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46 of 46 people found the following review helpful: By This review is from: Galen Rowell: A Retrospective (Hardcover) I had the privilege of taking a photography class from the renowned Galen Rowell a few years before his tragic death in 2002. I remember very well how he told of his painstaking effort in racing across a plateau to capture the end of a rainbow as it looked like it was landing on the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. His images have inspired me to take my travel photography more seriously, even if his techniques went well over my head. Fortunately, the Sierra Club has seen fit to produce this handsome tribute, which contains about 175 of his most impressive photos, many never before published. I own a couple of his photo collections already, but the cumulative effect of this book is mesmerizing. Even though he was heralded as the natural successor to Ansel Adams because of the vivid landscapes he often captured through his lens, Rowell was actually at his best when he showed the striking juxtaposition of a human element in his nature pictures, for example, showing rock...Read more 34 of 36 people found the following review helpful: By This review is from: Galen Rowell: A Retrospective (Hardcover) Galen Rowell pioneered "participatory (wilderness) photography," in which the photographer becomes an active creative participant in fine-art image making. An accomplished outdoorsman and adventurer, his deep emotional connection to nature pervades virtually all of his photographs. Another signature characteristic is his vivid use of color during the "magic hour" (at sunrise and sunset); indeed, it is arguably true that Rowell was as much a "master of color" as Ansel Adams was a master of black & white. (It is fitting that he received the Ansel Adams Award for his contributions to the art of wilderness photography in 1984.) The life of this extraordinary artist was cut tragically short in 2002 when the plane carrying Rowell and his wife (Barbara Rowell, herself an accomplished photographer) crashed as they were both returning home from a Workshop in the Sierra Mountains.
Rowell's famous photograph, "Rainbow over the Potala Palace" (which appears among the first few...Read more 25 of 26 people found the following review helpful: This review is from: Galen Rowell: A Retrospective (Hardcover) Coming around 4 years after the untimely death of Galen and his wife Barbara, this book does not disappoint those who enjoyed his photography. I certainly do and have for many years. This book contains a lot of photos (over 175) from early stuff to photos from his last expedition for Nat Geo. Divided into 7 main sections, you will see many of the most famous of his photos but what I like is that there are photos in there I was not familiar with. I have nearly all of his books so I like seeing stuff I have not seen before. For instance a few climbing photos of Ron Kauk and Lynn Hill, or one of 2 skiers descending the Ruth glacier in Alaska, or one from Lake Powell. Also nice are the little spot essays of some of the photos such as one by his daughter Nicole about the Lynx photo from Alaska. I'm not sure the printing of the book is of superior quality. Some of the colors seem off and a lot of grain shows up. That really is my only complaint. I am very happy to have this book, although I...Read more |