Customer Reviews

Land of the Desert Sun: Texas' Big Bend Country (Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series)

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The Big Bend is a rugged, powerful, unforgiving, and beautiful country,that exists on a scale that most of civilized man never experiences. Most casual tourists who visit Big Bend are disappointed, as I was, in their pitiful efforts at capturing the essence of the experience both in words and 35mm photographs. This is a land that does not exist in standard format; it is truly a large-format landscape that requires exceptional verbal ability and skillful large-format photography to do it justice. Gentry Steele has done just that. His love and knowledge of the Big Bend country are clearly evident in his text and, especially in his striking black and white photographs. A hearty thumbs up for this spectacular book!

This is the kind of book you return to again and again. Steele has both consumate technical skill and the eye (and heart) of an artist. The composition of each photograph is striking, but it is the play of light and shadow -- across canyon walls, over abandoned adobe buildings, and the occasional plant -- that will delight and amaze the viewer. Steele used the intense desert light as his accomplice, creating art out of light, shade, rocks, and space. Each photograph is accompanied by a brief description of what you are seeing and where the photograph was taken. Steele's love and respect for the Big Bend region is evident on every page. This isn't the kind of book to be flipped through casually. I find myself lingering over each page, savoring the image, returning over and over to particular images, seeing some new each time. I plan to give this book to friends and relatives for Christmas this year. I confess to owning two D. Gentry Steele photographic prints, including the one chosen for the cover of this book. Highly recommended!!

Gentry Steele conveys the essence of the remarkable northern extension of the Great Chihuahuan Desert in his well-written text and supliments it admirably with supurb large format photographs. An excellent introduction to one of America's least explored regions.