Retrospective, A: A Retrospective [Hardcover]

I had the privilege of taking a photography class from the renowned Galen Rowell a few years before his tragic death in 2002. I remember very well how he told of his painstaking effort in racing across a plateau to capture the end of a rainbow as it looked like it was landing on the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. His images have inspired me to take my travel photography more seriously, even if his techniques went well over my head. Fortunately, the Sierra Club has seen fit to produce this handsome tribute, which contains about 175 of his most impressive photos, many never before published. I own a couple of his photo collections already, but the cumulative effect of this book is mesmerizing.

Even though he was heralded as the natural successor to Ansel Adams because of the vivid landscapes he often captured through his lens, Rowell was actually at his best when he showed the striking juxtaposition of a human element in his nature pictures, for example, showing rock climber Ron Kauk precariously clinging to the underside of a precipice on a Marin beach. What comes across quite clearly is a man who fulfilled his life philosophies every day, a passionate melding of artist, adventurer and environmentalist, who made a pint of anticipating his opportunities while living in the moment. To reinforce this, the editors have incorporated several testimonials from Rowell's colleagues and admirers such as Tom Brokaw, mountaineer Conrad Anker and photographer Frans Lanting, who lends particular insight into Rowell's singular motivation in transcending the reality of what he saw.

Lanting's comments lend context to Rowell's frequent use of the split neutral density filter, which intensified the color saturation in many of his most famous photos, some to a point where the image can look almost artificially enhanced. Case in point, take a look at how deeply orange the skies are in some of his sunrise photos. At the same time, the startling images he captured in Patagonia and the Karakoram Himalayas remain unparalleled, and there is hardly a more serendipitous moment than when he captured the wispy cloud formation over the split rock in the Eastern Sierras. Rowell's vision remains his own, and he leaves a legacy of photographs that resonate deeply in this book. This is a must-have for his admirers.

Galen Rowell pioneered "participatory (wilderness) photography," in which the photographer becomes an active creative participant in fine-art image making. An accomplished outdoorsman and adventurer, his deep emotional connection to nature pervades virtually all of his photographs. Another signature characteristic is his vivid use of color during the "magic hour" (at sunrise and sunset); indeed, it is arguably true that Rowell was as much a "master of color" as Ansel Adams was a master of black & white. (It is fitting that he received the Ansel Adams Award for his contributions to the art of wilderness photography in 1984.) The life of this extraordinary artist was cut tragically short in 2002 when the plane carrying Rowell and his wife (Barbara Rowell, herself an accomplished photographer) crashed as they were both returning home from a Workshop in the Sierra Mountains.

Rowell's famous photograph, "Rainbow over the Potala Palace" (which appears among the first few two-page-spread images lovingly reproduced in this fine retrospective volume) is, according to Rowell himself, one the great photos of his life. I remember seeing it years ago for the first time, and was then (as I still am now) simply in awe. It is a magnificent Wagnerian-like "epic" photograph; a perfect symbolic synergy of aesthetics and spiritual depth. It is also a quintessential example of Rowell's lifelong practice of participatory creation.

According to Rowell, this image was captured not long after a trekking group (consisting of about 15 people) that Rowell was a part of in Tibet was called to dinner. A rainbow suddenly appeared in a field below them, though not (from the point of view of the trekkers at that particular moment, as they were all settling down to dinner) in the spot that it appears in Rowell's subsequent photograph.

Rowell, relying on his years of experience with optical phenomena in diverse environments, imagined in his mind's eye the precise spot he must get to from which the rainbow would appear to emanate from the roofs of the Dalai Lama's Potala Palace. Dropping his dinner, and running into the fields as fast as he could to get to where he knew he had to position himself, he managed to capture this incredible photograph.

None of the other trekker/photographers budged an inch; although many later "claimed" to have captured the same image. In fact, none of the other images even came close to having the same drama, with the rainbows in other "versions" (having been captured from obviously wrong angles) either badly missing the Palace or invisible altogether. Only in Rowell's photograph does the rainbow rise majestically out from the Palace. Only Rowell had the forethought, intuition and strength of will to get himself, his camera and his "eye" into the right place at the right time.

Rowell's "Rainbow over the Potala Palace" (as do *all* of Rowell's finest efforts!) teaches us that a great natural scene is not always (perhaps even rarely!) enough, by itself, for a fine art photograph. It is not enough to be properly attentive, but then sit patiently, passively, awaiting the right confluence of light, tone, texture and form to present itself; one must imagine the exact space-time-soul point where that magical confluence will arise, and then act swiftly, and decisively, to grab it!

Now go out and grab this magnificent book of photography as practiced by an extraordinary artist/adventurer! You will never again see wilderness in the same way!

Coming around 4 years after the untimely death of Galen and his wife Barbara, this book does not disappoint those who enjoyed his photography. I certainly do and have for many years. This book contains a lot of photos (over 175) from early stuff to photos from his last expedition for Nat Geo. Divided into 7 main sections, you will see many of the most famous of his photos but what I like is that there are photos in there I was not familiar with. I have nearly all of his books so I like seeing stuff I have not seen before. For instance a few climbing photos of Ron Kauk and Lynn Hill, or one of 2 skiers descending the Ruth glacier in Alaska, or one from Lake Powell. Also nice are the little spot essays of some of the photos such as one by his daughter Nicole about the Lynx photo from Alaska. I'm not sure the printing of the book is of superior quality. Some of the colors seem off and a lot of grain shows up. That really is my only complaint. I am very happy to have this book, although I would rather see photos from his latest expeditions instead of a retrospective. This book is certainly worth the money.