Customer Reviews

Bradford Washburn: Mountain Photography

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

You will not believe your eyes when you see this book! For the most part, these are large-format, black and white, aerial photographs taken mainly in Alaska, but also some from the Swiss Alps and the American Southwest. Apparently, they originally had the practical purpose of surveying the land, but they have astonishing artistic value, and the reproductions are stunning. Many of the pictures were apparently taken with the sun low in the sky, and so the shadows sharply etch the relief, and these pictures almost spring out of the page. We live on a gloriously beautiful planet, and these photographs capture that beauty from a unique perspective and show it off as seldom seen before.

This book is a marvelous record of mountain exploration and photography with photos that span a period of almost 70 years. This small collection representing much less than 1% of Washburn's photographs is a remarkable record of photography rivaling Ansel Adams or Vittorio Sella. Although the photos were originally taken to support his geological or surveying research or to provide guide shots for climbers, Washburn soon realized that he had a knack for taking photographs as art that were as good as any being produced by other photographers.

This book may be a disappointment for those who want expedition photographs as few of the photographs include people. Indeed, having a few more pictures of people would have warranted five stars. Yet, many of the pictures are aerial photographs so the lack of people in many is not surprising. What makes it ultimately worthwhile is the crispness of the pictures, the attention to details on the ridges and valleys of the mountains, the patterns revealed in the flow of glaciers, and so on.

One other point of interest is that this book was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2000 Banff Mountain Book Festival -- the only pure photography book to win that award.

Bradford Washburn roamed the globe for eighty years as a mountaineer, explorer, cartographer, and aerial photographer. In Bradford Washington: Mountain Photography, Tony Decaneas as assembled one hundred full-size landscape mountain photographs from the more than ten thousand images that Bradford made during his lifetime of photographic accomplishments. From the Grand Canyon to the Alps, from Mount McKinley to Mount Everest, these black and white landscape photos of mountain peaks and picture portraits of team members and colorful characters that are each of them museum quality visual images showcasing Bradford's photography as having risen to the level of fine art.

Bradford Washburn is one of the greatest black-and-white mountain photographers who has ever lived! Using a very large format aerial camera, Washburn has taken over 10,000 black-and-white photographs from helicopters and airplanes. His photographs feature the most dramatic mountains in the world, including McKinley and the Matterhorn. Anyone who is interested in either mountain photography or dramatic black-and-white scenery photography (e.g. Ansel Adams) would love this book. I also recommend Vittorio Sella's "Summit" book for similar photographs that were taken fifty years earlier.

After the exhiliration generated by Washburn's classic book on Denali, this one left me slightly disappointed. There are many exquisite photographs and a few truly great ones, such as the famous picture of climbers on the Doldenhorn (in the Bernese Alps). But on the whole there are just a little bit too many pictures of abstract geological features. These reveal a more scholarly side of Washburn's art: interesting to round out our view on this great artist, but less captivating than the epic mountain pictures. Also, there is an appendix with a detailed account of Washburn's career, with many little inset pictures of people he worked with (Barbara Washburn being the most prominent amongst them). I would have liked to see many more of these pictures and at a size more amenable to detailed study. A final point of criticism on this book concerns the interview with Washburn by the editor: it is very revealing but way too short! I would have guessed that Decaneas would have been able to extract much more material from all the conversations he has had with Washburn in the final years of his life. So, it's a nice book to have in the library, but Decaneas missed an opportunity to put together an absolute classic. Pity.

I saw an exhibit of this photographer's work at the Boston Mueseum recently. I especially like the way that his work makes you realize the scope and magesty of natural landforms and the beautiful patterns that echo throughout natural landscapes. The photographs are black and whites and frequently emphasize light and darkness.

I was anxiously awaiting this book - it is very hard to find - but I never received it. The seller (not Amazon) accepted my purchase, then sent me a different book. When I asked for an exchange, the seller admitted that they did not have the book.

So, it appears to be an excellent book, but I am still looking for it.

I was looking for something different. The photographs are beautiful but they are mostly not of the mountain in which I was interested.

TERRIBLE COPY - FALLING APART - PAID VERY HIGH PRICE AND WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH THE QUALITY OF THE BOOK. WHEN PURCHASED IT SAID IT WAS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION.