Favorte LF B&W landscape photographer books

DrPhil · Jul 27, 2004

Okay, so the guys that shoot color LF are well known. e.g. Dykinga and Muench. However, what about LF B&W landscapes? There are the traditional ones like:

Ansel Adams

John Sexton

Clyde Butcher

What are your favorite B&W LF photography books? Why?

Les McLean · Jul 27, 2004

John Blakemore - Inscape

He captures the mood and energy of the landscape so well

Bruce Barnbaum - Visual Symphony

A celebration of the natural landscape and ancient and modern man made structures in one publication. Quite magnificent.

Brett Weston - Master Photographer

My first serious influence

Thomas Joshua Cooper - Between Dark and Dark

My second serious influence.

Edward Weston - every one of his books is a masterpiece for me

Eric Rose · Jul 27, 2004

Sometimes I can hear Edward Weston talking to me while I'm taking photos or working in the darkroom. He's usually berating me for being such a hack and not knowing a fine print if I fell over it. But that only happens if I don't take my medication LOL.

Of the majors:any books by the following-
Edward Weston - one of the only photographers that IMHO really got it.
Minor White
Paul Capignegro (sorry for the poor spelling)
Bruce Barnbaum - Visual Symphony and Tone Poems I and II
Don Kirby - Wheatlands
and of course my little buddy Les McLean.

KenM · Jul 27, 2004

Ray McSavaney - Explorations. Not available in stores, you have to get it directly from Ray. Exquisite book. I took my first workshop from Ray, and I learned a lot from him.

Huntington Witherill - Orchestrating Icons. Deliate prints, very beautiful.

I've got other books by Don Kirby, Bruce Barnbaum (2), Ansel Adams (2), John Sexton, Morely Baer, etc., but the above two have had the most impact on me photographically.

argentic · Jul 27, 2004

Huntington Witherill

Kenro Izu

Bruce Barnbaum

Edward Weston

Brett Weston

KenM · Jul 27, 2004

EricR said:
Bruce Barnbaum - Visual Symphony and Tone Poems I and II

II? It hasn't been published yet - are you talking about seeing the proofs, or are you talking about the individual Opuses in Book I?

Or did your shopping cart house fall over and smack you in 'da head?

Jorge · Jul 27, 2004

Paul Caponigro
Michael Kenna
Henry Gilpin
John Sexton

Eric Rose · Jul 27, 2004

Huntington Witherill that's the other name I was looking for. And yes I am referring to the proofs of Tone Poems II. Although I have seen more recent stuff than you have I think.

I have my shopping cart parked in my newly created double wide refridgerator box emporium.

If it keeps raining though I am going to have to move into Ian Greant's Stalker Van.

Aggie · Jul 27, 2004

EricR said:
I have my shopping cart parked in my newly created double wide refridgerator box emporium.

If it keeps raining though I am going to have to move into Ian Greant's Stalker Van.

Eric you aren't wearing your neoprene? Shame on you for wasting good box space when you have no need of it.

One of my favorites that has not been mentioned is Paula Chamlee, you should see some of her work!

c6h6o3 · Jul 27, 2004

Aggie said:
One of my favorites that has not been mentioned is Paula Chamlee, you should see some of her work!

Yeah, Paula makes some beautiful photographs all right. So does that guy she's always hangin' around with....what was his name again? Damn! I must be getting old.....

Doug Bennett · Jul 27, 2004

Minor White: "Rites and Passages";
Ansel Adams: "Portfolios".

JohnArs · Jul 27, 2004

Hi

I vote for Bruce Barnbaums book: The Art of Photography
A must for every one with a camera! The best teaching book I know!

mikewhi · Jul 27, 2004

Well, I have about 600 photography books, so favorites are hard to choose from, but here goes:

Paul Caponigro: Masterworks, Wise Silence
Brett Weston: Master Photographer, Photographs From Five Decades
Morley Baer: Stones Of The Sur
Ansel Adams: Yosemite And The Range Of Light (the first monograph I ever bought)
Minor White: Mirrors, Messages Manifestations, They Eye That Shapes
Harry Callahan: Waters Edge (awesome book)
Michael Smith: Landscape I & II
Edward Weston: Life's Work, recently published by Lodima and very good

That's all that come to mind now. Maybe I'll list some more later.

doughowk · Jul 27, 2004

Besides the usuals (Adams, Weston, Sexton), Walker Evans at Work and Clyde Butcher's Living Waters

photomc · Jul 27, 2004

Yep!
Paula is right up there..with Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Bruce Barnbaum, Don Kirby, John Sexton (and that is just the LF, then there is Keith Carter..) So many books so little money.

jovo · Jul 27, 2004

I have many of the books listed so far and return to them constantly. What's surprising though, is that other than a couple of books by Muench (David and David and Mark) and one by Dykinga, all of the monographs I have are B&W. Oh, and Cole Weston's book, "At Home and Abroad" is color as well. The point is that, in my own head at least, I usually think of fine-art photography books as only being in black and white.

I've always wanted to see more of Paul Caponigro's work. The only book of his I have is "New England Days"...it's marvelous and highly recommened if you come across it.

John McCallum · Jul 27, 2004

It's the same for me too John, B&W is definately favoured. Though there is a lot of colour landscape work that I regard as fine art, it tends to be more abstract stuff.

So many great books mentioned, one I would add, particularly if you like abstract images is Steve Mulligan's recent publication "EarthWorks".
(I actually haven't received my copy yet!)

DrPhil · Jul 27, 2004

If Steve Mulligan is the guy I'm thinking of, he had a few prints hanging in the back of Tom Till's gallery in Moab. They were really nice.

John McCallum · Jul 27, 2004

Yes I like his work, though haven't been able to see a large amount yet. There is a preview of his book at: http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=ZC247

roteague · Jul 27, 2004

DrPhil said:
Okay, so the guys that shoot color LF are well known. e.g. Dykinga and Muench.

Don't forget Joe Cornish. IMHO, the UK has some of the finest landscape photographers in the business, although I am a huge fan of Jack Dykinga.

DrPhil · Jul 27, 2004

John McCallum said:
Yes I like his work, though haven't been able to see a large amount yet. There is a preview of his book at: http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=ZC247

Yes, some of those images are the prints that were in the back of Tom Till's gallery. Not that I didn't like Tom's images; however, I spent more time in the back looking at the B&W images.

Helen B · Jul 27, 2004

So far only Les has mentioned Thomas Joshua Cooper. I think that he is an outstanding photographer. When I first saw his work I was skeptical, annoyed. "What the hell is this pretentious twaddle?" Well, I changed my mind - he's been one of those photographers who inspire me, though our pictures are very different. "Eye to eye. Keep going." in Tom's words.

So:

Between Dark and Dark

Dreaming the Gokstadt

Tom Duffy · Jul 27, 2004

Landscape, loosely defined.

My four favorite B&W, 2 of whom I haven't heard mentioned yet:
Wynn Bullock - The Enchanted Landscape
George Tice - Urban Landscapes
Michael Kenna - 20 Year Retrospective
Paul Caponigro - Masterworks

My four favorite Color, none of whom I heard mentioned yet:
Joel Sternfeld - American Prospects
Stephen Shore - Uncommon Places
McDuff Everton - The Western Horizon
Beahan and McPhee - No Ordinary Land

Helen B · Jul 27, 2004

I thought that this was a B&W thread, so didn't mention any colour...

Jorge · Jul 27, 2004

Arrrghhh.....you read the question and then your mind goes blank, any other time you have the names of these photographers at your fingertips.

Shame on me, how could I have failed to mention George Tice, Moreley Bear, and Wynn Bullock.

A couple more whom have passed under the radar are Dick Arentz and Carl Weese.

And of course, I am surprised to see nobody has mentioned Michael A. Smith, whatever my philosophical and editing disagreements are with him, I think he is darn good, but I think I would categorize him as an environmental more than a landscape photographer. It is a shame he does not do more portraits also. By the way Michael, what the heck does the "A" stand for? Abner?...

Favorte LF B&W landscape photographer books

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