Customer Reviews

A Handful of Dust: Disappearing America

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This is a gorgeous book. If a picture is normally worth a thousand words, Plowden's images are each whole chapters. They convey so much both by what they show and by what they leave out. Skillfully taken and carefully printed, they contain a sumptuous wealth of detail which forces the viewer to linger on each image and contemplate it. Plowden is an American master.

David Plowden, in "A Handful of Dust: Disappearing America," continues his remarkable success in being one of the most significant, contemporary visual historians of America's fast disappearing past. His evocative images of marginal, often abandoned and disintegrating buildings and structures poignantly reminds us both of the transient nature of human endeavor and of the necessity of such endeavor in every age upon which society depends. In addition to providing grist for philosophical insights and musings, his meticulously composed images offer the viewer strong, black and white patterns and details that invite closer scrutiny and discovery.

David Plowden continues his trend of excellently photographing the America of times past, providing us with superbly photographed subjects and commentary on our fading history. For those in love with a kinder, gentler America and who grew up in a small town like myself, these vignettes will help you preserve your fondest memories, yet, will leave you with a feeling of sadness at the passage of time.

This book should be in the library of any serious documentary, architectural or other type of photographer.