Photography book surveys: Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, Philp Hyde

[QT Luong]

It just occured to me that some of the book surveys that I wrote a while back may be of interest to readers of this forum, and given that all the photographers are dead, they are timeless:

Ansel Adams:
http://www.terragalleria.com/blog/ansel-adams-photography-books/
http://www.terragalleria.com/blog/ansel-adams-writings/

Eliot Porter:
http://www.terragalleria.com/blog/eliot-porter-books/

Philip Hyde:
http://www.terragalleria.com/blog/philip-hyde-books/

I'll have a few more planned, mostly centered around the national parks.

[Bill_1856]

My favorite of all photography books and all time is Paul Strand's "Time in New England."

[David Schaller]

Thank you so much for your effort on this QT! I have just read the Eliot Porter post, and it is a wonderful resource.

[rdenney]

These are still relevant indeed.

You made me go pull my original edition of Porter's In Wildness... to look at it again. I don't know--color lithography has certainly improved as the years have gone by, but there is an intensity in those varnished Kromekotes that I've never seen matched in any book since. I found it in a used bookstore, and the price marked in it was $35.00, an absolute steal. One of the things I liked most about it was that Porter didn't mind photos that only work printed large, depending on the detail to represent the whole rather than on the whole supported by detail. That theme he explored with Chaos, which I also have (as well as The Place No One Knew and Maine).

And while I was there, I had to find again my copy of Slickrock, which I bought on my first trip to Moab sometime in the 80's. I bought that book and Desert Solitaire, which I reread every two or three years as a reminder. I think it may have been when I first read your blog on the topic that I bought Dry Lands.

People should not miss the back-and-forth discussion between you and David Hyde, by the way, if they want to know some inside perspective on the Sierra Club publication program.

Rick "who can't afford the prints and so buys books" Denney

[Doug Howk]

Thanks for the reviews - your comments were insightful. What do you think of the recently published "Ansel Adams in the Yosemite Valley"?

[QT Luong]

I haven't seen it nor sought it. Quite a few of his books are redundant, and I suspect this one might be part of them, but I could be wrong.

[neil poulsen]

Ansel Adams books were an initial inspiration for me that drew me into large format photography. They are first rate books.

That said, for me, a book whose stature rises to similar heights is Eric Stoller's Modern Architecture. Many of the photographs in that book are truly poetic. I like photographing architecture, and that's the book that has inspired me most in that direction.