Australian Colors: Images of the Outback [Hardcover]

Tim Winton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

Startling, wry, lyrical, and beguiling photographs and passionate commentary document the landscape and people of Australia's interior in this panoramic volume. 331 color illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Immense, haunting, unique in geology and life forms, the outback looms to the north and west of Australia's urbanized southeast coast. For two years, photojournalist Bill Bachman recorded both this forbidding landscape and the people who dwell--and even thrive--in it, compiling the images for his remarkable book, Australian Colors. Deftly avoiding all the usual clichés--there is not a single kangaroo shot--Australian Colors mixes stunning vistas of twisted cliffs and sweeping plains with more intimate portraits of outback culture. Here are the jackaroos and jillaroos (cowboys and cowgirls) who work the vast outback ranches, the sunken-jawed fishers of isolated creeks and shoals, the well-lubricated celebrants at a bush horse race. Bachman's striking photographs are well matched by his lengthy, colorful captions, which go far beyond typical coffee-table book text. In addition, each of the book's winningly titled 19 sections ("Trees as Men Walking," "Dogs? They Run the Country") begins with a short essay by award-winning Australian novelist Tim Winton, whose evocative, often humorous prose perfectly complements Bachman's images. There is one question that has to be asked, however: why are Australia's aborigines--the outback's original inhabitants--so underrepresented in Australian Colors? By revealing so little of them, perhaps Bachman reveals more of outback culture than he intends. --Rebecca Gleason

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications; Subsequent edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0817442340
• ISBN-13: 978-0817442347
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 10.8 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,279,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true feeling for the "outback", January 6, 2000

By 

Treena B. (Grenoble, France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Australian Colors: Images of the Outback (Hardcover)

This book is magic for people who, like me, love the Australian "outback" and want to take a little bit of it home. But for all those who have never been, and can perhaps only dream of going, then the next best way of experiencing its mystery,its stark beauty, not to mention the warmth of the locals, is through Bill Bachman's marvellous photos. They capture his love for the country and believe me, the colours are real! Outback Australia truly is this red.