Last Stand: America's Virgin Lands

Rating:
Summary: beautiful color photograpy
Review: "Last Stand" is primarily a collection of nature photography with chapter introductions written by Barbara Kingsolver. This is an environmental work in that the aim of the book is to educate about some of the beautiful regions of our country and to tell that there is a significant human threat to the environment. Kingsolver writes passionately about how the human settlement and human wastefulness is cause further destruction of the environment. The photography in this book is broken up not into regions of the country, but types of ecological regions: wetlands, forest areas, etc.

The photography by Annie Griffith Belt is absolutely beautiful. There are two types of photography. The first type is black and white infrared photography that has been hand colored. These pictures look like paintings, and while pretty, I was not as interested in these pictures. The photographs that I found to be stunning were the simple color pictures. We get to see beautiful landscapes that would make a very nice postcard. These are images that make a strong case that these are places we need to preserve.

I should state that I do not know anything about photography, so I cannot speak for the craft of taking pictures and how well the photographs come out as technical pieces. I just enjoyed the photography.

My suggestion is that one should look at this book for the beautiful photography and not for Kingsolver's section introductions. However, if someone is interested in reading that these are beautiful places that are being ruined by a human cause, by all means, read the text in this book. Barbara Kingsolver is a wonderful writer, but when she has a cause and is writing non-fiction, she is not nearly as interesting as she is in her fiction. This book is worth looking at for the color photography.

Rating:
Summary: The photo images reminded me of the great impressionists
Review: When you open up National Geographic's coffee table photo album entitled LAST STAND: AMERICA'S VIRGIN ISLANDS you immediately are aware of very unusual photographic techniques. A fast glance to the back of the book succinctly explains:
"The photographs appearing in this book represent two types of work. Roughly half were shot on color transparency film. The rest were shot on black-and-white infrared negative film and the prints then hand-colored by photographer Annie Griffiths Belt. The borders were specially created by designer Jen Christiansen. Captions for photographs were deliberately kept vague as to location to discourage visitation to these fragile natural sights."

With this above information firmly implanted in my brain I slowly re-inspected the brilliant photo images and concurred with the creators of this book that it is best not to advertise the locations of these intensely poetic photographic masterpieces.

You may ask why? The reply is simply that many of these photo images tell a story of America's Virgin Lands, their wildlife and habitats which at all costs need to be preserved. It is in fact the "Last Stand" and the photos serve as a strong invitation to contemplate the earth, trees, seasons and oceans and what it would mean if we continue to destroy these marvels of nature.

The book is a compilation of highly sensitive images illustrating the infinite mysterious faces of nature. Moreover, we are exposed to the fine sense of observation and perfect technical skills of Annie Griffiths Belt's photography.
Flipping through the pages of this photo album we invariably can't help but admire the richness of the foliage of the live oaks of South Carolina, the haunting Georgia Barrier Island, the whisper of the winds in the trees of Northern Florida, and the mystique of the North Cascades Forest of Northern Washington. These and many more infinite faces of nature are displayed within the five sections of the book that are divided as follows: wetlands, woodlands, coasts, grasslands and dry lands. Each section reaffirms the delicate power of Belt's photography and inspires us to share her emotions.

After savouring the photos illustrated in this book, I would have to concede that I felt there was a kind of impressionistic quality attached to these images that reminded me of the masterpieces of such great artists such as Degas, Monet, and Pissaro.

Norm Goldman Editor of Bookpleasures.com