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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond the Most Beautiful Beach Scenes You've Seen, July 5, 2001
Review Summary: Take the most talented photographers in the world. Review thousands of their best color beach photographs. Select a few dozen. Fill in with intriguing, inspirational essays about the origin, geology, physics, terms, and biology of beaches plus describe great beach activities like surfing. The result is a stunning work that makes you wonder how come you've never seen a beach scene as beautiful as these. It's the most fun at the beach you can have without going out into the sun!Review: "The beach, after all, is among the most challenging and rewarding of photographic subjects . . . ." The shifts between land, water, and sky are often subtle. The light has an enormous influence on the colors and the mood of the scene. Light changes swiftly. The activity of the waves changes even faster. In many cases, a photograph is capturing a unique and fleeting moment, almost like a snowflake about to melt on your hand, that could not otherwise be as fully appreciated. While the editing could have selected scenes built around the nostalgia of your own experiences at beaches, the book instead takes you around the world and to rare moments to see beaches as you will probably never see them in a lifetime, even if you visited these same sites. I was particularly impressed by the scenes of waves (which must have been taken from surf boards) and through rocks. The editorial selection criteria were intriguing: To show "how the beach might see itself if it were to ponder its own face without the intermediary of the human eye." That concept would not have occurred to me, and I am sure I will think about all scenes in nature differently in the future as a result. I am sure you will, too. Next, the editors looked for "the most crystalline, intelligent, and evocative portrait . . . ." They also wanted the book to show a "shining range of visual sensiblities." This sense is nicely captured by looking at scenes from dawn to dusk, and from full sun to fog. Panoramas alternate with tight shots of a single element. The book is not limited to ocean beaches. Estuaries, rivers and lakes are also pictured. When in doubt, the book's editors seem to have selected the images with the highest levels of unusual color, along with stunning compositions from unusual angles. My favorites in the book are Art Brewer's Talava Arches on Niue Island in the Cook Islands, A. Blake Gardner's shot of Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, Michael Ventura's image of Natural Arches in Bermuda, Craig Tuttle's Tide Pool at Bandon State Park and his shot of Ecola State Park both in Oregon, Ron Romanosky's beautiful Newport Beach, California, Daryl Benson's Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Peter Lik's Australian shots of Orpheus Island in Queensland and Twelve Apostles in Victoria, and Joe Cornish's North Yorkshire Coast in England. After you have bathed in the beauty of these rare natural wonders, I suggest you think about other rare moments that you may never experience. What are they? How can you seek them out? Can others help you? One of the great wonders of books, videos, and recordings is that they can bring us into extended communion with sights, sounds, and feelings that we have not directly experienced. Let choosing rare, rewarding moments be a guide to your fulfillment!
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