The Grand Canyon: the world of deep blues re-painted in gold, by Jack Dykinga
This is a review of perhaps the most beautiful book of the Grand Canyon I have seen: IMAGES, Jack Dykinga’s Grand Canyon.
Landscape photography is not my favorite genre, or so I think, until I find books like this. Perhaps after all, it is just about extraordinary photography, no matter what the subject. Perhaps after all, it is about felling the work, about understanding the message. When the perfect mix of text and images are blended in a book, it becomes a unique piece of art.
This book is a portfolio of images but it is more than that. It is a great reference for anyone thinking to photograph the Grand Canyon, or to get a better understanding of why this place is so majestic. You can see some pages of the book here. The book is published by the excellent team at Arizona Highways.
“I’m alone. But that is the point of seeking isolated places on the Rim of the Canyon, to find that aloneness and when you do, then you realize you are never alone, because these ribbons of time, those captured in the strata and those embedded in your own life, these soft ribbons of life wrap around you and suddenly you have no schedule, you are not on the way to somewhere, you are where you began and where all the places in between are found. [...] The view can be huge [...] or the view can be little [...] when you glance downstream and suddenly realize the earth is opening itself up to human eyes for close to 300 miles. But the view is always the same as you finally look into yourself and find you can live with what you see.” - excerpt from Reflections, by Charles Bowden, in the book “IMAGES”, Jack Dykinga’s Grand Canyon
Landscape photography is mostly about capturing space but also about conveying an emotional experience of the place. This is not a simple task, but when a picture can convey the feel of the moment, the immediacy of our primal relationship with the location, it is quite extraordinary.
Picturing the landscape benefits enormously from three technical aspects: perfect lighting, perfect composition and the right equipment, the view camera. And all of these components need to blend into a emotional magnet that captures the viewer. Like always in photography, it is about eliciting a the response from the viewer. All these qualities define the extraordinary work of Jack Dykinga, a photographer located in Arizona whose photography has become a storytelling of this magnificent state in the USA. His books are more than a collection of images, they are a reflection of a passionate relationship with and commitment to the environment.
I have driven 1500 miles just to re-photograph a certain subject. I’ve waited weeks for the right light conditions, and I have hiked 40 miles, lugging a ton of camera equipment, only to later discover the best composition right next to my truck. But I wouldn’t have known that without hiking the area to establish a contextThe view camera’s ability to control the perspective and plane of focus makes it the perfect choice for landscape photography [...] but there are two other aspects for using large format. One is the “zen” of the focusing cloth over my head, isolating me from outside distractions. The second reason is that in this world of faster and better everything, the cumbersome, tripod-mounted, venerable view camera is an asset. It demands a slower, contemplative approach. This format teaches planning, patience, perseverance and the ability to pre-visualize. Large format allows full involvement with light and its influence on form and color. - Jack Dykinga [from Rangefinder magazine].From these words one can start to sense the quality of his work. It comes to no surprise that Jack’s newest book, is a striking collection of photographs of one of the most spectacular places on earth. It is not only a collection of images that show amazing views that casual visitors to the Grand canyon have never seen before, but in some ways, the work transcends the recording of the Grand Canyon to become a cohesive portfolio of images with landscapes painted by multicolored palettes. The title tells it clearly, “IMAGES” … it is most about the “photography” of Jack Dykinga at one of the most beautiful places on earth, the Grand Canyon.
The Colorado river slices the ancient Inner Gorge far below Hopi Point’s pullout. I find myself mesmerized as the first light of dawn gradually illuminates the juniper-forsted ridges pushing back the deep shadows. The world of deep blues is re-painted in gold. Here my puny world shrinks and I’m confronted by a scale and grandeur my camera can’t possibly record. I try anyway.- Jack Dykinga
A book of beautiful images deserves the utmost print quality, and this book is an example of what a photobook should be. Incredible photographic reproduction, beautiful layout of text and images, with words that not only add interesting information but complement and raise the experience of the images.
The book also serves as the most beautiful photographic reference of what to expect when traveling the Grand Canyon along both rims, the South, and the far less visited North rim. The images have a description of the name of the location and a reference to a convenient map that locates the viewpoint so that it becomes a key reference for photographers looking for the best places to capture the Grand Canyon.
Although the core of the book are the images of Jack Dykinga, it is important to highlight the writing of Charles Bowden and Wayne Ranney.
Charles Bowden is a non-fiction American author, journalist, and essayist based Arizona and often writes about the American Southwest. He contributes with a beautiful assay, Reflections, that serves as an introduction to the Grand Canyon from a historical perspective and from the experience that it will elicit to the visitors who take the time to feel the immediacy of the moment. Wayne Ranney is a geologist, with large experience and knowledge of the Grand Canyon, and he writes at the end of the book a chapter entitled “Natural History” that is a great finale to satisfy the scientific curiosity that anyone must have about the Grand Canyon.
If you are a photographer thinking to visit the Grand Canyon, this book will be a great resource and inspiration. If you are a visitor who likes to get an understanding of this place, and experience it in ways that a short visit along the South rim in the middle of the day will not provide, this is a great reference book to get.
It’s a wonderful book with some spectacular photography by one of America’s best landscape photographers. I’m planning a trip to the Grand Canyon in a few months, so I’ve been studying where Jack took his amazing photos. I want to try my luck at those same locations.