Photography

The sequel to Bad Luck, Hot Rocks includes more rueful letters from repentant tourists, this time on stealing lava rocks from Hawai'i

Following a trail of regret from the Petrified Forest (the subject of his classic Bad Luck, Hot Rocks) to the islands of Maui and Hawai'i, artist and educator Ryan Thompson considers the implications of another trove of handwritten apologies, this time from the archives of the Haleakala and Hawai'i Volcanoes National Parks. Written to accompany chunks of volcanic rock and other objects that tourists have pilfered from the Islands and subsequently returned (because of bad luck or bad conscience), the notes and letters express not only a need for forgiveness but also an awareness of the writers' relationship to the Hawaiian landscape, and perhaps also to earth itself--a taking-and-returning phenomenon that (as noted in his earlier book) is its own form of absolution and self-help. Ah Ah weaves together Thompson's own black-and-white travelog with vibrantly colored "portraits" of the returned specimens and facsimiles of selected letters into an endearing reflection on humanity's troubling (but hopeful) entanglement with geology, colonialism and tourism in the Anthropocene.
Ryan Thompson lives and works in Chicago, where he is an artist and associate professor of art and design at Trinity Christian College. His ongoing Department of Natural History projects engage a range of complex and peculiar relationships between humans and the natural world. He is the coauthor of the bestselling photobook Bad Luck, Hot Rocks.

Inge Morath's photographs of Chinese scenes from Peking to Shanghai are complemented and expanded upon by Arthur Miller's incisive, informative commentary on Chinese politics, artistic expression, and life.

Inscribed by Miller on half-title; dust jacket in protective cover; very slight wear; dark blue embossed cloth with silver lettering on spine; top edge very slightly faded; inscription on ffep; binding tight; text clean and bright. VG/VG

Heavy Industry Publications, 1969. Cardstock covers with white dust jacket, orange lettering on cover and spine; very light wear to edges, some mild toning to top edge; binding tight; text clean. Scarce. VG

A photographic story of local women ages 60-92. Each one extraordinary in their powerful life’s choices. Each sharing stories of strength, courage, determination, and having the indomitable will to overcome adversity both personally and professionally.

My photographic adventure began at age 60. Beginning with learning through The Cleveland Photographic Society, then succeeding in having works displayed at area galleries. CLE. and donating my time to local agencies. Specializing in portraits, I recently published my first book titled Extraordinary Women from an Ordinary Place, featuring 52 women ages 60-94. A personal accomplishment at age 80, and a tribute to my sisters of age.