Hi have been very humbled by many of the reviews that have been written since I published Seeing the Unseen – How to Photograph Landscapes at Night.
I would like to share this one by Gustav Woelfl Verderber
Sometimes, profound insights can seem obvious after the fact, as in the case of, “Of course, why didn’t I think of that!” Indeed, what makes such enlightened discoveries profound and endows their discoverers with auras of genius is just that – the rest of us, quite simply, didn’t think of it.
Experienced nature photographers know that the best time of day to shoot most anything in nature is at dawn and at dusk, in other words, at the edge of night. And while many of us have photographed star trails and the northern lights and celestial objects such as the moon and comets at night, no one that I know of has taken photography beyond the twilight zone so well as Alister Benn.
In his new book, “Seeing the Unseen”, Ali Benn writes about night photography as clearly, as concisely, and as eloquently as he photographs. Those of us who’ve been left breathless by his images know that Ali can inspire. Now we know that he can make clear his techniques with words as well as he can render the unseen with his camera.
In addition to taking us to the edge and beyond in night photography, “Seeing the Unseen” takes us, quite literally, to the ends of the Earth, from ethereal images at the edge of the sea to Annapurna gleaming in the moonlight. I read the book in a single sitting and when I finished I couldn’t believe I was sitting in my den in Vermont. I could have sworn that, moments before, I was creating compositions of sea stacks with Ali on the coast of Spain and shivering with him while waiting on an hour long exposure of star trails at a base camp in the Himalayas.
Just as John Shaw gave us a new perspective on insects and nature near at hand, Ali Benn has taken nature photography into a new paradigm. The rest of us can consider ourselves privileged to have Ali lead us out of our comfort zones and guide us so gently and masterfully into the night where we can explore a whole new way of seeing. With my camera gear on my back and his book and a flashlight in hand, I’m right behind him. I can’t wait to grope my way around in the dark on the coast of Maine. Thank you, Ali!
And thank you Gustav….
