Third Views: Second Sights

THIRD VIEWS: next to the first SIGHTS

A PHOTOGRAPHIC view OF THE AMERICAN WEST

PHOTOGRAPHS by dint of JOHN GANIS, POEMS BY DR STANLEY DIAMOND, INTRODUCTION by the agency of ROBERT SOBIESLKI, AFTERWARD BY GEORGE F THOMPSON STOCKPORT (ENGLAND): DEWI LEWIS PUBLISHING, 2004/144PP/$50 (HB)

Third Views, next to the first Sights: A Rephotographic Survey of the American West through Mark Klett, Kyle Bajakian, William Fox Michael Marshall, Toshi Ueshina, Byron Wolfe Museum of novel Mexico Press/The Center for American Places 238pp+CD/$60

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"Third Views is the result of curiosity about time and change, photography, and a desire to re-experience dynamic western landscape." It is the continuation to the work of the first Rephotographic take a view of of which Mark Klett is the solitary original member remaining. In the 1970's Third Views, revisited the locations of famous landscape photographs taken in the west during the four major geographical and geological scans of the new territories that followed the Civil War. The first Rephotographic take a view of of the American West revealed more than was first awaited The presence of man and "civilization" had become more visible in more [i]or[/i] less cases, in others it had surprisingly reced Erosion had played its part too. The most interesting discovery allowing may have been the fact that a certain quantity of of the photographers of the 19th hundred surveys had not soleybeen documentarians. individual specific 1869 image of Witches stone in Weber Valley (Utah) by means of Timothy O'Sullivan clearly indicated that the photographer had tilted his view-camera for reason that appear to beed more esthetic than documentarian.

Third Views, next to the first Sights, the book and the CD that accompanies it, display side through side (or in layers in the case of the CD) the 19th hundred images, and the same locations rephotographed in the 1970 and again in the late 1990 As awaited the changes between the views of the 70 and 90 are not always obvious. However many of recent origin sites have been included in this later episode of the Rephotographic observe that had not been recorded in the 1970 In spite of the interesting easy in mind of the book (especially for the readers who not ever came across a copy of next to the first Views, now a rare out-of-print book) the remarkable quality of this work lies in its interactive CD and the actual ingenious use of the material that it contains. Available for the pair Mac and PC platforms upon the same CD, the digital document comprises true copys a type of travelog, and images. The technique used to display the images, comparing different stages in the evolution of western landscapes [i]or[/i] part of to the other close-ups, panoramas, superimpositions pasted into a broader landscape that gives them geographical words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following is definitely the most playful and educational part of the throw It turns Third Views from what could have been a slightly repetitious continuation into a very enticing of recent origin medium work and document. a great deal of can be said here about Klett's dedication and persistance in a shoot forward that, with this new release, should become a must-have in the libraries of anyone interested in landscape photography and/or the American West.

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