Treasured Lands: A Photographic Odyssey Through America's National Parks, Second Expanded Edition
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Photography & Video
Treasured Lands: A Photographic Odyssey Through America's National Parks, Second Expanded Edition Details
Review Independent Publisher Book Award ("IPPY") - Coffee Table Books Gold Medal IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards - Arts and Photography Gold Medal Nautilus Book Awards - Photography and Arts Silver Winner National Indie Excellence Awards - Photography Winner PubWest Design Awards - Photography Gold Winner Foreword INDIES Book of the Year - Nature Gold Winner, Travel Silver Winner (*) "The centennial of the National Park Service has been the occasion of ... many books. The most glorious of these is TREASURED LANDS . . . No one has captured the vast beauty of America's landscape as comprehensively." - Dominique Browning, The New York Times"Treasured Lands is the culmination of a multi-decade effort that showcases the national parks in all their natural splendor and diversity. The work serves as a memorable statement of the importance and value of protecting the parks and an inspiring invitation." - Will Shafroth, President, National Park Foundation "The book not only serves as a marvelous example of what this talented photographer has accomplished after many years exploring some of the most beautiful places in America, but it also acts as a guide for his fellow photographers who may want to travel to the parks too. It's a must-have for fans of landscape photography in particular and lovers of the National Parks in general." William Sawalich, Outdoor Photographer"Treasured Lands features a treasure trove of vivid images from every national park, hundreds of them from sea to shining sea, in large format... Luong's visually stunning book reminds us to look at what we've already seen ... but with a new appreciation. A fresh perspective. " - Jerry Davich, The Chicago Tribune"Treasured Lands is the single-most monumental literary achievement during a year that brimmed with words and pictures dedicated to the centennial of the National Park Service . . . To be sure, it is a visual feast. But it's much more than that, because of its geographic completeness and the attention to detail that only someone who has lived and breathed the parks for a long time could provide . . . Luong's work stands out on the crowded shelves of national park tomes because of the generosity not just of his vision but of his accumulated wisdom." - Glenn Nelson, High Country News "If you're a fan of our National Parks and want the best book about them yet to be published, I recommend you beat a path to your bookstore and buy it." - Jim Barnes, Independent Publisher Magazine(*) Dates and Sources for awards:5/10/2017: ippyawards.com/125/medalists/2017-medalists4/7/2017: ibpa-online.org/news/335541/29th-Annual-IBPA-Benjamin-Franklin-Award-Winners.htm4/25/2017: nautilusbookawards.com/2016-silver-winners5/20/2017: indieexcellence.com/11th-annual-winners-80-1206/6/2017: pubwest.org/2017-book-design-award-winners6/24/2017: forewordreviews.com/articles/article/2016-foreword-indies-book-of-the-year-award-winners-announced Read more From the Author Exploring the national parks has brought me much joy, and the act of photography was an extension of that love, a desire to share with you in a tangible way the elation that comes with being in such special places, so that you can experience the same joy. I measure its success by how much these photographs inspire you to visit the places for yourself, for the happiness they will bring through a deep connection with nature, and because the experience is likely to transform you into an advocate for conservation. My hope is that this book will not only inspire you to go out and discover new places but also provide you with enough information for you to stand at the places where the photographs originated. Read more See all Editorial Reviews
Reviews
I wrote a review of “Treasured Lands” and then decided that I had been so long-winded that almost nobody would have the patience to read it all. Accordingly, I decided to submit both a Short Version and a Long Version of my review – and even the Long Version has been cut almost in half. FWIW, Amazon delivered my copy only a few days ago, so there is undoubtedly much more that I have yet to discover.The Short Version: STUNNING – BUY IT! Buy a copy for yourself and buy copies as gifts!The Long Version: This is a stunning book. “Treasured Lands” is not just a stunning book of photographs of scenery within our National Parks; it is a book that I find stunning from every aspect from which I have looked at it.The photography is excellent, and the author has spent a large part of his adult life taking superb photos in every single National Park of the United States. Here you will find images of sweeping scenery and of intimate locations that you might walk past if you were not paying attention. Here you will find images from locations in parks like Yellowstone that are on the bucket lists of many, many people, and images from locations like the National Park of American Samoa that distance means most of us will never visit. Here you will find images from iconic locations within familiar parks, and images from almost unknown jewel-like scenes within the same parks.But “Treasured Lands” is much more than that. The author has provided maps to help you find the locations within the parks from which the photos were taken, and descriptions of how to get to those locations. Many photos talk about the time of day that was needed to capture the image. None of this is unique, and I have books of excellent photos from places like Yosemite that do the same thing in even greater depth – for THAT specific park. But none of those books have done the same thing for *every single National Park in the United States*! This book is 457 pages long, which allows the author to cover the parks in greater depth than any of the other multi-park books that I have seen.But all of this still does not begin to do justice to “Treasured Lands”. The text that accompanies the photos also provides the reader with a rich experience in other regards. If you want to know more about a given park, information is there - in clear and useful text. With text that ranges from the eco-system of Olympia to the geology of Bryce, you will end up with no excuse for saying, “I’m not sure if I will find anything interesting other than pretty scenery if I go to that particular park”.Another area that I found stunning was the sheer value of the book. I have other books of landscape and other photography that are a fraction the size of “Treasured Lands”, for which I paid comparable prices – or more – and felt were good value. The content is superb, and the production values of the book are excellent. FWIW, I am putting my money where my mouth is – I have already ordered three additional copies from the author – all autographed.My comments above probably make me sound like one of the “fanboys” about which snide remarks are frequently made on the web these days. I am 76 years old (and a fan of the National Parks), so I don’t think that any form of the word “boy” other than “old” is applicable to me. However, I will add that when I look at the glowing endorsement on the book cover that Ken Burns has given QT Luong and “Treasured Lands”, I feel comfortable in believing that my opinion still has validity.
