July, 2012:
25 Lessons is ASMP's #1 Recommended Summer Read
Recently, the American Society of Media Photographers published its 2012 List of Recommended Summer Reads and placed 25 Lessons I’ve Learned about Photography… Life! at the top of the list, along with bestsellers The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and Heart Steps: Prayers and Declarations For a Creative Life by Julia Cameron (author of The Artist’s Way).
25 Lessons has been the #1 bestselling photo essay and artist biography on Amazon for three years running including 2010, 2011 and 2012.
ASMP Reviewer Selina Maitreya writes 25 Lessons is "A wonderful long essay on photography as life."
June 13, 2011, Scotland, U.K.:
Victor Habbick Reviews 25 Lessons
Excerpt:
In your life, you may come across a book that makes you stop and question where you are going. This is one such book.
Having recently reached the grand age of 50, and like many others before me, it came as a shock to realise that so many years had drifted by. Reflecting on past achievements and lost opportunities was becoming a daily obsession and I was dearly in need of enlightenment. Call it serendipity, but along comes Lorenzo's book, "25 Lessons I've Learned About Photography... Life".
At first I thought I was about to be presented with yet another manual on photography, well meaning as they are, most are so devoid of any emotional connection to photography. They fulfill little more than any camera manual does. Not so with this one.
Lorenzo takes you on a journey where his passion for photography grows with every click of the camera, everything and everyone that is captured through his lens becomes another page in his mission to bring emotion and clarity to his, at times difficult, life.
January 26, 2011, New York City:
The Unmotivated Motivational Speaker Reviews 25 Lessons
Excerpt:
"I am on lesson 7 of the 25.
The one which has stuck with me the most to this point is “Use Your Imagination”. I won't go into the details (mainly because I don't necessarily remember them as much as how they affected me). This was the first chapter to make me want to print small posters of quotes and paste them around the office.
Use your imagination is a reminder to use the creativity each of us has (and yes, believe it or not, we all have our own imagination. It helps make possible what we and others feel might not be possible. And it makes living just a bit more fun. Read the book. You'll see what I am saying."
NOVEMBER 16, 2010, Sydney, Australia:
Author Phillip Kay Reviews 25 Lessons
Phillip Kay, author of "The Far-Famed Blue Mountains of Harry Phillips" (Second Back Row Press, Leura 1985), which revived the reputation of a famous but forgotten photographer, recently gave a favorable review of my book, 25 Lessons I’ve Learned about Photography Life! on BestQuest. An excerpt follows.
“Because his photography was part of his healing process, Lorenzo learnt to see photography as a metaphor. If what you see causes you pain, you can move, adopt another viewpoint, another perspective. Happiness is mobility, flexibility. There is a perspective for everyone where what they see brings contentment and fulfillment. They just have to keep moving until they find it. There is a point of view we can all seek out. From it we can view the beauty inherent in all things.”
I bought this book without reading reviews first, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out this is a book that is more about the photographer than the techniques of photography: the man behind an image, the feelings that guided him to do things his own way, kids, a wife, divorce, God.... It reminds us that using fancy equipment and thick theory books are just one method of learning about this beautiful way of life.
It also reminded me that it's all about you and your desire to create photography that makes us enjoy a camera.
The book's worth the read, even if it just because it offers a unique perspective, simple to understand and straight from the heart.
I happened to buy 6 kindle e-books at Amazon.com and your book, 25 lessons,, so far is my best read for the week.
Not only is it inspirational, but coming from a writer and photographer who experienced real life difficulties whilst using photography as tools to inspire ...one's own sensibilities, while narrating your story in a lighthearted and sincere manner - is somewhat rare these days. I'm not sure if I could find another read as good as this. Thank you.
I am on Chapter 11 of your book, but admittedly I am hesitant to finish reading it so soon. If only there were other books like it.
In your life, you may come across a book that makes you stop and question where you are going. This is one such book.
At first I thought I was about to be presented with yet another technical manual on photography, well meaning as they are, most are so devoid of any emotional connection to photography... Not so with this one.
Lorenzo takes you on a journey where his passion for photography grows with every click of the camera, everything and everyone that is captured through his lens becomes another page in his mission to bring emotion and clarity to his, at times difficult, life,.
Lorenzo is a master. His body of work is some of the very best in the medium today. His street work follows in the tradition of Paul Strand, Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand and Larry Friedlander.
25 Lessons should be a must for anyone who raises a camera to their eye. The lessons are well thought out, deceptively simple and easy to grasp, as well as applicable to all phases of the photographic art. In sum, the book is as seminal a piece of writing on the art of photography as Ansel's dissertation on the zone system. I found it to be reenergizing, perceptive and extremely useful.