Eliot Porter's Southwest
Porter is well known as a sensitive color photographer. This well-made large-format book is a collection of some 90 black-and-white photographs, mostly taken in the 1940s at the beginning of his career. Subjects are predominantly picturesque natural scenes and old wooden buildings, many still occupied. These beautiful photographs demonstrate that Porter was as sensitive in his treatment of subject matter in his black-and-white work as he was later in color, when his mastery of tonal gradation was replaced by his subtle control of hue and saturation. In an entertaining autobiographical essay, the photographer writes about his youth, his adventures as a hobo, and his career change from medical science to full time photography. Worth having. Frank Davidoff, Consultant, CBS Broadcast Group, New YorkCopyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.