So this week was my birthday, I’m now officially a year older than I was a year ago. More importantly, I officially declned to fo find out what exists on the “other side” for one more year, a task I hope to continue for a number of years.
Birthdays tend to be problematic. I get asked what I want, and I have no idea. This year, I simply pointed at my Amazon wish list and said does this help?
It did, and Laurie was nice enough to get me a copy of Spectacular Yosemite, text by Stuart Booth, photos by Quan-Tuan Luong.
It is a large, oversized hardcover with overf 150 images, many taken in medium or large format, and well displayed using full page or double-page layouts. In all honesty, the photography is spectacular. You can get a nice sample here on the PDN site.
I was blown away. My honest first opinion while browsing the book the first time was actually “why do I even bother picking up a camera?”, after a bit, I decided to turn it into a challenge. His work has a very distinct style, especially in his larger format works — but you can still see the influences of some of the other photographers that have worked in Yosemite. His use of dramatic lighting reminds me a lot of William Neill.
A lot of the imagery is done on the valley floor and from easily accessible locations, meaning that as a visitor or visiting photographer, you can find many of the places Luong shoots from and investigate your own visions of the park. He also, however, hauls his here into the backcountry and brings those parts of the park back for your enjoyment as well.
All in all, an an exceptionally well done book both both photographers and lovers of Yosemite. I’ve gone through it twice now, and am planning on going back and studying the images with some care, becasue I feel like there’s a lot I can learn from seeing how Luong is interpreting places I know I’ve photographed as well.
Don’t forget to check out Luong’s web site and blog. And since I mentioned him, you might also check out the work of William Neill.
This article was posted on Chuq Von Rospach, Photographer and Author at Spectacular Yosemite by QT Luong. This article is copyright 2013 by Chuq Von Rospach under a Creative Commons license for non-commericial use only with attribution. See the web site for details on the usage policy.