Photographs from the Edge

There are only so many words that can be used to describe light and conditions for taking a photo, yet it is said that a picture is worth a thousand words – but why stop there? Photos speak for themselves, in as many or as few words as the viewer feels like. Knowing what to look for, or how the picture was composed, of course adds food for thought. “Photographs from the Edge” is a new book by Art Wolfe, with Rob Sheppard, that tells a lot of stories in a selection of beautiful photos, and also in the words behind them.

Most of these photos are on the left page, sometimes spilling over to the right, where there are a few paragraphs telling the story behind the image. Each has “The nature of the photo(s)” to give a few sentences of background about the subject in view, and a “Photo tip,” which sound more like they’re by Sheppard, under the image. When there is a two-page photo, the following is from the same setting, but the writing usually focuses on the first. Wolfe includes the settings, camera and lens used, and film if not digital. You can skip over that, but if you want to try more photography, these are really helpful to know, so you can see more possibilities. When he does mention specific settings in the writing, he explains why they were used, and how they enabled him to capture what he did, rather than just “I used this, this, and this” which is not helpful if you don’t know much about photography or are just beginning to learn. I found this a little more encouraging in tone, perhaps, than “John Shaw’s Guide to Digital Nature Photography” which felt more challenging.

While the titles given to his photos are not very original, they don’t have to be; the images themselves are indeed unique. They span the 1980s to now, with the last two decades mostly digital photography. There is a real variety here, but they are unified in a way. One characteristic in particular is the depth of field, where something in the background is in focus in addition to the closer subject, making a fuller composition, and they are all artistic, too. In one photo of elk, taken from an ultralight aircraft, the shadows of the elk are in better focus than the animals, and an even more M.C. Escher-esque photo depicts a hibernating bat colony. It’s a mesmerizing photo, and interesting in the challenge of not disturbing these endangered critters. Two separate photos from Buddhist monasteries in China show how to see existing art and take a picture not only to document it, but to make something personal and new with it. Some of the photos of human subjects were planned and arranged, working with people living in that area. The volcanic and astronomical pictures are stunning in their own ways, and an aerial shot of an alkaline lake looks like a microscope slide with a reddish tinge. This is a very nice book, pleasant and insightful.

Note: I received a free copy of this title through BloggingForBooks in exchange for an honest review.