<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: A Hugely Successful Synthesis
Review: Alex S. MacLean is an architectural geologist with an impressionist's eye for composition and light. He is a pilot and a gifted photographer as well. The consistently fascinating imagery he has has created by fusing all these talents into a rigorous and aesthetically gorgeous body of work is on splendid display within the pages of Designs On The Land which ably demonstrates how uniquely important an aerial vertex is to a complete understanding of human interaction with the planet Earth. I recently drove thousands of miles through the high desert southwest and had a marvelous opportunity to appreciate that landscape from a mostly horizontal vertex. What a revelation to see the same tableaux from above! So much that is only hinted at at ground level reveals itself completely from above. The central thesis of Designs On The Land is that human transformation of the environment is among the most revealing indicators of man's developmental and evolutionary status. By extension, aerial views of the results of man's activities on the land provide a powerful tool for interpreting and understanding this interaction. As with any authentic synthesis, Designs On The Land functions on many levels simultaneously. Most significantly, the images presented in this critically important portfolio are simply beautiful and moving; both compositionally and as sophisticated studies in shadow, light and color. But aside from the captivating imagery, this volume contains a wealth of data that provide for informed consideration of land use protocols, environmental degradation and pollution, and the shifting utilization of land over time, to name but a few of topics taken up here. To quote from the introduction by James Corner, "What one sees from the air, then, are not merely attractive patterns and forms but great metabolic scaffoldings of material transformation, transmission, production and consumption. The country is an enormous working quarry, an operational network of exchange and mobility. To appreciate the essential character of the American landscape, it is first necessary to understand how its appearance is less an evolving expression than it is an activating agent of American ways of life and other material practices...The implicit subjectivity in the content of Alex MacLean's photographs reveals not only the strange working beauty of this busy, ongoing inhabiting of America, but also its potential for modern design and planning to create even more spectacular environments-this time for on the ground reception and effect as well as from the air."
Rating:
Summary: A Hugely Successful Synthesis
Review: Alex S. MacLean is an architectural geologist with an impressionist's eye for composition and light. He is a pilot and a gifted photographer as well. The consistently fascinating imagery he has has created by fusing all these talents into a rigorous and aesthetically gorgeous body of work is on splendid display within the pages of Designs On The Land which ably demonstrates how uniquely important an aerial vertex is to a complete understanding of human interaction with the planet Earth. I recently drove thousands of miles through the high desert southwest and had a marvelous opportunity to appreciate that landscape from a mostly horizontal vertex. What a revelation to see the same tableaux from above! So much that is only hinted at at ground level reveals itself completely from above. The central thesis of Designs On The Land is that human transformation of the environment is among the most revealing indicators of man's developmental and evolutionary status. By extension, aerial views of the results of man's activities on the land provide a powerful tool for interpreting and understanding this interaction. As with any authentic synthesis, Designs On The Land functions on many levels simultaneously. Most significantly, the images presented in this critically important portfolio are simply beautiful and moving; both compositionally and as sophisticated studies in shadow, light and color. But aside from the captivating imagery, this volume contains a wealth of data that provide for informed consideration of land use protocols, environmental degradation and pollution, and the shifting utilization of land over time, to name but a few of topics taken up here. To quote from the introduction by James Corner, "What one sees from the air, then, are not merely attractive patterns and forms but great metabolic scaffoldings of material transformation, transmission, production and consumption. The country is an enormous working quarry, an operational network of exchange and mobility. To appreciate the essential character of the American landscape, it is first necessary to understand how its appearance is less an evolving expression than it is an activating agent of American ways of life and other material practices...The implicit subjectivity in the content of Alex MacLean's photographs reveals not only the strange working beauty of this busy, ongoing inhabiting of America, but also its potential for modern design and planning to create even more spectacular environments-this time for on the ground reception and effect as well as from the air."
Rating:
Summary: Amazing! Great perspective for a conservationist.
Review: Most of us who do not fly very often are mesmerized by the aerial views we get out of the tiny portal windows in commercial airliners. "Designs on Land" gives the reader those views without the neck-craning or the other discomforts of flying.This book was intended mainly as a photographic recording of the aesthetics and unintentional beauty/coherence of the changes and structures which mankind has brought to pass on this continent. However, I am not a student of landscape architecture or photography. As someone who is conservation-oriented, I found Maclean's photos to be literally jaw-dropping. He is immensely effective at showing the overpowering impact that our species has had on the land. Even for those who have no interest in landscapes, design, or the environment this book is still a "can't-put-it-down" coffee table book. I give my highest recommendation for anyone and everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing! Great perspective for a conservationist.
Review: Most of us who do not fly very often are mesmerized by the aerial views we get out of the tiny portal windows in commercial airliners. "Designs on Land" gives the reader those views without the neck-craning or the other discomforts of flying. This book was intended mainly as a photographic recording of the aesthetics and unintentional beauty/coherence of the changes and structures which mankind has brought to pass on this continent. However, I am not a student of landscape architecture or photography. As someone who is conservation-oriented, I found Maclean's photos to be literally jaw-dropping. He is immensely effective at showing the overpowering impact that our species has had on the land. Even for those who have no interest in landscapes, design, or the environment this book is still a "can't-put-it-down" coffee table book. I give my highest recommendation for anyone and everyone.
Rating:
Summary: An upbeat look at down.
Review: This the third book I have bought of Alex MacLean's stunning aerial photographs of the American landscape. The other two, `Look at the Land' (1993) and `Across the American Landscape' (1996) were lovely to look at but this latest book with 430 photos is excellent. MacLean captures the changing American scene beautifully and in pin sharp detail. Unfortunately, none of the photos are dated and many of them appeared in both his earlier books so some of them could be ten years old. The various chapters cover America from above though the concentration is on the man-made environment, including such delights as parking, city grid, pollution, sprawl, abandonment and more. These might seem dreary objects to photograph but MacLean can make a half-full parking lot look exciting and in many cases, when seen from above, so many of these images have a definite abstract art look about them. The agriculture photos, of huge fields stretching into the horizon, must be seen to be believed. Comprehensive though the coverage is there is one area of the landscape MacLean has not been able to cover, the huge amount of land controlled by the military. Some their activities would make fascinating photos. You might get the impression looking through the pages that open land in the US is fast disappearing but the reality is that the hand of man affects less than ten percent of the nation, the remainder is just open country. Get this fascinating book if you want to see what the American landscape looks like from a view that most of us will never normally see.
Rating:
Summary: An upbeat look at down.
Review: This the third book I have bought of Alex MacLean's stunning aerial photographs of the American landscape. The other two, 'Look at the Land' (1993) and 'Across the American Landscape' (1996) were lovely to look at but this latest book with 430 photos is excellent. MacLean captures the changing American scene beautifully and in pin sharp detail. Unfortunately, none of the photos are dated and many of them appeared in both his earlier books so some of them could be ten years old. The various chapters cover America from above though the concentration is on the man-made environment, including such delights as parking, city grid, pollution, sprawl, abandonment and more. These might seem dreary objects to photograph but MacLean can make a half-full parking lot look exciting and in many cases, when seen from above, so many of these images have a definite abstract art look about them. The agriculture photos, of huge fields stretching into the horizon, must be seen to be believed. Comprehensive though the coverage is there is one area of the landscape MacLean has not been able to cover, the huge amount of land controlled by the military. Some their activities would make fascinating photos. You might get the impression looking through the pages that open land in the US is fast disappearing but the reality is that the hand of man affects less than ten percent of the nation, the remainder is just open country. Get this fascinating book if you want to see what the American landscape looks like from a view that most of us will never normally see.
<< 1 >>
|
