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Mountain Light: In Search Of the Dynamic Landscape [Paperback]

Galen Rowell (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Release Date: Oct 10 1995
Mountain Light is the best-selling classic that captures the unique artistic vision of Galen Rowell, one of the world's most celebrated nature photographers. This remarkable collection offers 80 of Rowell's finest photographic images, as well as the stories behind them - what he was after and how he achieved it.
Rowell arranges the photographs, with details of their creation, in eight exhibits according to visual themes, reflecting his fascination with the infinitely varying qualities of light found in mountain landscapes. He recounts his development as a photographer, his philosophy and techniques for creating "dynamic landscapes," and his adventures in remote, dangerous, and beautiful places, from California's Yosemite Valley to almost inaccessible peaks in China.
Rowell also explains how film and the human eye see differently, how he selects and composes the content of his work, how to work with optical phenomena and natural light, and how equipment and adventure interact in the field.

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

The viewer's first reaction to these photographs (part of a traveling exhibit) is awethey are sheer magic. Rowell, author of In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods and Mountains of the Middle Kingdom, is perhaps the leading photojournalist of our time; he is arguably the foremost wilderness photographer. The text is partly autobiographical but focuses on Rowell's perception of photography as art and his technique of taking pictures. Accompanying each photograph of mountains in China, California, Alaska, Pakistan, Tibet, etc., is a brief essay describing how it was composed and shot (including technical data). This is a gem, the perfect gift for camera buffs, nature lovers, virtually anybody. 20,000 first printing; $35,000 ad/promo; Nature Book Society Book Club featured alternate; author tour.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Rowell ( Mountains of the Middle Kingdom ) is preeminent among photographers of mountains. His creations carry extraordinary visual impact: the affinity for light that marks his personal vision is supported by superb technical achievement. His abilities as a climber have allowed access to some of the world's most remote landscapes. This book presents 80 of Rowell's favorite photographs, grouped according to instructive similarities ("Light Against Light," "Integrated Vision," etc.). Accompanying descriptions cover not only technical data but the circumstances which surrounded the making of the image. The quality of reproduction is in keeping with the high Sierra Club standards. Necessary for serious photography collections. Jim Heckel, Lewis & Clark Lib., Helena, Mont.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Art and technique by a master of landscapes Nov 25 2003
By Fazal Majid
Format:Paperback
Galen Rowell was a world-class mountaineer and photographer. He passed away with his wife in an airplane crash on August 11, 2002.

He was a master of color landscapes and had the knack of catching unique combinations of light in the memorable photos that can be seen in his Mountain Light Gallery. Interestingly, he eschewed the large format cameras used by Ansel Adams and used exclusively 35mm cameras from Nikon (thus thoroughly debunking the orthodoxy that 35mm cannot be used for serious landscape photography).

In this book, Rowell lays out his relation to mountains, his artistic vision and his photographic techniques, in an engaging and lively style alternating between theoretical text and more illustrative intermezzos with detailed descriptions of the story behind each image (reminiscent of Ansel Adams' Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs. Like Ansel Adams, he was a member of the Sierra Club, but ecological preoccupations are woven subtly in the text. He shows a photo taken near a 4900 year old bristlecone pine that was felled by a botanist who couldn't be troubled to special-order a core sampling borer from Switzerland.

The photos in the book are gorgeous, but this is no mere coffee-table book (it is too affordable to be one, for starters). All in all, I believe this book is a must-read for anyone interested in landscape photography, even if you are not into the strenuous physical style he favored.

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5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful book, I liked the text Sep 13 2003
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The most negative review here is by someone who liked the pictures but hated what the reviewer saw as a demonstration of Rowell's ego in the text. I liked the text and enjoyed the detailed stories that went along with each picture. The text does involve Rowell talking about what he thought at the time he took the pictures, but I didn't view it as an unwarranted ego trip, the pictures are beautiful and Rowell need not be apologetic about having taken them.

Having said that, the book will do next to nothing for most amateur photographers as far as teaching them skills, a lot of the photographs in circumstances unlikely to be encountered by the weekend photographer. I guess the major take away is: find a good composition and wait for dusk, or dawn.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! April 11 2001
By Richard Semiatin
Format:Paperback
Galen Rowell's "Mountain Light" teaches beginning, intermediate and even advanced landscape photographers more about "seeing" than any other landscape photography book I have read. Unlike many other great photographers who cannot explain their craft with great clarity (including the incomparable Henri Cartier-Bresson who simply says it is "geometry"), Rowell is articulate and explains what he is doing technically, but more important artistically. Rowell has often been compared to the American landscape portrait artist Thomas Cole--but Thomas Cole on his best day could never have produced the quality of art that Galen Rowell gives to us every day. A lot of books can teach you technique; Rowell shows technique as a part of art. The art drives the technique and not the other way around. Everyone can learn something useful from this book. A tour de force.
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Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring Photography and Insightful Guidance
This book is a masterpiece. Galen Rowell adores the natural world and it shows. The collection of images is the most inspiring I have ever seen. Read more
Published on Jan 6 2001 by David Enzel
5.0 out of 5 stars Landscapes without Peer
IF you love the mountains and the feeling they give you as you take in their grandeur...or if you love photographing these majestic places, this book will likely become one of your... Read more
Published on Dec 26 2000 by CMOS
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiration for photographers and mountain lovers alike
This is a book of landscape photography which works both as a coffee table presentation of some of renowned photographer Galen Rowell's most famous images, and as an informal... Read more
Published on Dec 13 2000
5.0 out of 5 stars Appealing to the technician and artist!
I've read probably 20 books on photographic instruction, leafed through at least a hundred more, spent countless hours on web articles, sites, talking to people, and at least as... Read more
Published on Aug 1 2000
5.0 out of 5 stars Mountain Light Delight
Just finished reading every remarkable word of this excellent book. Most of these photographs cannot be taken by normal mortals. They are unique, beautiful and inspiring. Read more
Published on Feb 3 2000 by Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and inspirational: an unsurpassed primer.
Like Galen Rowell, I am a professional photographer specialising in landscape and mountain subjects. Read more
Published on Oct 23 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful, beautiful book
If you're a photographer, you owe it to yourself to read this book. The images are beautiful, but the text! That ties together the images. Read more
Published on Aug 11 1997
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