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Editorial Review Product Description
This collection of photographs depicts active, extinct and dormant volcanoes and geysers. It contains images of active lava exploding into the ocean off Hawaii and the ethereal wonderland of steam and mist in geyser basins in Yellowstone Park. Geological captions on the plates are also included, giving background to the photographs, and anecdotes about the authors' experiences whilst capturing the images are also given. ... Read more Customer Reviews (3) 
A work of art.Subtle landscapes at their finest.
HOT SPOTS by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel is 136 pages long.The book is 12 inches X 10 1/2 inches, and most of the reproductions are about 9 1/2 inches X 6 1/2 inches.The text is kept to a minimum.All of the pages are glossy paper.About half the photos are black & white, which are situated on the left-hand side, with the other half color, situated on the right.All of the color photographs tend to be monochromatic.(This is in contrast to Sierra Club calendars, which are typically aimed at consumers who require their photographs to resemble a splashy box of Crayola crayons.)For my tastes, I much prefer color photographs that are largely monochromatic, as is found in HOT SPOTS.
The graphics and layout in the book are elegant, thanks to Bulfinch Press.Another series of landscape photography books with excellent graphics is that of Pat O'Hara, where the graphic design was by McQuiston.
HOT SPOTS features landscapes from volcanically active parts of the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, California, Wyoming, and Arizona.We find photos of elderly pahoehoe, brown with age, but retaining their original twistiness. We find active volcanoes, spewing lava and generating mountains of steam.We find Mt.St.Helens in Washington State, and vast tracts of devastated forests.We find Silver Falls State Park, which in my opinion, is America's most overlooked beautiful spot.We also find Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park in Alaska, Lassen National Park in California, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Yellowstone, and others.None of the photographs could be construed as being a "snapshot."All are carefully wrought.
The style of these photographs is sometimes reminiscent of that of photographer Mark Klett, in that some hint or aspect of human beings is sometimes intentionally included in the photos.Mr.Klett includes humans, or some aspect of humans, only for their coy effect.By coy effect, I mean that what we find is sometimes a very tiny image of a human way off in the distance, situated in the exact center of the photograph, or we find only the shadow of some tourist, or we find a trash can occupying a dominant position in the landscape photograph.
Outstanding photographs in HOT SPOTS include Pahoehoe Lava (page 17), Summit of Wizard Island (page 44), Silver Falls (page 51), Devil's Tower (with star tracks in the same direction as the basalt of the Tower) (page 95).Any person touring Portland Oregon should consider an hour drive south to Silver Falls, and should consider taking exactly the same glorious photograph as found on page 51 of HOT SPOTS.
I have only one slight criticism of HOT SPOTS. The photo of Mono Lake shows the well-known tufa that resembles a dripping wax candle.The dripping wax candle tufa can be found on an inner sleeve art of PINK FLOYD's WISH YOU WERE HERE album. But in my opinion, a better image for photography would have been of the second kind of tufa found at Mono Lake.The second type of tufa is angular and dignified, resembling a gothic cathedral.The angular tufa, resembling a cathedral and called "sand tufa," can be found near the gravel road on the way to the small visitor's center on the south shore of Mono Lake, at a spot called, NAVY BEACH. The tufa at the NAVY BEACH, which can be viewed on Google images, is in my opinion, more worthy of photography.Fine black and white photos of sand tufa can be found by Reed Thomas (page 18) and Stephen Johnson (page 66) in the book, AT MONO LAKE, published by FRIENDS OF THE EARTH FOUNDATION (1983) San Franciso, CA.According to Ted R. Marcus, "At Navy Beach on the south shore of the lake, the volcanic hot water vents ran through sandy soil, producing the delicate structures of "tubes" and "pipes" called sand tufa formations. The sand eventually hardened into sandstone, capped with precipitated limestone."
Only an exhibition could add to this book!
I had the pleasure of meeting Diane Cook and her husband Len Jenshel when they exhibited some of the photographs from this book at The University ofAkron's Emily Davis Gallery. In fact, I actually bought the book directlyfrom them (so my copy is autographed, nyah-na na naaaa na!), and believeme, nothing short of the exhibition and lecture from the photographerscould add to the experience of this book. The two photographers arestylistic complements to each other. She works primarily in black and whitewith a highly technical by-the-book precision, while he works in colorusing a more freewheeling, seat-of-the-pants approach. The result is thatthis book never gets boring. The wonders of the various vistas are capablydescribed in a previous review, and I most heartily concur with thereviewer--if anything, he did not wax poetic enough. But this bookcontributes more than just a wealth of memorable images (less than 1/10 ofthe photos from this project that the couple felt were "must use"images). There are stories behind each photo; reading the notes section inthe back is a must, but I would suggest that you read it as you peruse thebook...the *second* time. Just let the images impact you first, and *then*find out the deeper meaning behind the picture. These notes are not meretechnical erata; they create an atmosphere, bespeaking how a certain sacredplace has a given effect on the local populace, recalling the curiosityabout what sort of people besides photographers would seek out thebeautiful desolation of Yellowstone in winter, giving some idea of the trueand very active power of some of these places--no still photo can conveythe experience of the noise of a lava flow 25 feet below drowning outhelicopter blades 5 feet above, or Cook's realization at one point that shehad accidentally strayed onto a candy shell-thin layer of cooled stone overmolten rock, and to stop walking would have meant instant death--as instantas the next step might also bring. The layout is superb, maintaining astrong sense of organization, even as each new photo delivers something nothinted at by those which came before. The book's only drawbacks stem fromsituations which are technically impossible to resolve. While thereproductions of the photos in the book are of the highest quality, nothingcan compare with seeing the actual prints themselves, and I consider myselffortunate to have been in a position to compare the two. Secondly, thephotographers themselves do not come with the book. Their extendedanecdotes and recollections, and the affable, off-the-cuff manner in whichthey relate them only served to enhance the experience of viewing theseimages.
This is environmental photography with an edge.
This is not just another nice looking landscape photo book. It is a visual description of our (amid uneasy) relationship with Nature as much as a celebration of its beauty. An example illustrating my first point can be seen on pages 32-33. Cook's gloomy black-and-white image showed a house buried in an endless span of dark solidified lava, a lifeless and helpless situation. Jenshel's color work on pages 40-41 included not only a closeup of a scarred trunk but the mass destruction of a forest as a result of Mount St Helens' eruption in 1980. Yet life is showing resilience as fresh vegetation was growing out of the ruins. Cook and Jenshel often present more than one image of the same vista allowing the reader to appreciate the vastness of the place from various vantage points. Their series on Mount Blackburn, Alaska, is a magificent and breathtaking illustration (pages 54, 56-59),a reminiscent of Ansel Adams.
Unlike many photographers who insist on capturing landscapes under natural lighting or occasionally with fill-in flash, Jenshel dared to be different. On page 67, for example, he illuminated the rock in the foreground with his car's headlight. By doing so, he isolated the foreground from the silhouette of the distant Ship Rock, New Mexico, giving the viewer a sense of depth while using the highlighted rock to echo the shape and the color temperature of the approaching storm cloud. Then there are the pyrotechnic extravaganzas of active volcanoes in Hawaii. Each image reminds me of the primordial force that once shaped our continents. This couple have demonstrated a true virtuosity in landscape photography.
Apart from its stylistic and ethereal quality, the book contains enough information on volcanoes for a lay person like me. It even included a glossary of terms commonly used in volcanology. The layout of the entire volume is neat and well thought out. By the time I turned to the last page, I kept asking for more. You can find heaps of landscape pictorials around these days but very few can be so exciting and educational to read or should I say 'To See!'.
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