John Sexton - Biographical Sketch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2006

PR contact: Susan Kohl, APR
Sierra Communications
skohl@mlode.com
(209) 586-5887

VENTANA EDITIONS ANNOUNCES
A NEW BOOK BY NOTED PHOTOGRAPHER JOHN SEXTON

Recollections
Three Decades of Photographs
Photographs by John Sexton
Foreword by Arthur Ollman
Afterword by Ray McSavaney

Recollections, John Sexton’s highly anticipated fourth book, invites the viewer into contemplative landscapes and human-made environments filled with vibrant luminosity. Seen through Sexton’s eyes, his subjects are transformed into images of tranquility, wonder, and mystery. From the purity of a fresh snowfall in Yosemite Valley to the enigmatic rock forms of the Colorado Plateau, Sexton explores the subtle nuances of details rather than grand vistas.

Scheduled for publication by Ventana Editions in October 2006, every detail of the project has been supervised by Sexton. The book has been elegantly designed by Cliff Rusch, and the large-format, black and white images have been magnificently reproduced on luxurious heavyweight paper by Dual Graphics. The fifty-five images included in Recollections–none of which have appeared in Sexton’s previous books–provide moving testimony to his love of light and his dedication to revealing the beauty of the planet.

In addition to the stunning reproductions, Recollections includes an illuminating foreword by well-known curator, writer, and photographer Arthur Ollman, as well as an engaging personal afterword by respected photographer Ray McSavaney. In his photographer’s notes, John Sexton relates adventures and challenges encountered while working in the field and in the darkroom. Marked by the same excellence in printing and design as Sexton’s three previous award-winning books, Quiet Light, Listen to the Trees, and Places of Power, Recollections promises an equally memorable experience.

55 Laser Fultone reproductions, 140 pages, 12 x 12 inches
ISBN: 0-9672188-8-8
Suggested retail price: $75.00

FOR FUTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ventana Editions
Post Office Box 568
Carmel Valley, California 93924 USA
Toll Free: 888/390-4545 • Voice: 831/659-4377
info@ventanaeditions.com
www.ventanaeditions.com

PRAISE FOR RECOLLECTIONS:

“John Sexton has taken up where Ansel Adams left off, and he has done it with a powerful vision and a strong sense of purpose. His latest book, Recollections, is an essential volume for anyone who loves great photography.”
– David Hume Kennerly, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer

“John Sexton’s images in Recollections portray idyllic landscapes in moments of rare beauty–seductive, mysterious, and vaguely familiar. Time slows down, movement ceases, the world becomes quiet, and if we are patient, the subtle whisperings of the land may be heard.”
– Michael Kenna, photographer

“I’ve always looked into John Sexton’s images of man and nature and found a vision beyond classic technical proficiency. Recollections exhibits a deep passion for nature that is expressed in a certain vibrancy of imagery. It is always refreshing to see a life’s work and a life full of photographic passion.”
– Bruce Davidson, photographer

“With photography changing so rapidly today, we have an ever greater need for someone to uphold the tradition of commitment to the dignity and beauty of nature, and of the meaningful expression of true and positive values. John Sexton exemplifies this commitment in his images, and has done so for over thirty years. To admire his work is not to regress in time, but to revel in the continuation of a mode of making images that uplifts us all and gives us hope.”
– Peter C. Bunnell, McAlpin Professor of the History of Photography and Modern Art Emeritus, Princeton University

“In Recollections John Sexton draws on his powerful ability to make photographs that lift the veil of our ordinary vision, so that we may share his profound and sacred relationship to the earth. His images glorify the natural environment, exposing primordial forces that draw us closer to the land, revealing a spiritual dimension in the natural world.”
– Marilyn Bridges, photographer

FROM THE ESSAYS IN RECOLLECTIONS

“Sexton’s images identify harmony, balance, power, stillness, or even sanctuary. The photographs speak in humane metaphors, describing the fundamental unity of the physical world, of which we are one part. By extension they ask us to imagine living harmoniously within it. He prefers that we are able to sense our own invitation into a scene. He is less interested in excess than access.”
– Arthur Ollman, from his foreword

“In looking at John’s work, I can vicariously feel the slickrock, the soft earth, the granite, or the rush of a moving stream under my feet and imagine the elation that awaits upon my return to the wilderness.”
– Ray McSavaney, from his afterword

“I feel privileged to communicate through the medium of photography, to pursue the magic of light as it transforms the silver emulsions of my film and paper, as well as the emulsion of my heart, mind, and soul. It is my pleasure to present some of the photographs I have collected during the past three decades in this book. I hope that you will sense a glimmer of the magic and the excitement I felt while making these images.”
– John Sexton, from his preface

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

JOHN SEXTON - Photographer
John Sexton is known worldwide as a photographer, master print maker, workshop instructor, and lecturer. Author of three previous award-winning books, Quiet Light, Listen to the Trees, and Places of Power, Sexton is best known for his luminous black and white images of the natural environment. A former director of the Ansel Adams Workshops, he has conducted hundreds of photography workshops throughout the United States and abroad. Sexton served as photographic assistant and consultant to photographer Ansel Adams from 1979 to 1984. His finely crafted large format photographs have appeared in countless publications and are included in permanent collections and exhibitions throughout the world. In 2005 Sexton was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the North American Nature Photography Association.

ARTHUR OLLMAN - Foreword
Arthur Ollman is internationally recognized as a curator, writer, and photographer. He is currently the director of the School of Art, Design and Art History at San Diego State University. He was, for twenty-three years, the director of the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego. He has written numerous books and articles about photography and curated more than one hundred photographic exhibitions. Ollman’s photographic career has spanned more than forty years. He is best known for his night photographs of urban spaces, which have been exhibited and collected by museums and galleries worldwide.

RAY McSAVANEY - Afterword
Ray McSavaney has explored various aspects of photography and the environment for more than thirty years. A co-founder of the Owens Valley Photography Workshops, he initiated his own series of workshops in 1991 and has instructed, directed, or served on the staff of more than one hundred fifty workshops. A book of his urban and natural landscape imagery, Explorations, was selected by the American Institute of Graphic Arts as “One of the Fifty Best Books of the Year.” McSavaney is currently working on photographic projects involving ancestral sites of Native Americans as well as botanical studies.