In this book, Wright combines photographs with text to offer an intimate portrait of the people and the land of the Big Bend. Covering an almost-fifty-year span, his words and images capture both the timeless quality of the region and the changes that have followed in the wake of increasing tourism and human settlement. The heart of the book is Wright's portraits of the people who have added unique chapters to the Big Bend story. From artist Donald Judd, who found the perfect setting for his work in Marfa, to Terlingua and Lajitas residents who gladly forego urban amenities, to the Mexican villagers who have offered him hospitality, Wright explores why so many people have developed an almost mythic attachment to the Big Bend.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
West Texas as it really is,
This review is from: Portraits from the Desert: Bill Wright's Big Bend (Hardcover)
Photographer and writer Bill Wright comes from the West Texas town of Abilene: roughly eight hours drive at a steady seventy from his beloved Big Bend National Park. In Texas that, along with the fact that he's been visiting the park since childhood, pretty much makes him a local. Texas has a considerable modern history, quite apart from it's more ancient nomadic inhabitants, and Wright maintains a consciousness of this in his travels through these southern borderlands of the USA. Passport controls do indeed exist at the border bridges into Mexico, along with stern warnings that it is illegal for Texans to carry guns into the neighbouring country, but the border patrols continue for nearly sixty miles across the desert into the USA with major checkpoints ocurring at the towns of Marfa and Marathon. The area South of these checkpoints, where Wright's portraits were made, are known as The Badlands and have been for the past 150 years. Put simply Wright has an abundance of curiosity, the essential requirement of the documentary photographer; and a considerable degree of patience in the fact that he only really began making this book after a lifetime of visits. Be he visiting with the photographer Etta Koch, writing about "Crazy" Angie, who apparently isn't and operates the theatre at Terlingua Ghost Town, or photographing the rancher Buck Newsome, the white hat line on whose forehead clearly explaining how his life has been spent, Wright, while mentioning the people he was with and the details of the trip, never puts himself over the people or places he introduces to his readers. The border in West Texas might be described as permeable, with several unguarded but regularly used fords exisiting along the river. One such ford exists at a place called Lajitas, today a resort town bought lock stock and barrel by a billionaire and now boasting "the world's only international golf course", but Bill Wright digs deeper under the surface harking back to the time when the ford was an important crossing on the trail from Mexico city to the Spanish province of Nueva Viscaya. He remarks upon the "politically constructed" nature of the border between the States and their Southern neighbour, and the fact that locals continue to move freely across the Rio Grande even to this day. In an aside his thoughts wander to the realisation that where in the past Texas Rangers patrolled these areas, to keep international cattle rustling to a minimum, today the trade is reversed and the border patrols and enforcement agencies are more concerned with preventing the importation of illegal drugs. But for the local populace life continues much the same and Spanish remains the predominant language. In many ways the story as a whole is about Wright and his experiences, but more about the manner in which the place molded him over the years than any form of personal recollection. For Texas is very much about the land. He has been absolutely true to his subjects and in this book he presents that very rare sort of travelogue that will be enjoyed by visitors, people who only ever visit far flung lands from the comfort of their own living rooms, and especially the residents of the Big Bend itself; who will understand.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect portrait of the Big Bend,
By FotoFagan "Stonewall" (Austin) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Portraits from the Desert: Bill Wright's Big Bend (Paperback)
I have visited the Big Bend more than two dozen times over more than that many years and have never found a book that captured the land and the people as well as this one by Bill Wright. I remember years ago searching for something like this. I could only find a photo book of the canyons back then but this is a book with much greater depth and it did not stop at just the geological. Wright does a top notch job of introducing the wild characters who inhabit the spaces between mountain and desert; the ones who live on the sand road that goes back behind the mesa. You won't regreat adding this book to your home library.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Superb Read,
By T. Hobby "Retired" (Fort Davis, TX United States) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Portraits from the Desert: Bill Wright's Big Bend (Paperback)
I live in the greater Big Bend area; and, was surprised to discover my newest neighbors were Bill and Alice Wright. Bill's reputation is that of a great photographer; but, it will become immediately apparent to you when you read this book, that Bill is a great story teller. You will not soon lay this book down, nor forget the colorful stories revealed in his experiences of the Big Bend area.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
