First Light: A Landscape Photographer's Art [Hardcover]

Joe Cornish (Author), Charlie Waite (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 24, 2002

Drawing on more than two decades of experience, one of Britain’s most distinguished landscape photographers presents a collection of thought-provoking essays accompanied by a selection of stunning imagery. Containing a diverse array of picturesque landscapes ranging from North Yorkshire, the rocky canyons of the Colorado Plateau, the rugged Cornish coast, and the stunning rainforests of New Zealand’s Fjordland, this incredible visual collage reflects the philosophical intent behind each spectacular image. Revealing the technical considerations for each image—including light, weather, timing, composition, what dictated the choice of viewpoint, and selection of film and filters—this analytical yet deeply personal account is replete with practical advice for photographers of all skill levels, and a remarkable visual journey to some of the most beautiful locations in the world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joe Cornish is an accomplished international photographer, and is the illustrator of Coast, Countryside, and Scotland's Coast. 

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Aurum Press (October 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1902538242
• ISBN-13: 978-1902538242
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,024,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and inspiring, March 26, 2007

By 

Rakesh Malik (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: First Light: A Landscape Photographer's Art (Hardcover)

Joe Cornish is a well-known landscape photographer, and here he presents a collection of stunning photographs, along with a brief writeup about how he created them. He also includes a similar photograph that he feels was a failure, and explains why to go along with each successful photograph. Most of these less than successful photographs are of the same subject as the main photograph on each 2-page spread.

All in all, the photography alone is worth the price, and reading the creator's thoughts about each image is educational for those who are interested in pursuing photography.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great idea, well done, recommended (but could be a little better), May 4, 2009

By 

Michael Brochstein (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: First Light: A Landscape Photographer's Art (Hardcover)

There are a small number of one or two page essays in this book and they are interesting and worthwhile. Most 2-page spreads in this book display a larger image that Joe Cornish is happy with as well as smaller one that he is less happy with. Joe discusses in good detail the background related to the larger image. He then also discusses (in less detail) the smaller image.

The quality of the imagery in this book is quite good and I would be very very proud if I was able to claim them as my own.

I gave this book only 4 stars because I think the book would have been better had Joe discussed in much more detail why he thought the smaller images didn't work as well as he would have liked. To a lessor extent I would have also liked more analysis of why in his opinion the larger images worked. I'm sure Joe knows this information given his experience and ability and reading his analysis of an image would be a much greater value-added than some of the other interesting but much less educational background information he discussed about each image.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The BEST Landscape Book for the 4x5" Enthusiast!, August 17, 2008

By 

mixed blessings (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: First Light: A Landscape Photographer's Art (Hardcover)

Joe Cornish is a premier large format photographer. The images in this spectacular book are breath-taking and the locations are awe inspiring. I have a large collection of photo books, but this is a #1 Favorite. Highly recommend!