&A: Ask me anything about photography (where you can still ask questions or read the other questions along with Zack's answers).

Q: Did you like this book?

A: No, I absolutely LOVED this book, so much so that I will find it hard to give away to one of our readers.

Q: Is it really just questions and answers?

A: Yup, a 100 of them, about gear, about business, about the best places to go on the web to get good honest critiques of your work, and I can't tell you how many times I said "oooh, that's a good question".

Q: Did you have a favorite part of the book?

A: Yup, page 62, Zach talks about why we should photograph the people we love.

Q: Anything else?

A: I really liked his answer to the question about building a portfolio (page 216), probably the longest answer to any question in the entire book, really really well thought out answer. Lots of visual cues and examples along with the rational for why. It drove home the point that our portfolio is the most important thing we as photographers "put out there".

Q: Is the book worth the money to buy and time to read?

A: OMG YES! Because of the diversity and range of the questions it would be impossible to cover everything that's in the book, but I can tell you truthfully - not once did I read a question/answer and think "well, that was a waste of my time".

The questions are the same ones I (and I bet you) have, and the answers are phenomenally educational.

Seriously, it's like sitting across the table from Zack Arias and peppering him for hours with every question you've ever had and listening to his thoughtful and insightful answers, how could that NOT be extremely valuable?

The things you'll learn that will add to your photography are priceless, and the time and money you'll save by not making the mistakes Zack talks about will be worth far more than the cost of buying a few cases of this book.

There are educational opportunities that don't require you to ever touch your camera, it requires you to listen, to think, to learn from the experience of others, and if that interests you, you can't do any better than Photography Q&A: Real Questions. Real Answers.