Good Landscape Books

What are people's favorite books on landscape photography? I 'consume' most photography on the web these days, but there's something to be said for cracking open a book with some nice 8x10 or larger photographs inside.

I recently read through "Landscape Beyond: A Journey Into Photography" by David Ward and really enjoyed both the photographs and the content. I'd love to hear some more recommendations.

Well, I've got a few...

Charlie Waite is well worth a good look - Seeing Landscapes, and The Making of Landscape Photographs. The latter is more instructional and not 8x10, but an excellent read.

Joe Cornish "First Light" is more the larger format, in more ways than one.

Peter Watson has a couple out - I have Light in the Landscape.

Lastly, Alan Briot, who writes on this site, has Mastering Landscape Photography.

Mark

Waiting for the Light, by David Noton is outstanding, equal in my opinon to Waite.

A quick story about Charlie Waite....I was in Chicago walking along the river in the city...taking nite shots w/o a tripod w/my Nikon D70. I had a strap of duct tape and a sock below it both resting on a shoe box. I would prop the shoe box and smush the sock till I got my frame...then strap the camera tight to the box/sock w/duct tape. Charlie W and his wife came along and observed my efforts...I could see his load of camera equipment ...and he warmly chatted with me...he finally said, 'Well, from the looks of it you've been bitten by the photobug. Once bitten you can never stop." Upon his leaving, we made introductions. He was in town to give a lecture and was showing at a nearby gallery. He said he was out that evening 'scouting' out possible city-light shots along the river. Not his usual landscapes, but he seemed never to miss a photo opportunity.

If some great photos and not so much the technique is of essence, I recommend Lake Superior by Craig Blacklock

And another by Craig Blacklock (and his deceased wife Nadine, whose photography I like even more): border country.

Or anything by Eliot Porter - esp. 'in wildness...' or 'Adirondack ...'.

And anything by Ansel Adams!

and a ton of others.

One of my favorites ever is 'Superior - the haunted shore'...

- er, I read 'of' landscape photography.

'ON' landscape photography, there's Galen Rowell's 'mountain light', which has a lot of good insight, and a bunch of others I can't thiunk of right now because I'm at a local Oktoberfest celebration at the bar...

I've recently been enjoying a book from a new (to me) photographer. From all I can see in a single book, he's a modern successor to Eliot Porter, my favorite landscape photographer:

"A Western Waltz" by Dick Garvey. No ISBN, but it was printed by Blurb, so I assume you can get a copy through them (blurb.com). Worth every cent and all effort to track down a copy. The friend who gave me the book viewed a bunch of Garvey's very large prints at a showing, and was completely entranced. And this particular friend is very knowledgeable and hard to please.

Check it out. You'll thank me.

Edit:

I just did a google search and found him at DickGarvey.com

My recommendation is to check out what your local library has on the shelves. You might be surprised just how rich their selection is. I also buy lots of books in the used book stores.

Add another to the list of Eliot Porter fans. I've got several of his books including a first editions of "In Wildness..." and "American Places". I nearly purchased a signed first edition of "The Place Noone Knew" recently but its quite expensive. His Iceland book is beautiful. It gets away from the environmental movement of the Sierra Club books and just focuses on the photography.

I like Jay Dusard's Open Spaces or Open Country (can't remember the title). Found it at the library and have considered searching for a copy of my own.

The more I read and view, the less fond I am of Ansel Adams photography. He made many disparaging comments towards photographers who didn't go along with his point of view as well as towards color photography. I simply don't find every one of his photographs to be particularly inspiring but those that are stand out. His New Mexico Aspens, Moonrise and the shot of the lake shore and cliff work for me.

I have three I keep close by. The first is "How to photograph the Canadian Rockies" by Darwin Wiggett. I keep it it my Camera bag and use it for more than just the Rockies. The second is "National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography" by Tim Fitzharris. It is very help full to my learning. The Third is just for viewing pleasure and it is "Darwin Wiggett photographs Canada". I love that book.

If you read Large Format Landscape Photography by Jack Dykinga, you will not only buy a large format camera, it will probably be an Arca-Swiss.

Learn alot about landscape photography, learn about large format, and see some amazing images. Good stuff!

I found this to be a useful and interesting string and have ordered some of the books referenced. I have not found great books other than Galen's and I have read several of Tim Fitzharris and found them useful up to a point.

Well here is my long list.......

Ansel Adams "Yosemite and the Range of Light", "The Camera", "The Negative", and "The Print" and many others.
Joe Cornish "Scotland's Coast" and "First Light"
Elliot Porter "Maine"
Jim Brandenburg "Chased by the Light"
Charlie Waite "Landscape"
Darwin Wigett "Dances with Light"
Ian Cameron "Transient Light"

Many, many more, but these are my favorites.

Closer to home the Ultimate Guide to digital nature photography by your very own NPN has some superb landscape photos by Marc Adamus and others.

If you loved Ward's book, then I highly recommend Guy Tal's Exposures. Guy is not only an amazing photographic artist, but in my opinion one of this country's top writers on the subjects of landscape photography, creativity, and photo-philosophy. Exposures is packed with images and beautiful writing.

if - for a change - you might be interested in european photographers, you could check out Jan Tove "Beyond Order" or a book by Hans Strand or Pal Hermanson. or Maurizio Biancarelli. or in New Zealand: Andris Apse ("Light and Landscape" f.e.) or Rob Browns "Rakiura" is great. really, there are thousands, I own approx. 300 coffee table books (besides all how-to books, books on certain regions etc.) and even we ourselves have 5 books out there...
georg

I agree with anything Ansel Adams, but Edward Weston and his sons Cole and Brett aren't bad either . Used Book Stores are good ideas, but with all of the suggestions given on this thread ABE Books.com wouldn't be a bad idea either. I don't see any of Galen Rowell's titles mentioned here and I found many of his books not only well written but full of information as well and great photos too. Well I re-read and did see Galen's Mountain light title great choice, made me change the way I used my Olympus. Manual settings on it are much easier than the D300.

I would second the suggestion for Charlie Waite's books. I also like John Shaw's books as well, "Landscape Photography" and "Focus on Nature" I've read several times.