The Terra Galleria Blog – QT Luong

Instead of its utilitarian name, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument could also be have been called Sand to Snow National Monument because it spans a similar range of elevations, from the desert floor to the top of San Jacinto Peak, which culminates at 10,834 feet. Although San Jacinto Peak is lower than San Gorgonio, it is even more prominent (only 5 mountains in the continental U.S. exceed its topographic prominence) and dominates the landscape of Coachella Valley. Its steep north face rises abruptly 10,000 feet in 7 miles, one of the largest gains in elevation over such a small distance in the continental U.S. Not only the high-elevation areas of Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument are more visible than those of Sand to Snow National Monument, they are also more accessible as well, as they can be reached without hiking. The lower elevation areas comprise canyons enlivened by year-round streams that create rich oases.

Highway 74 and the Santa Rosa Mountains

The portion of Highway 74 crossing the Santa Rosa Mountains is appropriately called the Palms to Pines scenic highway since it takes you from clusters of desert palms up to conifer forests in less than ten miles of switchbacks. The national monument visitor center lies 3.5 miles from the start of the highway in Palm Desert and is the trailhead for the 2.7-mile Randall Henderson Loop Trail that gives a good glimpse of the low elevation desert environment. About mid-way, the Coachella Valley Vista Point offers a great view of the valley and mountains.

My favorite stop along the highway was the Cahuilla Tewanet Vista Point, located about 10 miles from the visitor center. A short trail leads you into the Santa Rosa Wilderness, above the aptly named Deep Canyon. A dense and varied collection of desert plants provide foregrounds to expansive views. During my early morning visit in January, the temperatures were near freezing, and the weather changed from sunny to hail by the minutes, making for an exciting outing in spite of its short length.

The night before, I stayed at the Pinyon Flat campground, which was cold and very quiet. When my alarm clock went off, I heard the sound of rain (or was it hail?) falling on the car’s roof, as it had been intermittently through the night. That is a sweet sound because it means that you can stay in bed! However, it did not last long, and upon opening an eye, I saw some bright spots in the sky. I hurried out and managed to find a spot near Highway 84 with cacti and open views of the Santa Rosa Mountains, just in time to catch the sunrise colors in the clouds.

On the south side of Highway 84, at a sign reading “Santa Rosa Mountain, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument” the steep, rough and unpaved Santa Rosa Truck Trail, (which becomes Forest route 7S02) ascends amongst conifer forests into the Santa Rosa Mountains, leading to campgrounds and snow-capped peaks.

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and the San Jacinto Mountains

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway takes you in about twelve minutes from the upper reaches of the Coachella Valley at 2,643 feet to the Mountain Station at 8,516 feet above sea level. On the way, you pass five biomes, ending at an alpine forest.

The ride is made even more spectacular by the abrupt rise which occurs over only two and one-half miles, and the rotating design of the tram cars. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is one of only three aerial trams in the world and the largest. The tram car floor rotates constantly, making two complete revolutions throughout the duration of the journey so that you have the chance to see in all directions without moving in the car, which is too packed for that. My kids, who would never have hiked up the mountain, loved the ride. From the Mountain Station, San Jacinto Peak is still a long way, but there are nearby nature trails to explore.

Tahquitz and Indian Canyons

A number of canyons lie at the base of San Jacinto Peak, in the Coachella Valley, a short distance from downtown Palm Springs. They are the ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, and are nowadays part of the Cahuilla Indian reservation. They are under the care of staff wearing uniforms identifying them as “Tribal rangers”.

Tahquiz Canyon is known for its 60-foot waterfall, which you can see by hiking a two-mile loop with 350 feet elevation gain. The stream that creates the waterfall had a decent flow. It supports deciduous trees, and although it was January, I was pleased to notice some residual foliage color from the last autumn.

Indian Canyons is a larger tribal area than Tahquiz Canyon with trails up to 4 miles roundtrip and several flowing streams. It features three separate canyons, which together form the largest system of native fan palm oases in the country. Both are day-use areas only with entrance fees charged, and closing times are strictly enforced.

See more images from Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument

Part 4 of 5. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Sand to Snow National Monument owes its name to the striking elevation difference between the Sonoran Desert floor (about 1,000 feet) and 11,500-foot San Gorgonio Mountain, Southern California’s highest peak. That gradient makes Sand to Snow possibly the most botanically diverse national monument in America. Unlike Mojave Trails and Castle Mountains, no roads penetrate its 240 square miles (154,000 acres) interior. The highest parts of Sand to Snow National Monument are designated wilderness, and reached via trailheads on the north and west along Hwy 38. However, the lower parts of Sand to Snow National Monument on the east are quite accessible thanks to a trio of developed nature preserves on its outskirts, which do not charge fees and serve as entry points into the national monument.

(click on map for larger version)

Whitewater Canyon Preserve

The main feature of the 4.3 square miles (2,800-acre) Whitewater Canyon Preserve is the Whitewater River, a rare desert stream that flows year-round, although when I visited it was a trickle. Naturally, this stream has created a rich riparian habitat, but there are also plenty of opportunities to hike onto higher ground, as the Pacific Crest Trail is less than a mile from the ranger station. The Whitewater Canyon Preserve is managed by the Wildlands Conservancy. They cleaned up the area and transformed an historic trout farm into visitor facilities, including a ranger station that is an excellent place to get information about the national monument. The preserve is at the end of a paved road, and its gates are open to cars from daily 8am to 5pm (except on some holidays), but after-hours hiking is possible, and there is a nice and quiet campground where you can stay for free with a permit obtained at the ranger station or by phone.

Mission Creek Preserve

The nearby 7.3 square miles (4,700-acre) Mission Creek Preserve, which is also managed by the Wildlands Conservancy, offers a clear view of Southern California’s two highest peaks, San Gorgonio and San Jacinto. Reached by a well-graded dirt road, Mission Creek Preserve is less developed than the Whitewater Canyon Preserve. Without prior arrangements, I had to park on the large lot outside the locked gate and hike in. If you obtain the key, you can drive 1.5 miles to the Mission Creek Stone House, where you’ll find a free campground which is small but has flush toilets and a shelter.

Big Morongo Canyon Preserve

The 48 square miles (31,000-acre) Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is located on the outskirts of the town of Morongo Valley, less than a mile from Hwy 62, and was protected as a wildlife reserve in 1982, making it the most popular and accessible area in the monument. With the exception of the 4-mile Canyon Trail, all the trails are short and include boardwalks over wetlands. Since this is the desert, I was surprised by the lushness of the area, even with mid-winter’s absence of greenery. It was one of the largest cottonwoods and willow habitats I’d seen in California, and a few palm trees grow there too. Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is managed by the BLM and is a day use area open daily from 7:30am to sunset. A host was present at the trailhead, and there is a nature center where I learned that the preserve’s oasis is considered a major birding area in California by the Audubon Society.

Pioneertown

The Wildlands Conservancy manages the 40 square miles (25,500-acre) Pionneertown Mountains Preserve, the largest of their desert properties. A short unpaved road leads to a ranger station. Including riparian areas, volcanic mesas, and mountains, it is most diverse, but a huge fire in 2016 killed most of the preserve’s vegetation. The Pioneertown Mountains Preserve is not included in Sand to Snow National Monument. However, there is a 10 square miles (6,400-acre) detached unit of the monument called the Black Lava Butte addition that lies east of the Pioneertown Mountains Preserve. It protects two broad, volcanic mesas, Black Lava Butte to the west and Flat Top to the east, which I have found to be quite barren.

See more images from Sand to Snow National Monument

Part 3 of 5. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

If I was to sum up my impressions of Castle Mountains National Monument in one word, it would be “primitive”. See what I managed to discover and photograph in one day of exploring this beautiful desert area that manages to make the Mojave National Preserve appear civilized, without the benefit of any detailed information nor any facilities.

Castle Mountains National Monument is part of a trio of national monuments in the California desert proclaimed by President Obama in February 2016, and at 32.69 square miles is quite small compared to the two others. While Mojave Trails National Monument surrounds Mojave National Preserve on three sides, Castle Mountains is surrounded by Mojave National Preserve on three sides. Unlike most of the recently created national monuments, Castle Mountains is managed by the National Park Service. Areas managed by the National Park Service in general, and national parks in particular, tend to be more developed than those managed by other government agencies such as the BLM. Therefore, I was surprised by the barebones nature of the national park website for Castle Mountains: no detailed map, nor any information on the park or activities – an harbinger of the situation on the ground. The most useful map of Castle Mountains is actually the NPS map of Mojave National Preserve, and since there is no ranger station nor visitor center in Castle Mountains, if you want to ask for conditions, the best number to call would be the Mojave Hole-in-thewall Visitor Center (760 252-6104 or 760 928-2572) or maybe the main Mojave visitor center in Barstow a call (760-252-6100).

The website did mention that the main approach to the monument is from Walking Box Ranch Road (unpaved) off of Nevada State Rd 164 or Nipton Road, and recommended a high clearance, four-wheel drive vehicle. Driving out of Searchlight in the dark, I looked in vain for a sign pointing to the national monument. Google Maps suggested a route via Walking Box Ranch Road, so in spite of the NPS warnings not to rely on GPS for navigation, I assumed the electronic directions to be correct. After a about ten miles of well-graded dirt road, I was pleased to spot a sign with the familiar brown color that said “Entering Castle Mountains National Monument”.

I was planning to stop at the first parking lot or trailhead ahead and sleep in the car – there are no campgrounds nor bathrooms in the monument. However, none appeared, and after driving for a while, I realized I’d gone too far from the Castle Peaks that I had initially planned to photograph at sunrise since they are east-facing. Despite the apparent isolation, I didn’t want just to park on the side of the road, since it had become quite narrow with not even a proper shoulder. It took me a while to locate a side road where I could pull out. This turned out a good idea because late at night, eighteen-wheeler trucks would barge by. When Castle Mountains National Monument was designated, its boundaries were drawn around a gold mine which is still active, and the industrial vehicles would be the only traffic I would see during my stay. I guess they are the reason the main road in such a good shape, and passable by most vehicles. Instead of driving back towards the Castle Peaks in the dark, I photographed the first light reaching mountains located in the Mojave National Preserve.

Besides the mountains, I found in the monument grasslands said to be particularly diverse, one of densest collection of Joshua Trees of the Mojave, superior to that found in Joshua Tree National Park, and generally a great array of desert vegetation ranging from all sort of cacti to juniper and pinyon pines.

Forming sharp pinnacles carved by erosion out of volcanic rocks, the Castle Peaks, which can be seen from as far as I-15 near the CA-NV state line, are the most striking mountains around. However, they are located in the Mojave National Preserve, not in the monument, and are often confused with the Castle Mountains. From the road, the Castle Peaks face east and make for a great sunrise shot, while the Castle Mountains face west.

The namesake Castle Mountains culminate at about 5,500 feet. I soon zeroed on their most distinctive summit, Hart Peak. Besides at the entrance, I didn’t find any trail, trailhead, pull-out, or a single sign in the entire monument, but I spotted quite a few side roads leading towards the direction of the peak. I tried driving one, but it quickly became very rough. Not confident that my Subaru Forester had enough clearance, I made what felt like a 10-point U-turn on the narrow road, parked near the main road and continued by foot. Overgrown jeep roads and a bit of cross country hiking lead in 1.5 miles (one-way) with 500 feet elevation gain to a saddle south of Hart Peak, where I found my favorite views of the monument, with interesting topography in all directions, and cross-light on the mountains in the early morning and late afternoon. From the saddle, I hiked the mountains opposite to Hart Peak for high vantage points. Since it was still early, I returned to the car, drove the main road to the southern boundary of the monument, and then hiked back to a spot below the saddle for sunset. Besides a few trucks on the main road, I didn’t see anybody for the entire day. Since the desert is full of thorny plants, after staying until the last light, I was grateful to mostly follow washes and old roads on my way down in the dark.

See more images from Castle Mountains National Monument

Part 2 of 5. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Protecting a huge 2,500 square miles (1.6 million acres), Mojave Trails National Monument is the largest of the three California desert national monuments established by President Barack Obama in February 2016, and also the second largest national monument in the contiguous U.S. or the largest if you count the reduction in size of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. In the heart of the California desert, Mojave Trails National Monument forms a connective tissue linking Joshua Tree National Park in the south to Mojave National Preserve, that it surrounds and with which it shares many geological features: remnants of a volcanic past, isolated sand dunes, and rugged mountain ranges.

(click on map for larger version)

Amboy Crater

Amboy Crater is a cinder cone extinct volcano whose black color sharply contrasts with the earth tones of the surrounding desert. It is perhaps the most easily accessed and developed area in Mojave Trails National Monument. Amboy crater was a popular sight for travelers in the heydays of route 66 from the 1920s to the 1960s. On my recent visit, I encountered hikers both at sunrise and sunset. From the trailhead and the approach, Amboy Crater is front-lit in the morning.

A newly paved spur road on the south side of Highway 66, about 2 miles west of Amboy (population 4) leads to a nice picnic area which serves as a trailhead. The hike is about 3 miles RT. Although from a distance the area looks flat, the trail first crosses labyrinthine lava fields and sandy washes and required a bit of attention to follow. Returning in the dark after sunset, I was glad for the discrete, but frequent markers. Once you reach the cinder cone on its western side, it becomes rocky and steep as you walk on lava blocks to climb 250 feet to the crater rim. A 0.3 mile-mile trail circles the crater top, offering a great perspective of itself and of the desert extending to distant mountain ranges beyond. I waited for the soft and even light of dusk to photograph the textures within the crater, while delicate colors lingered in the sky, although there was hardly enough light to see.

Cadiz Dunes

By contrast, the Cadiz Dunes are one of the most remote highlights of Mojave Trails National Monument. If it wasn’t for a rendezvous with photographer Greg Russel, who wrote an excellent post about threats to the area’s water, I wouldn’t have seen a single other person since leaving the pavement in the afternoon. The dunes are surrounded by mountains, and light is good both at sunrise and sunset. I preferred to photograph slightly backlit to emphasize the play of light and shadows.

The dunes are located in the Cadiz Dunes Wilderness and were not heavily used by off-road vehicles prior to their protection by the California Desert Protection Act of 1994, so they are still pristine. Besides having them to ourselves, we did not see any human footprints, although animal tracks were plenty. Getting there requires driving the Cadiz Road, which is unpaved but passable by most vehicles. From Highway 66 in the north, the road is slightly rougher than from Highway 62 in the south, with a few washed-out sections, but that is more than made up for by the fact that the unpaved drive is only about twice as short. From Cadiz Road, a 2.5-mile access road situated on the northwest edge of the dunes leads to a small parking area right next to the dunes. The last mile of that access road is sandy, fortunately the sand was firm enough that my AWD Subaru Forester had no trouble. I made sure not to slow down until I reached the parking area – which is hard enough that it was safe to stop on.

Afton Canyon

Although water is present under the desert ground, there is only one place where the 140-mile long Mojave River continuously flows above the ground rather than under the sands. Besides the rich desert riparian habitat of willows, Afton Canyon has also steep rock walls that earned it the nickname of “Grand Canyon of the Mojave”.

While staying at the campground reached via a few miles of well-graded unpaved road from I-40, trains ran fairly close all night, but fortunately they slowed down through the canyon enough that closed car windows muffled much of the noise. I was hoping to travel the whole length of the canyon by car, but right after the campground, the Mojave River flows onto the road, requiring a long crossing. After measuring a depth of at least 18 inches, I decided not to risk it this time.

Update: I returned to Afton Canyon a year later with a more capable vehicle.

Route 66

Historic Route 66 is a quintessential American icon of a bygone period, and Mojave Trails National Monument includes 105 miles of it, from Needles to Ludlow. This represents the longest remaining undeveloped stretch of Route 66. During my visit, a long section of it was closed for bridge repairs, and the total absence of traffic made it possible for me to set up long exposure night shots.

Mojave Trails National Monument is so recent that facilities are still minimal, and in particular you won’t find a visitor center. Nevertheless, I am hoping those highlights can get you started. In such a huge desert area, you are sure to make plenty of discoveries out of the beaten path!

See more images from Mojave Trails National Monument

Part 1 of 5. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

I am honored that a part of Treasured Lands is the featured guest exhibit at Foto Modesto 2018, a month-long festival in Modesto CA celebrating the photographic arts, taking place in February 2018. Here is a write-up from the Modesto Bee. My thanks go to David Shroeder for the invitation.

The exhibit takes place at the Mistlin Gallery:
Regular Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Friday, 11:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, 12:00 noon – 4:00 p.m.
Address: 1015 J Street, between 10th and 11th in Downtown Modesto
Phone: 209-529-3369

You can park in the city garage on the corner of 11th and K Streets, and the gallery will validate your parking.

I will also give a presentation Sunday, February 11 at Prospect Theater Project, 1214 K Street from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. Donation of $10 to support Foto Modesto requested.

There will be three more public opportunities to watch the presentation in the South SF Bay Area this winter, as listed on my speaking page:

SARATOGA LIBRARY
February 12, 2018, 7 PM
13650 Saratoga Ave
Saratoga, CA

LOS GATOS – SARATOGA CAMERA CLUB
February 26, 2018, 7:30 PM
Temple Shir Hadash
20 Cherry Blossom Ln
Los Gatos, CA

MORGAN HILL PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB
March 7, 2018, 7:45 PM
Centennial Recreation Senior Center
171 West Edmundson Avenue
Morgan Hill, CA

A quarter-century ago, when I started large format nature photography, Jack Dykinga’s work was a main source of inspiration. His wilderness advocacy books on the American Southwest, and in particular the Sonoran, Mojave, and Escalante Canyons, used fine art photography as a means to document the land in a way both accurate and stirring. I was intrigued by a tidbit in the short bio included in his books: he had won a Pulitzer Price. You don’t win Pulitzer Price for doing nature photography. What work had he also been doing, and how did he transition to nature photography?

Dykinga’s latest book, A Photographer’s Life: A Journey from Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photojournalist to Celebrated Nature Photographer (Rocky Nook, 2017), finally answers those questions. The book functions primarily as an autobiographical narrative that is started, sustained and structured by this most beautiful of qualities, gratitude. In 2014, Dykinga is lying in a hospital dying but still wants to see his great-children grow. A lung transplant saves his life and deepens his appreciation for the gift of life. As he reminisces on that full and meaningful life, he remembers all the people who have inspired and given him so much, and most chapters of the book highlight one such person: “It takes a village to make a photographer”. Back then, the world of photography was smaller and more close-knit, allowing Dykinga to develop friendships with several of the prominent landscape photographers and environmental writers.

Along the way, we witness not only professional triumphs, but also setbacks, as we are given a behind the scenes view of the world of editorial photography. Dykinga doesn’t shy from candidly revealing some of its less savory aspects: the politics of journalism and the necessity to please advertisers – which eventually drove him away from photojournalism, how standing up for a friend gets him blacklisted from hard-earned plum National Geographic assignments. Dykinga has long been a role model for integrity, standing for what’s important, and this book is the latest testimony to it.

Having undergone a similar evolution, I relate to his transition from large format photography to digital, and most photographers will take comfort with that too. However, the story that surprised me is how in 1975, as part of an assignment to photograph an ordinary man attempting to summit Mount Rainier, Dykinga undertook the climb with only summary preparation. As a result, a storm made it an harrowing experience, but one that nevertheless struck a chord with him, just like my experience of the wilderness of mountains had changed my life and would eventually lead me to nature photography. Dykinga’s path was quicker because that same year, Dykinga had become aware of the pioneering conservation photographer Philip Hyde’s work. He realized that he wanted “to be like Philip Hyde”. Realistic about how hard it is to eke out a living in nature photography, he acknowledges the generosity of a nature lover in making it possible for him to start a new career in that field.

The book also works as a retrospective portfolio. The clean design and reproduction quality do justice to Dykinga’s work. We get to at least see the photojournalistic work for which Dykinga won the Pulitzer, documenting the poor conditions of a state mental institution. The nature selection range from classic large-format images to his newest digital work, and despite owning six of his books I discovered many new images, in particular from Mexico. It includes his most iconic photographs such as the reflected petrified sand dunes in Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness that adorn the cover of Stone Canyons of the Colorado Plateau, or the Saguaro with an arm curving downwards to reveal a bloom.

For the later image, Dykinga writes about how much time and effort went into creating it, first selecting the particular cactus after a week of scouting, then visiting it for another week until the blooms appeared at the desired places. This leads us to the third aspect of the book, which are the comments on photography. Although this is not the primary focus of the book, I have found those comments as insightful as those in the more directly educational Capture the Magic: Train Your Eye, Improve Your Photographic Composition. Besides detailed explanation about how some specific pictures were made, the book is laced with advice for photographers at a “big picture” level: the thinking and decisions Dykinga made, the evaluation of what makes a great composition. I chucked when Dykinga admitted that on occasion he got so excited about a location that he photographed too quickly, then had to return for better compositions, an all too common occurence for me too.

Jack Dykinga is one of the great nature landscape photographers of our times and has produced a book which is at the same time informative, inspirational and moving. Functioning as a memoir, a beautiful retrospective of his work, and a collection of musings on photography, A Photographer’s Life: A Journey from Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photojournalist to Celebrated Nature Photographer offers an engaging combination of gratitude, personal stories, insights, and of course excellent photographs.

Joshua Tree National Park is well-known for the namesake Joshua trees and rounded boulders. The Jumbo Rocks area, home to the largest campground in the park (124 campsites), contains some of Joshua Tree National Park’s most whimsical rock formations. The most interesting are unnamed, and their locations passed from photographer to photographer. You’ve seen the pictures before, and this post tells you how to find three of the those most popular rocks.

The rock formation most well known to the general public is Skull Rock, located east of the Jumbo Rocks campground along the main park road, on its south side. To see it, you can just drive and park on a turnout along the road about 1,000 meters north-east of the campground entrance near a pedestrian crossing, or you can follow the 1.7-mile Skull Rock Nature Trail beginning inside the campground. Skull Rock is well-known because it is named and signed, but there are plenty of other unnamed and unmarked rock formations more interesting to photograph.

The Skull Rock Nature Trail starts across from the amphitheater, located near campsite 93. At the start of this trail, you will find an unnamed boulder pile with spherical marble-like rocks balancing on triangular crisscrossing blocks. First photographed by Ansel Adams in the 1930s, it makes for a far more interesting subject than Skull Rock, with many compositions possible. That wall of rocks faces west and catches the last light of sunset. Below the formation, there is a striking wedged spherical boulder. Repeating the marble shape, it forms an excellent foreground, but the location is tight for multiple photographers.

Standing on the turnout for Skull Road, if you look towards the West, on the other side of the road, you might be able to spot two large twins rounded boulders about 250 meters away. These were the subject of Michael Fatali’s “Sunkissed” and “Fruit of Temptation” and were also photographed by Jack Dykinga in 1989. The relative appearance of those boulders varies with angle, they can be framed with various foregrounds, and the east side presents a Sphynx-like figure, so there are a lot of possibilities. The front of the formation catches the first light of sunrise.

Within the campground, you can also find another photographer’s favorite, the weathered bonsai-like juniper tree framing a pointy balanced monolith, which is close to campsite 19 on Loop C. The light there is best from late afternoon to sunset. Reserving this campsite would be ideal for night photography. I timed my photograph for the moment when the last light from the moon lit the rock. Although the colors are not visible to the human eye, a moonset creates the same warm tones as a sunset, with the bonus of stars sprinkled in the sky.

Besides those three icons, there are many discoveries to be made by wandering around the boulders and following the light.

How do you separate wheat from chaff within the several thousand photobooks published last year? Photographers, critics, curators, and journalists have been writing year-end lists of best (favorite, interesting, notable…) photobooks. However, each list is subjective and limited by the number of photobooks to which the writer had access. The meta-list is a methodology to aggregate them together into a more consensual and inclusive list.

In my meta-list of best photobooks, titles are ranked by how many lists they have appeared in, each listing counting as one “vote”, and only titles that have appeared at least in two lists are considered. The 2017 meta-list (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) is derived from 41 sources, totaling 92 individual lists. Unlike in previous years, I couldn’t rely on an existing compilation of lists, so I made my own, using Google searches and browsing of sites that posted lists on previous years. The list compilation is posted below the meta-list and each entry makes for good reading. Also, new this year, I’ve added a link to a video flip-through for the top titles, as well as links to Amazon, or in the case of self-published books, to the author’s page – a good way to support them and get a signed copy.

(15 votes)
Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation MATHIEU ASSELIN Verlag Kettler video amazon

(14 votes)
Deep Springs SAM CONTIS Mack video amazon

(13 votes)
Welcome to Camp America, Inside Guantanamo Bay DEBI CORNWALL Radius Books video amazon

(12 votes)
Reading Raymond Carver MARY FREY Peperoni Books video amazon

(10 votes)
Island of the Colorblind SANNE DE WILDE Kehrer Verlag video amazon
Ville de Calais HENK WILDSCHUT Self-published video author

(9 votes)
Buzzing at the Sill PETER VAN AGTMAEL Kehrer Verlag video amazon
Selected Works, 1973-1981 STEPHEN SHORE Aperture video amazon
The Last Testament JONAS BENDIKSEN Aperture video amazon

(8 votes)
The First March of Gentlemen RAFAL MILACH Muzeum Dzieci Wrzesinskich (1st), GOST (2nd) video amazon

(7 votes)
Museum Bhavan DAYANITA SINGH Steidl video amazon
Prince Street Girls SUSAN MEISELAS TBW Books Series video amazon
Slant Rhymes ALEX WEBB & REBECCA NORRIS WEBB La Fabrica video amazon
War Sand DONALD WEBER Self-published video author
White Night FENG LI Jiazazhi video amazon

(6 votes)
Beyond Drifting: Imperfectly Known Animals MANDY BARKER Overlapse video amazon
Blind Spot TEJU COLE Penguin Random House video amazon
California JOHN CHIARA Aperture video amazon
Halo RINKO KAWAUCHI Aperture/Thames & Hudson video amazon
In Most Tides An Island NICHOLAS MUELLNER SPBH video amazon
Local Objects TIM CARPENTER The Ice Plant video amazon
Night Procession STEPHEN GILL Nobody/Self-published video author

(5 votes)
Boardwalk Minus Forty MIKE MANDEL TBW Books Series video amazon
Endangered TIM FLACH Abrams video amazon
Human Nature LUCAS FOGLIA Nazraeli video amazon
Nausea RON JUDE Mack video amazon
On Abortion LAIA ABRIL Dewi Lewis video amazon
On The Frontline SUSAN MEISELAS Aperture video amazon
Pictures from Home LARRY SULTAN Mack (reprint) video amazon
Ravens MASAHISA FUKASE Mack (reprint) video amazon
The Last Son JIM GOLDBERG Super Labo video amazon

(4 votes)
A Beautiful Ghetto DEVIN ALLEN Haymarket Books
Bleu ALIX MARIE Morel
Borne Back VICTORIA WILL Peanut Press
Dublin KRASS CLEMENT RRB Publishing video
Election Eve WILLIAM EGGLESTON Steidl (reprint)
General View THOMAS ALBDORF Skinnerboox video
Good Goddamn BRYAN SCHUTMAAT Trespasser video
Hidden Mother LAURA LARSON Saint Lucy Books
I Love You, I’m Leaving MATT EICH Ceiba Editions video
If You Have A Secret IRINA POPOVA Self-published (reprint) video
Man Next Door ROB HORNSTRA Self-published video
Manhattan Transit The Subway Photographs of Helen Levitt HELEN LEVITT Walter Konig
Obama: An Intimate Portrait PETE SOUZA Little, Brown and Co video.
Only the Lonely, 1955-1984 WILLIAM GEDNEY University of Texas Press video
People In Cars MIKE MANDEL Stanley/Barkervideo
Photobook Phenomenon MORITZ NEUMULLER (ed) RM CCCB/FUNDACION FOTO COLECTANIA video
The Ending LEIF SANDBERG Bœcker Books video
The Mechanism MÅRTEN LANGE Mack video
The Restoration Will MAYUMI SUZUKI Self-published video
The Transverse Path (or Nature’s Little Secret) MIKE SLACK The Ice Plant video

(3 votes)
30/Exposure KAZUMA OBARA Self-published
36 Views FYODOR TELKOV Ediciones Anomalas
An autobiography of miss Wish NINA BERMAN Kehrer Verlag
And from the Coaltips a Tree Will Rise LATOYA RUBY FRAZIER MAC’S Grand Hornu
Beyond Here Is Nothing LAURA EL TANTAWY Self-published
Centennial IRVING PENN Metropolitan Museum of Art/Yale University
Corbeau Anne Golaz MACK
Dandy Lion: The Black Dandy and Street Style SHANTRELLE P. LEWIS Aperture
Fancy Pictures MARK NEVILLE Steidl
Fink on Warhol: New York Photographs of the 1960s LARRY FINK Damiani
Firecrackers: Female Photographers Now FIONA ROGERS & MAX HOUGHTON Thames & Hudson
Head LEE FRIEDLANDER TBW Books Series
I Fought the Law OLIVIA LOCHER Chronicle Books
In that Land of Perfect Day BRANDON THIBODEAUX Red Hook Editions
Iowa NANCY REXROTH University of Texas Press
La Grieta (The Crack) CARLOS SPOTTORNO Astiberri Ediciones
Mean Streets: NYC 1970-1985 by Edward Grazda powerHouse Books
Merrie Albion: Landscape Studies From A Small Island SIMON ROBERTS Dewi Lewis Publishing
Mfon: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora LAYLAH AMATULLAH BARRAYN, ADAMA DELPHINE FAWUNDU, & CRYSTAL WHALEY Eye + Inc.
Money Must Be Made LORENZO VITTURI SPBH
Pittsburgh 1950 ELLIOTT ERWITT GOST
Portraits DUANE MICHALS Thames & Hudson
Red Flower: The Women of Okinawa MAO ISHIKAWA Session Press
Ren Hang REN HANG Taschen
Sleeping by the Mississippi ALEC SOTH Mack (reprint)
The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer AMANI WILLETT Overlapse Photobooks
The Family Imprint: A Daughter’s Portrait of Love and Loss NANCY BOROWICK Hatje Cantz
The Iceberg GIORGIO DI NOTO Edition Patrick Frey
They Shall Take Up Serpents BILL BURKE TBW Books Series
Think of Scotland MARTIN PARR Damiani
This Is Not My Book ERIK VAN DER WEIJDE Spector Books
Witness: Kashmir 1986-2016 SANJAY KAK (Ed,9 Photographers)
You Get Me? MAHTAB HUSSAIN Mack

(2 votes)
50 Years of Rolling Stone JANN S WENNER Rolling Stone
A Rock is a River MAYA ROCHAT
Alternative Moons NADINE SCHLIEPER & ROBERT PUFLEB
Arbus Friedlander Winogrand: New Documents, 1967 JOHN SZARKOWSKI Museum of Modern Art
Archiving Eden DORNITH DOHERTY Schilt Publications
As it may be BIEKE DEPOORTER Aperture
Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill JERRY DANTZIC Thames + Hudson
Bluewater Shore DOUGLAS STOCKDALE self-published
Bord de Mer GABRIELE BASILICO Contrasto
Bystander: A History of Street Photography JOEL MEYEROWITZ & COLIN WESTERBECK Laurence King Publishing
Christian Borchert – Schattentanz / Shadow dance HANSGERT LAMBERS & JENS BOVE (editors)
Clear of People MICHAL IWANOWSKI Brave Books
Continental Drift TAIYO ONORATO & NICO KREBS Edition Patrick Frey
Daily, In A Nimble Sea BARRY STONE Silas Finch
Days of Smelling Like Grass YOSHIO MIZOGUCHI
Diary of a Leap Year RABIH MROUE
East/West HARRY GRUYAERT Thames & Hudson
Ed Forbis LOLA PAPROCKA & PANI PAUL Palm* Studios
Eternal Friendship ANOUCK DURAND Siglio
Expired Paper ALISON ROSSITER Radius Books
Extra! WEEGEE Hirmer/University of Chicago
Feast for the Eyes SUSAN BRIGHT Aperture
Flow TYMON MARKOWSKI Self-published
Front Line Towards Enemy LOUIE PALU Yoffy Press
Generation Wealth LAUREN GREENFIELD Phaidon
Here For The Ride ANDRE D. WAGNER Creative Future
Hunter Grill ALEXANDRE CHRISTIAENS
I loved my wife (Killing children is good for the economy) DIETER DE LATHAUWER
Internat CAROLYN DRAKE
Kensington Blues JEFFREY STOCKBRIDGE Self-published
Magnum Manifesto CLEMENT CHEROUX & CLARA BOUVERESSE Thames & Hudson
Mother MATTHEW FINN Dewi Lewis
Natten MARGOT WALLARD
Nokturno ANDREJ LAMUT The Angry Bat
Order of Appearance JIM JOCOY TBW Books
Out of the Blue VIRGINIE REBETEZ Meta/Books
Passport ALEXANDER CHEKMENEV
Past Perfect Continuous IGOR POSNER
Pictures From the Next Day ROBERT LYONS Zatara Press
Pop BRIAN GRIFFIN
Preston Bus Station JAMIE HAWKESWORTH
Prison Photographs NICOLO DEGIORGIS
Real Nazis PIOTR UKLANSKI Edition Patrick Frey
Really Good Dog Photography LUCY DAVIES (Ed) Hoxton Mini Press & Penguin Books
Recent Histories: Contemporary African Photography and Video Art from the Walther Collection DANIELA BAUMANN, JOSHUA CHUANG, OLUREMI C. ONABANJO Steidl
Rex ZACKARY CANEPARI Contrasto Books
Roadside Lights EIJI OHASHI Zen Foto Gallery
Shot: 101 Survivors of Gun Violence in America KATHY SHORR
Siloquies and Soliloquies on Death, Life and Other Interludes EDGAR MARTINS The Moth House
Small Town Inertia JIM MORTRAM
State of Nature CLAUDIUS SCHULZE Hartmann
Tales Of Lipstick And Virtue ANNA EHRENSTEIN Editions Bessard
The Erratics DARREN HARVEY-REGAN RVB Books
The Flying Carpet CESARE FABBRI Mack
The Gravity of Place ISRAEL ARINO Ediciones Anomalas
The Japanese Photobook: 1912-1980 MANFRED HEITING Steidl
The Kids The Children of LGBTQ Parents in the USA GABRIELA HERMAN The New Press
The Pigeon Photographer NICOLO DEGIORGIS Rorhof
The Run-On of Time EUGENE RICHARDS Yale University Press
The Topography of Tears ROSE-LYNN FISHER Bellevue Literary Press
The World is not Beautiful; Photographs 1973-1981 JOHN MYERS
There’s A White Horse In My Garden ANNE SCHWALBE
Veterans: Faces of World War II SASHA MASLOV Princeton Architectural Press
Walden S.B. WALKER Kehrer Verlag
We Are Still Here DEVYN GALINDO DG-Print
You Wait ROMAN PYATKOVKA

Source lists

Antiquated Modern
A Photographic Mind
Mother Jones
NY Times Mag
CAPE
Liberation Fr
The Heavy Collective (3 lists)
Scotsman
Bintphotobooks
Internazionale It
Women Photograph
The Camera Store
Previiew
LensCulture Curators
LensCulture Personal Favorites
LensCulture (multiple votes counted)
The Photobook Blog
1000 Words Mag
NY Times
Humble Arts Foundation
Booktrib
Elizabeth Avedon Part 1
Elizabeth Avedon Part 2
Shooter Files
Calvert Journal
Vulture
Buzzfeed
Crave
Parade
Amateur Photographer UK
Elin Spring Photography
Atlas Obscura
Artsy
Times UK
The Guardian UK
Photobookstore UK (23 lists) + meta-list
PhotoEye (28 mini-lists)
Smithsonian
PDN
The 2017 PhotoBook Awards Shortlist

The following lists have some photobooks in them but have not been used either because they are too general (also feature non-photobook titles), or more rarely, too specialized:
CIIN
CL Tampa
Culture Type
Elle UK
Fashionista
AFR
Format
Independent UK
Inside Hook
Jackson Art
LA Times
Magnum Photos
Readings
Sleek Mag
Daily Beast
Guardian UK
The What
Vogue
WRAL
BJP
NYMag
Bouilla Blaise

Regardless of what one may think about the practice of listing best photobooks of the year, I think that the Meta-list provides a good snapshot of what the “photobook world” thought about the year past standouts, and more importantly is an invitation to discover work that wouldn’t have come to your attention otherwise.

By the way, the photo includes two personal favorites that could be considered “outliers” that I will review on this blog. Can you spot them?

Today the winter sun rises on the first page of a 365-page blank book.

Make it the best you can!

After a night in my car, I showed up for sunrise in Lassen Volcanic National Park…. brrr! Lassen Peak has the highest snow accumulation in California, and snow closed the park road, leaving only Manzanita Lake with easy access. I was hoping for clouds, but the sky remained crystal clear. The view towards Lassen Peak from Manzanita Lake was backlit. Frozen solid and covered by snow, the surface of the lake presented nothing but featureless white. What to do with that blank page? I walked onto the lake and in the penumbra of a tree trunk, and with a wide-angle lens, the shadows created shapes and lines that made the picture. In a large print, the bright sparkle of the snow is also quite lively.

I wish everyone a year 2018 full of happiness, health, creativity, and success. My sincere thanks for your continuing readership and interest in my photography.

In 2017, I limited again my travels, in part because of the demands of the book tour for Treasured Lands. Beyond the great critical reviews, awards, and official state recognition, I am most grateful to all of you who have helped make the book a success. This has me considering a follow-up based on solely unusual views and locations. Despite the relatively short field time, I am fortunate to have been able to capture some elusive photographs that are sure to make their way into this project. I’d appreciate it if you would let me know which ones are your favorites!

Yosemite’s Horsetail Fall Firefall at Least: Why I didn’t attempt to photograph Yosemite’s marvelous “natural firefall” prior to this year, and the story behind an image that I bet you haven’t seen before.

Pinnacles Moses Spring Waterfall at Least: For most of the year, Pinnacles National Park is quite a dry place. I revisited right after the high rains of this winter to observe the place transformed by the flow of the creeks and to photograph another elusive waterfall.

Carrizo Plain National Monument Super Bloom: Most of the times a barren-looking grassland, the little-known Carrizo Plain came to life thanks to the abundant rains of last winter, to become the site of a “super bloom”, with some of the best wildflower displays I had ever seen in California. Next year, I will be spending more time in the national monuments as part of much needed advocacy for those public lands under attack. Even the government actions were deeply disappointing, it was heartening to see so many people speaking out for our public lands, and I hope that you’ll continue to do so!

Back to Pine Creek Canyon, Zion National Park: One might think that the slot canyons do not vary much. But in fact, the interplay of light with the walls varies much faster than in more open scenery, and the repeat visit of a Zion classic brought much changes.

A Gift from Kabetogama, Voyageurs National Park: I woke up at 5:30am to catch an early flight from San Francisco to Saint-Paul Minneapolis, arriving in the mid-afternoon, followed by a five-hour drive, to reach the outskirts of Voyageurs National Park. I am glad that I nevertheless stayed up that night.

Accessing and Working Isle Royale’s Lookout Louise: Isle Royale is famous for its population of wolves and moose, but they had proven elusive. On my third trip to Isle Royale, because I needed to go down from Lookout Louise to retrieve gear, I was elated to be able to at least photograph a moose.

Return of the Mountaineer: How it felt to climb the Grand Teton this summer after a 20-year hiatus from mountaineering, and observe again the alpenglow for high up.

Solar Eclipse over the Tetons: Photographing (?) the Real Icon: For the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 in Grand Teton National Park I chose a backcountry location discovered by William Henry Jackson. My shooting plan to capture this iconic shot did not involve straight photography.

Drone Tour of the Big Island of Hawaii: this year, a new drone has re-energized my aerial photography. The Big Island of Hawaii was a great place to test its possibilities.

Lombard Street: Variations on a Difficult to Photograph San Francisco Landmark: For something a bit different and closer to home, Lombard Street in San Francisco has a one-block section with eight hairpin turns known as the “crookedest street in the world”. Although one of the most famous sights in the city, it is also one of the most difficult to photograph.

If you’ve made it so far, thanks again for looking and reading. Wishing you Happy Holidays, or Merry Christmas, and a great time with family and friends, full of peace, love and joy!