Folberg photographs the night sky above his homeland, often as a backdrop but sometimes as the main event, and the resulting images, as science writer Timothy Ferris observes, come closer than most other depictions to rendering the reality of being outside in the dark. It must be said that this is an effect of Folberg's artistry rather than one of verisimilitude to human vision. He develops and prints to highlight a stand of trees, a ruined temple, or a rock formation as it probably wouldn't be to the naked eye; he double exposes to increase the intensity of stars; and the visual textures he produces often make these black-and-white pictures seem subliminally colored. These are very careful, painstaking artworks. None are printed smaller than eight inches square here, and none fail to evoke the quietness, coolness, and spaciousness of night, and in the starscapes, the preternaturally still depths of astronomic space. And there isn't one that doesn't make one wish the book were bigger, perhaps elephant-folio size.
Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Spectacular is not too effusive a word --
New York Times"...what makes Folberg's night skies so dazzling is the same thing that gives deep-sky astrophotographs their scientific worth: long exposures that record hundreds if not thousands of stars that are invisible to the naked eye." -- Russell Hart -- American Photo
"The genius of these images is not in the revelation of any new truth, but in the expression of unsolvable equations. We are shown both realms of the visible universe, Earth and sky. To use Folberg's own words, he makes images that 'meet at the edge of the human cosmos.' This wonderful and mystical collection of images makes you ponder: How can night images have so much detail and yet engender so much mystery?" -- Astronomy Magazine
"Folberg has captured an almost spiritual essence in rocky landscapes, vast mountains and ghostly dunes by photographing at night while the stars shine brightly. Intriguing stuff." -- Practical Photography
"Spectacular is not too effusive a word for Mr. Folberg's colorscapes." -- Grace Glueck --The New York Times
"His vision of endless stars juxtaposed against the magnificent landscape is seamless." -- Black & White Magazine
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
