Wild & Scenic California

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Editorial Reviews

Second biggest of the lower 48 states, the Golden State boasts the widest variety of natural landscapes. Each of California's five great landscape regions -- the Sierra Nevada, the Coast Ranges, the Deserts, the Southern Ranges, and the Northern Volcanic Country -- is amply represented in this portfolio of master photographer, Carr Clifton. For California, Clifton picks his favorite hundred from the thousands of pictures he has shot of his native state every year for thirty years.

* The 400-mile-long Sierra Nevada, the highest and most massive of California's topographic features, is represented by images from Desolation Wilderness, Table Mountain, Ward Creek, Plumas National Forest, the Sierra foothills, Yosemite National Park, Ansel Adams Wilderness, Hoover Wilderness, John Muir Wilderness, Mount Williamson, Inyo National Forest, Mount Whitney, Sequoia National Park, and the Tehachapi Mountains.

* The 550-mile-long Coast Ranges, rising abruptly out of the Pacific Ocean to almost 6,000 feet in many places to form a barrier almost as continuous as the Sierra Nevada, are represented by images from Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, Redwood National Park, Trinidad State Beach, King Range, Mendocino Headlands State Park, Salt Point State Park, Point Reyes National Seashore, Mount Diablo State Park, Big Sur, Carmel Valley, Santa Lucia Range, Temblor Range, and Arenales Wildlife Reserve.

* The Deserts, where elevations fluctuate spectacularly under cloudless skies between extremes of nearly 300 feet below sea level and over 14,000 feet above sea level, are represented by images from Mono Lake, Devils Postpile National Monument, and Death Valley National Park in the Basin and Range; Kelso Sand Dunes and Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojave Desert; and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Glamis in the Colorado Desert.

* The Southern Ranges, the northern extremity of a mountain system that extends 800 miles farther south as the Baja California peninsula, is represented by images from the Transverse and Peninsular ranges and their coastlines.

* The Northern Volcanic Country, filled with forest-covered mountains and volcanic plateaus and peaks, is represented by images from Honey Lake State Wildlife Area on the Modoc Plateau; Mount Shasta in the Cascade Range; and Klamath National Forest in the Klamath Mountains.

Customer Reviews

A finely produced portfolio of Californian landscapes, 1997-11-28
by David CY Fung (Sydney, NSW AUSTRALIA)
The first time I saw this book in a Sydney bookstore, I was wondering why another title on California ? There is already a rich supply of quality pictorials from Adams, Muench, Wolfe, Neill, Rowell, and etc. What does Clifton have to offer here ? In the Photographer's Preface, Clifton elaborated on his intention to present his ideal of an untouched wilderness through this portfolio. On that point, he was close to success. I said 'close' because some of the images lack originality looking too much like picture postcards in a souvenir shop. For instance, sunrise by the beach like the one on page 46 is fast becoming a worn out subject. If you want to see images on coastal sunrise with a difference, look at Meyerowitz's work (Popular Photography, Sept 97). The image on page 44 is flat and blend. The sky is burnt out to an extent that it becomes distracting. Using black and white film would probably do more justice to the tonally rich but nearly monochromatic image of the Big Sur coast (p35). I also find the image of Mount Diablo State Park graphically wanting. In other words,it lacks a strong graphical element that can hold my attention. However, there are images that deserve merits. The closeup shot of an Indian Rhubarb (p17) demonstrated a skilful use of contrast. The juxtaposing of a doom shape rock against the distant Half Dome (p31) is original among existing images of the kind. Capturing on film bunches of blonde grass set against a bluish mountain range is the work of a keen colourist. Image quality is never a issue in large format photography. Every image in this book is pin sharp from foreground to background. Professionally controlled exposures allowed both shadow and highlighted details be captured on film (see p16, 24).
Clifton's style seemed to be more in line with Porter and Muench. He concentrates on lines, shapes and color. To the budding photographer, this book can serve as a masterclass, but true mastery is still better seen in Muenchs' book, American Portfolios.