A magnificent collection of images depicting landscapes and life in one of the last remote places in the American westThe idea of the American wilderness has long captivated artists fascinated by the ways in which its unspoiled natural beauty embodies the nation’s identity. This beautifully produced volume celebrates the unsurpassed splendor of a fabled region, while also presenting the environmental complexities of managing a vast landscape in which the needs of ranchers, biologists, miners, tourists, and locals seek a finely delineated balance. Photographer Laura McPhee follows in the tradition of 19th-century artistic approaches toward the sublime, relying on a large-format view camera to capture images of exquisite color, clarity, and definition. In images spanning all seasons, McPhee depicts the magnificence and history of the Sawtooth Valley in central Idaho. Her subject matter includes the region’s spectacular mountain ranges, rivers, and ranchlands; its immense spaces and natural resources; the effects of mining and devastating wildfires; and the human stories of those who live and work there. Featured texts set McPhee’s photographs in the context of the work of American predecessors including Frederick Sommer and J.B. Jackson, and discuss her working methods and experiences photographing the evolving landscape.
Laura McPhee Ordine dei libri (cronologico)



No Ordinary Land. Encounters in a Changing Environment
- 108pagine
- 4 ore di lettura
For more than ten years Virginia Beahan and Laura McPhee have traveled the world--from Iceland to Costa Rica, Sri Lanka to New York --exploring the ways people interact with the landscapes in which they live. In Costa Rica, for example, healing waters are enshrined in frescoed concrete; in a Hawaiian garden, mangoes and oranges are protected against the cold in brown paper bag jackets; in Iceland, children play in hot springs created by the runoff of a power plant; in Las Vegas, an artificial volcano erupts on cue. Each of Beahan and McPhee's extraordinary images captures a point of collision between natural and constructed worlds.In 1987, Laura McPhee and Virginia Beahan began their photographic work together using a large-format camera.
We drove across America to talk with girls from diverse landscapes and backgrounds. Our journey took us through the Palouse of eastern Washington, along the San Antonio River, and to a brokerage firm in a Dallas skyscraper. We spoke with a sidesaddle rider, a Hmong girl who became a citizen, a blues-rock musician, ballerinas, surfers, an ice skater, and a girl who creates and plays with dolls. This book aims to capture both visually and verbally the extraordinary things that ordinary girls do, along with the drives and desires that motivate them. The collection features original photographs and life stories by sisters Jenny, Laura, and Martha McPhee, who understand the experience of being girls, having grown up in the sixties and seventies during the women's movement. They explore what it means to be a girl in America today, examining normal experiences, self-definition, individuality, and belonging. Over more than two years, they sought answers to these questions. Girls introduces a rich tapestry of extraordinary and "normal" girls pursuing their passions—poets, novelists, musicians, unicyclists, football players, philanthropists, and activists. Beautifully written by Jenny and Martha and illustrated with striking black-and-white images by Laura, this work reveals the astonishing scope of girls' lives today and the spirit with which future women will shape the world.