The wilderness has fascinated me since childhood. I spent much of my teens and twenties rock-climbing, ice-climbing, and mountaineering in ranges from Alaska to Argentina. By my early 30s, however, my interest in outdoor sports was waning, and my interest in photographing wild places was soaring. I became a full-time wilderness landscape photographer in 1993. For fifteen years, I shot 4x5 film. Then, in 2008, I retired my film cameras for good and began shooting digitally. Today, after more than 30 years of full-time landscape photography, I am still enthralled with the arduous, ecstatic experience of trying to capture the elusive beauty of the wilderness.
I wrote
The Art, Science, and Craft of Great Landscape Photography
Galen Rowell was, to use Galen’s own term, a phantom mentor to me as a 29-year-old freelance writer and photographer specializing in the outdoors.
The photographs, anecdotes, and insights into the craft of landscape and outdoor-adventure photography found in this book inspired me to look with more observant eyes at the beauty of the natural world and to hone the skills required to capture the magical moments I was experiencing in the wilderness.
Eighty color photographs arranged to reflect the infinitely varying qualities of light in mountain landscapes are accompanied by an informative text describing Rowell's philosophy of photography, the development of his personal style, and the methods guiding his work
Understanding natural light in all its varieties is crucial for a landscape photographer. This book is still one of the best books I’ve read on the science of atmospheric optics, the study of how sunlight interacts with our atmosphere.
After reading it, I understood for the first time why the sky on a clear day is blue, why sunrise and sunset light is sometimes red, how rainbows form, and where in the sky to find them. We often fail to see phenomena we don’t understand because we don’t know where to look. Rainbows, Halos, and Glories helped me understand natural light, which helped me appreciate the ever-changing beauty of the sky.
Over two hundred illustrations, many in full color, capture for both the layman and scientist the beautiful optical effects that we see in the sky. The author describes and explains these effects in non-technical language. In addition to discussing such well-known phenomena as rainbows and halos, he treats the rarer ones, including sun pillars, sun dogs, glories, and mirages. Computer simulations and simplified mathematical models are used to make the physical origins of these events intelligible. The book sensitizes readers to a wide range of optical phenomena in the sky, explains how to look for them, and imparts an increased…
In This Together explores how we can harness our social networks to make a real impact fighting the climate crisis. Against notions of the lone environmental crusader, Marianne E. Krasny shows us the power of "network climate action"—the idea that our own ordinary acts can influence and inspire those close…
This book is the best book I’ve found on our complex visual system and how we use it to view art. I came across it while trying to understand why some of my landscape images succeeded and others failed. Although no book can fully explain people’s preferences, I still found its insights into how we view art to be unexpected and fascinating.
In this new expanded edition Livingstone thoroughly updates this groundbreaking study with the latest findings gathered from her research, with 32 additional pages of new text and images, including 3 brand new chapters. She begins by offering a comprehensive account of the biology of vision, drawing on the history of science and her own cutting edge discoveries. She then turns to art and delves into the science underlying various phenomena in painting, using many examples from the mysterious allure of the Mona Lisa to the amazing atmospheric effects of the impressionists to illustrate her points. Along the way, she shows…
Over the last 10 years or so, the rapid advances in digital photography have created a whole new genre of photography: landscape photography at night. I became fascinated with the genre when I saw a slide show given by night photographer and author Grant Collier.
In an effort to master the subject, I picked up Grant Collier’s book. Grant is deeply knowledgeable on the topic and conveys his knowledge in readily understandable ways. My own photography benefited greatly as a result.
The night sky may be the most awe-inspiring spectacle that any of us will ever see. It can, however, be difficult to capture in a photograph, as it requires specialized techniques that are rarely used when shooting images during the day.
Grant Collier sheds light on how to capture these otherworldly images by sharing secrets he has learned over the past 21 years. He explains how to take photos of the Milky Way, northern lights, meteors, eclipses, lightning, and much more.
Grant begins by reviewing equipment and supplies that are helpful when photographing at night. He then discusses many software…
An enthralling portrait of the Bloomsbury Group’s key figures told through a rich collection of intimate photographs. Photography framed the world of the Bloomsbury Group. The thousands of photographs surviving in albums kept by Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Dora Carrington, and Lytton Strachey, among others, today offer us a private…
I loved this book because it deepened my understanding of light, lenses, cameras, how humans view color, and the limits of human vision. I strongly believe that the more I know about the tools I use to create my images and how my images are perceived by my viewers, the better a photographer I will become.
Reading this book took me one long step further toward that goal.
While there are many books that teach the "how-to" of photography, Science for the Curious Photographer is a book for those who also want to understand how photography works. Beginning with an introduction to the history and science of photography, Charles S. Johnson, Jr. addresses questions about the principles of photography, such as why a camera needs a lens, how lenses work, and why modern lenses are so complicated.
Addressing the complex aspects of digital photography, the book discusses color management, resolution, "noise" in images, and the limits of human perception. The creation and appreciation of art in photography is…
My book teaches photographers how to convert their visual peak experiences—moments of extraordinary natural beauty that evoke a sense of wonder and awe—into stunning images that elicit the same awestruck emotion in their viewers.
Great images rarely happen by chance, so the book describes in detail the best ways to visualize and plan images using smartphones and apps. It covers techniques for shooting both during the day and at night, including techniques for shooting in high-contrast situations where the camera’s sensor may not capture all the detail required in a single exposure. It also describes how to process images to maximize their impact. Readers will learn not only what to do but also why.
The scenario we are facing is scary: within a few decades, sea levels around the world may well rise by a metre or more as glaciers and ice caps melt due to climate change. Large parts of our coastal cities will be flooded, the basic outline of our world will…
Diary of a Citizen Scientist
by
Sharman Apt Russell,
Citizen Scientist begins with this extraordinary statement by the Keeper of Entomology at the London Museum of Natural History, “Study any obscure insect for a week and you will then know more than anyone else on the planet.”
As the author chases the obscure Western red-bellied tiger beetle across New…
