Customer Reviews

Photographing the Landscape: The Art of Seeing

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

John Fielder is one of the best photographers of this age. Perhaps not as commonly know as a Tom Till or a Larry Ulrich, he centers the majority of his work in the backcountry of Colorado where he's hiked virtually every inch of terrain.

This is one of the most beautiful books on photography that I own and his images taught me more than his words. He has some of the more typical landscape scenes that could be done by most competent professionals. But where Fielder stands out the most are the pictures that truly look like a complex model of math and art. He blends perfectly the elements of his trade. Photography is as much a technical craft as it is an art. To be great, you need both. Fielder is a virtual Bach of photography where he punctuates his gorgeous style with obvious control of technique.

What sets him apart from most other photographers is his style. Most of his images are not typical and clearly make use of simplicity, beautiful lines, hazy afternoons. He doesn't rely on perfect buttermilk clouds to paint a photograph for him. He uses the soft folds of a hill on a cloudy day or the sheer layers of a clear sunrise on a beach to make his pictures. He doesn't need much to turn his world in a vivid piece of artwork captured precisely on his large format.

His writing style is very much like his photographs. Simple and concise. Though at times, I did wish he would explain some concepts a bit more in depth. Mostly though, he uses his images as an example of what to do or what not to do.

He writes how he learned photography by taking pictures and then comparing them to the best (Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter). His own photographs have set a precedent, a standard beyond many landscape photographers could even dream. Take his advice and study the greats to develop an eye for the craft. The technical aspect requires some learning but to be great like Fielder, follow in his footsteps until your own style emerges.

I also enjoyed his accounts of a day in the life of a landscape photographer. To find those beautiful, untouched places, you have to be tough and be able to hike miles at altitude. It's always great to have a personal touch to an educational book. Nothing could be more mundane than a purely technical photography book especially when we all know that photographers are fairly opinionated and outspoken.

If you want a strictly technical book, invest in National Geographic's field guide. But if you are looking for inspiration, for a chance to study a master in his prime, look to Fielder. He will teach you in his images, in the subtle language of art and make the text on the page virtually unecessary.

In comparison to Galen Rowell's books, the content is better organized and it is quite a good reference book for landscape photography.
If you have read any of Galen's books, you'll know that you literally have to mine for the relevant info in the midst of his philosophies and the accounts of his stories.
This one is closer to the idea of a how-to book and quite similar to John Shaw's style.

Fielder's "The Art of Seeing" is above all a testament to the power of passion and hard work in the life of an artist. The author's writing is personal, proud and sometimes a bit arrogant, but he supports his panache with some powerful results--a collection of lovely and powerful landscape photographs. He moves too quickly through some of the technical information, and his "pizza" analogy is disappointing. But this "how-to" book is about more than technique. Between the lines, Fielder tells us that talent and technical skill are not enough...that life-long passion, dedication, care and hard work are the foundations of superior art.

It's always bothered me that another reviewer found fault with John's book, but I found none. John explains everything you need to know to become a great photographer. I was starting this career with little skill and the book dramatically improved every aspect of my work and I think it shows. All my photos were taken using the principles from his book--and I'm still reading it years after I bought it. I won't let anyone even borrow it since I refer to it so much. Incredible photos and insights! I can't afford his live seminars, but his book has gotten me a long way!

I have been taking pictures for the last twenty years. I like photography because of the challenges and possibilities everytime I press the shutter. Photography is an ART, and as such I admire many great pictures in many photography books and magazines, and this books got plenty of great pieces of ART. Like any photographers, I always like to find better ways to improve my pictures, and this book offers a great deal of practical concepts and details to make great pictures. The pictures in this book is truley Landscape, and the explaination is truly "an eye-opener". I like the explaination on ingredients of a well composed picture as well. A well written book.

This is a book that explains basic concepts of landscape photography -- rhythm, proportion, etc. -- in ways that will allow you to easily understand and use those concepts. You get clearly explained information about different types of cameras, filters, lighting, etc. and how they affect the outcome. This author capably explains the principle AND illustrates that principle with his own work, so whether you learn best from a tutorial or a definition, this book will help you. It is laid out in such a way that it is easy and pleasant to read, and the author uses plain language. It includes some useful charts and diagrams. This book seems aimed somewhat more at beginners than advanced photographers. I've been shooting a while though and found my understanding of some concepts explained by his work. His photos may not be the best I've ever seen but they ARE quite good, certainly beyond the range of most beginners and adequate for illustrating the concepts. I collect Galen Rowell's books due to a great respect for who he was -- both in terms of his wilderness ethic and his phenomenal photographs -- but, as another reviewer mentions, his books are not nearly as easy to learn from. This author concentrates on teaching but includes enough of his own experience to make for an interesting and instructive read.

What a great help this book is to learn to see, visualize and capture the panorama and the detail in landscape photography. The first Chapter flows through how to see, compose and capture. The illustrative photographs and the accompanying commentary are invaluable supports to the text.

If you are learning how to do better landscape photography, read this book after John Shaw's Landscape photography. The two books are quite different and quite compatible. Both authors have strong points of view, but as a learner it is good to hear these and take away the good in each.

You will, however, have to take some leaps to digital as it is a film based book -- I did not find this to be overly concerning.
My only wish is that Fielder still did photography field classes!

John Fielder has provided the reader with a wonderful insight into the creative processes that result in his beautiful images. Most guides to nature photography are simply technical manuals that blandly provide formulas and recipes on how to press the shutter release. Mr. Fielder, however, has demonstrated the inspirational and artistic input that is necessary to translate the emotions of the scene onto film. The most difficult aspect of nature photography is learning how to "see" the landscape. Technical advice is offered, however the most signifcant contributions to be gained are from Mr. Fielder's detailed descriptions of how he visualizes and captures images on film. Although I don't care for his pizza analogy, the overall message of this work is quite enlightening. I highly recommend this book to all aspiring photographers who would like to learn how great landscape images are created.

This coffee-table style book is a great reference, but you won't want to highlight it or dog-ear the pages! The concepts are clearly explained with Mr. Fielder's exquisite photographs as examples. It's light, easy reading, even comical at times. I would recommend this book whole-heartedly for anyone, photographer or not, that wants to see nature in more detail.

The entertaining diatribes in this customer review section to the contrary, John Fielder does know how to take striking large-format landscape pictures. I bought the book because I thought some of the pictures were really lovely. As a how-to book, though, it was a disappointment: derivative and boring and written in a smug, self-congratulatory style. Think of Donald Trump telling people how to do real estate deals and you get the idea. For example: "By some undefinable mental process I have never allowed objects to be out of place, even unbalanced, in an image. Only when I began to study design theory did it become clear to me how I do what I do."

To me the class act in how-to photography books is Galen Rowell's "Mountain Light." John Long's books are also good. If you're looking to learn stuff instead of just look at nice pictures, buy anything by those authors in preference to this book.