Favourite colour landscape photography books

[Shawn Rahman]

I hate/loathe Meyerowitz..... his work is boring, lacking in any type of understanding of the natural world around.

Robert,

You should say how you REALLY feel! ;-)

I've heard this many times before. I've had many conversations with people who I share the same interests with, yet we completely differ on Meyerowitz. I think I understand what you mean when you say that his work lacks an understanding of the natural world around us, but I find I really enjoy an very large number of his photographs. I actually like the washed out palette look prevalent in much of his work. Not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but infinitely more interesting and pleasant to look at for me than ordinary pics of mundane things, like Sternfeld and Shore, though I like them very much as well.

But I am having a hard time figuring out what is landscape photography, and what isn't. When I thought about my responses, I thought about color photographers in general. I want to expand my list to Steve McCurry and Ragubhir Singh, who are in my mind the among finest color photographers this world has ever seen.

[Jon Shiu]

Hi, here are a few more:

Stephen Shore, Uncommon Places
http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mS...?Catalog=AP472

Gary Irving, Places of Grace, The Natural Landscape of the American Midwest


Jon

[roteague]

You should say how you REALLY feel! ;-)

I'm trying to keep from saying what I really feel about this guy. :o

[Andrew Moxom]

Lake Powell by Gary Ladd. Awesome photos

[Jerry Basierbe]

Jack Dykinga - Stone Canyons of the Colorado Plateau

Craig Blacklock - The Lake Superior Images. Although he has gone over to the dark side now, the images in this book are all film.

Jerry

[Neanderman]

Joel Sternfeld - American Prospects - Inspires me every time I go out to take photographs. And all of the essays are phenomenal. The first book I found that eloquently said a lot of the things that I was struggling to say in my own work, and it came at the perfect time for me to totally embrace it. (already posted above)

Among my small number of color landscape books, I do have "American Prospects." I didn't list it for two reasons:

• Other's had already listed it and I thought I should list some that other's hadn't.
• I sometimes find Sternfeld's ironies just a bit too easy. (This is not to say I think it was easy for him to find and photograph them, I just think they are so visually obvious that I get bored.)

This is not to run that book down, it's just one I have some issues with.

Others I have that I could have listed include:

• "Desert Cantos," Richard Misrach. I'm on the fence about this one.
• "The Democratic Forest," Willam Eggleston. Occasionally, I think this is a brilliant book, on the par of "The Americans." Other times, I'm less sure.
• "New Color," Harry Callahan. Callahan was brilliant, but I like his black and white work more.

I likely would have listed Stephen Shore, but I don't have any of his books. :-)

Alex Soth I'm just getting familiar with.

[dc1215]

Among my small number of color landscape books, I do have "American Prospects." I didn't list it for two reasons:
Other's had already listed it and I thought I should list some that other's hadn't.
I sometimes find Sternfeld's ironies just a bit too easy. (This is not to say I think it was easy for him to find and photograph them, I just think they are so visually obvious that I get bored.)

I would absolutely agree with this. If I can see a photograph and learn all that there is to learn from it within 2 minutes, then I don't really feel its worth my time, and thats exactly how some of his photographs strike me. However, when he's on, I can't really think of many people I enjoy more.

Its ironic that you bring up Stephen Shore when right after talking about some of Sternfeld's images being a little visually easy, because I feel the same way about Shore. At least in Uncommon Places. I feel in a lot of photos that its all form and very little content, and I have a bit of a problem with that...at least from a man as smart as Shore. Not to say hes not a great photographer, American Surfaces is one of my favorite books...but yeah.

[roteague]

Since when did Eggleston or Shore become landscape photographers?

[PhotoHistorian]

Since when did Eggleston or Shore become landscape photographers?

Although they are not known exclusively as landscape photographers, both Stephen Shore and William Eggleston have contributed to that area in the past. Here are a couple links of their work you might like to review.

http://www.masters-of-photography.co...re/shore5.html

http://www.masters-of-photography.co...ggleston5.html

Walker

[roteague]

Although they are not known exclusively as landscape photographers, both Stephen Shore and William Eggleston have contributed to that area in the past. Here are a couple links of their work you might like to review.

http://www.masters-of-photography.co...re/shore5.html

http://www.masters-of-photography.co...ggleston5.html

Walker

I'm familiar with their work, and neither is a landscape photographer by any stretch of the imagination. Just because they may have taken the odd landscape photo or two in the past, doesn't make them a landscape photographer, any more than my photographing my niece makes me a portrait photographer.