Galen Rowell: A Retrospective [Paperback]

Editors of Sierra Club Books (Compiler), Robert Roper (Introduction), Andy Grundberg (Introduction), Tom Brokaw (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 18, 2008

Galen Rowell was the archetypal adventure photographer, his iconic images published in leading magazines and scores of books, exhibited in major galleries, and cherished by fans ranging from the Dalai Lama to news anchor Tom Brokaw. When he and his wife and business partner, Barbara Cushman Rowell, perished in a small-plane crash in 2002, he had just completed a landmark assignment for National Geographic and had begun making stunning new images of his favorite old haunts in the Sierra Nevada. This highly acclaimed volume includes more than 175 images representing all phases and dimensions of Rowell’s singular career, chosen by the editors with whom he worked most closely, overseen by his family and studio colleagues, and reproduced to the highest standards of lithography from digital masters of his 35mm frames. Complementing and illuminating the pictures are essays and commentaries by Rowell’s friends and associates from the worlds of mountaineering, conservation, photography, and publishing, along with an in-depth biographical introduction by Robert Roper and an appreciation of his work by photography critic Andy Grundberg.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Photographer Rowell's athleticism enabled him to reach nearly inaccessible yet perfect vantage points for viewing magnificent vistas. He loved the palettes of sunrises and sunsets, rainbows, the northern lights--any form of concentrated heavenly light--and was particularly inspired by Tibet. "Sometimes film and human imagination work together to produce . . . images that are more powerful than reality," Rowell once observed, and, indeed, the nearly 200 images reproduced here capture sights far beyond the ordinary. This stunning retrospective celebrates Rowell's dynamic life and mourns his accidental death in 2002. Born in 1940 in California, Rowell was a world explorer, a humanist, and a tireless preservationist who hoped to "protect wild places by revealing their beauty." Friends and colleagues testify to Rowell's spirit and accomplishments, from Tom Brokaw, who describes Rowell's photographs as "great, soaring symphonies," to fellow nature photographer Frans Lanting, who points out parallels between Rowell's sublime photographs and the luminous paintings of the landscape painter Frederic Church, dubbing Rowell a "modern transcendentalist." Rowell awoke us to the majesty of our planet and the need to cherish it. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"[This] retrospective of Rowell's work, produced by his long-time publisher, Sierra Club Books, is a fitting memorial to this visionary photographer . . . His remote landscapes, weathered villagers, intense mountaineers, wild creatures, and phenomena of light are vibrant testimonials to Rowell's many loves."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Sierra Club Books; First Trade Paper Edition edition (November 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578051592
• ISBN-13: 978-1578051595
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #344,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Galen Rowell's Legacy Captured Beautifully in a Knockout Tribute Book, November 8, 2006

By 

Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Galen Rowell: A Retrospective (Hardcover)

I had the privilege of taking a photography class from the renowned Galen Rowell a few years before his tragic death in 2002. I remember very well how he told of his painstaking effort in racing across a plateau to capture the end of a rainbow as it looked like it was landing on the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. His images have inspired me to take my travel photography more seriously, even if his techniques went well over my head. Fortunately, the Sierra Club has seen fit to produce this handsome tribute, which contains about 175 of his most impressive photos, many never before published. I own a couple of his photo collections already, but the cumulative effect of this book is mesmerizing.

Even though he was heralded as the natural successor to Ansel Adams because of the vivid landscapes he often captured through his lens, Rowell was actually at his best when he showed the striking juxtaposition of a human element in his nature pictures, for example, showing rock climber Ron Kauk precariously clinging to the underside of a precipice on a Marin beach. What comes across quite clearly is a man who fulfilled his life philosophies every day, a passionate melding of artist, adventurer and environmentalist, who made a pint of anticipating his opportunities while living in the moment. To reinforce this, the editors have incorporated several testimonials from Rowell's colleagues and admirers such as Tom Brokaw, mountaineer Conrad Anker and photographer Frans Lanting, who lends particular insight into Rowell's singular motivation in transcending the reality of what he saw.

Lanting's comments lend context to Rowell's frequent use of the split neutral density filter, which intensified the color saturation in many of his most famous photos, some to a point where the image can look almost artificially enhanced. Case in point, take a look at how deeply orange the skies are in some of his sunrise photos. At the same time, the startling images he captured in Patagonia and the Karakoram Himalayas remain unparalleled, and there is hardly a more serendipitous moment than when he captured the wispy cloud formation over the split rock in the Eastern Sierras. Rowell's vision remains his own, and he leaves a legacy of photographs that resonate deeply in this book. This is a must-have for his admirers.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ansel Adams of Color Photography!, September 21, 2006

By 

Andrew Ilachinski (Springfield, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Galen Rowell: A Retrospective (Hardcover)

Galen Rowell pioneered "participatory (wilderness) photography," in which the photographer becomes an active creative participant in fine-art image making. An accomplished outdoorsman and adventurer, his deep emotional connection to nature pervades virtually all of his photographs. Another signature characteristic is his vivid use of color during the "magic hour" (at sunrise and sunset); indeed, it is arguably true that Rowell was as much a "master of color" as Ansel Adams was a master of black & white. (It is fitting that he received the Ansel Adams Award for his contributions to the art of wilderness photography in 1984.) The life of this extraordinary artist was cut tragically short in 2002 when the plane carrying Rowell and his wife (Barbara Rowell, herself an accomplished photographer) crashed as they were both returning home from a Workshop in the Sierra Mountains.

Rowell's famous photograph, "Rainbow over the Potala Palace" (which appears among the first few two-page-spread images lovingly reproduced in this fine retrospective volume) is, according to Rowell himself, one the great photos of his life. I remember seeing it years ago for the first time, and was then (as I still am now) simply in awe. It is a magnificent Wagnerian-like "epic" photograph; a perfect symbolic synergy of aesthetics and spiritual depth. It is also a quintessential example of Rowell's lifelong practice of participatory creation.

According to Rowell, this image was captured not long after a trekking group (consisting of about 15 people) that Rowell was a part of in Tibet was called to dinner. A rainbow suddenly appeared in a field below them, though not (from the point of view of the trekkers at that particular moment, as they were all settling down to dinner) in the spot that it appears in Rowell's subsequent photograph.

Rowell, relying on his years of experience with optical phenomena in diverse environments, imagined in his mind's eye the precise spot he must get to from which the rainbow would appear to emanate from the roofs of the Dalai Lama's Potala Palace. Dropping his dinner, and running into the fields as fast as he could to get to where he knew he had to position himself, he managed to capture this incredible photograph.

None of the other trekker/photographers budged an inch; although many later "claimed" to have captured the same image. In fact, none of the other images even came close to having the same drama, with the rainbows in other "versions" (having been captured from obviously wrong angles) either badly missing the Palace or invisible altogether. Only in Rowell's photograph does the rainbow rise majestically out from the Palace. Only Rowell had the forethought, intuition and strength of will to get himself, his camera and his "eye" into the right place at the right time.

Rowell's "Rainbow over the Potala Palace" (as do *all* of Rowell's finest efforts!) teaches us that a great natural scene is not always (perhaps even rarely!) enough, by itself, for a fine art photograph. It is not enough to be properly attentive, but then sit patiently, passively, awaiting the right confluence of light, tone, texture and form to present itself; one must imagine the exact space-time-soul point where that magical confluence will arise, and then act swiftly, and decisively, to grab it!

Now go out and grab this magnificent book of photography as practiced by an extraordinary artist/adventurer! You will never again see wilderness in the same way!

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice for Galen Rowell Fans, September 6, 2006

By 

Steve Shuey - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Galen Rowell: A Retrospective (Hardcover)

Coming around 4 years after the untimely death of Galen and his wife Barbara, this book does not disappoint those who enjoyed his photography. I certainly do and have for many years. This book contains a lot of photos (over 175) from early stuff to photos from his last expedition for Nat Geo. Divided into 7 main sections, you will see many of the most famous of his photos but what I like is that there are photos in there I was not familiar with. I have nearly all of his books so I like seeing stuff I have not seen before. For instance a few climbing photos of Ron Kauk and Lynn Hill, or one of 2 skiers descending the Ruth glacier in Alaska, or one from Lake Powell. Also nice are the little spot essays of some of the photos such as one by his daughter Nicole about the Lynx photo from Alaska. I'm not sure the printing of the book is of superior quality. Some of the colors seem off and a lot of grain shows up. That really is my only complaint. I am very happy to have this book, although I would rather see photos from his latest expeditions instead of a retrospective. This book is certainly worth the money.