[.ca] Edge of Darkness (ISBN 1902538099)

From Amazon.com:
British photographer Barry Thornton has spent a lifetime devoted to black and white photography. He shares his warehouse of technical savvy in Edge of Darkness: The Art, Craft, and Power of the High-Definition Monochrome Photograph. If you have at least a working knowledge of basic photography, then you'll find this book to be full of helpful advice. Thornton has an immense amount of how-to wisdom and covers topics including focusing, lighting, tripods, printing, and much more. It is a precise book with incredible attention to detail. The wealth of informative tips are illustrated with Thornton's photographs. Beautiful and rich landscapes so varied and full of depth that they create their own universe of monochromatic color. A stunning torrent of water crisp enough to be a cascade of crystal beads. Close-ups that feel like they were shot through a magnifying glass. Many students of photography see black and white pictures as a mere step on the way to the wonderful world of color. Thornton, on the other hand, reveres the traditions and possibilities of this medium and reveals monochromatic pictures to be a pinnacle of photography. This serious manual is a sure way to improve a burgeoning photographer's technical expertise. The book has 200 black-and-white illustrations. --J.P. Cohen

A very good read.:
After fifty years of dabbling in making pictures (starting with Size 116 and 127 Roll films), I have a library full of photographic textbooks, 'coffee table' books, and other specialist photographic publications. Most books I bought new. Some were already classics when I bought them secondhand. Some rate well enough to be used (read) again and again. Others languish - gathering dust- on the bottom shelf, often simply because I cannot throw any book away. Let's face it, there are some very ordinary books sold as 'the answer to a photographer's prayers'. I have my share of them. I think Barry Thornton's book,'Edge of Darkness', gets my 'top shelf' award for 2002, and may be on that top shelf for many years. This man writes common sense, in simple terms, and backs his words with recorded deeds. His pictures are nice. I like the way he explains the emotions behind the recording of the images, and the mechanics he employs to produce great negatives. These aspects are key. Once you have a fine negative, time is on your side to make a great picture. And how you approach the making of the negative image, emotionally and technically, will determine the final result. (Show me a printmaker who says he gets a perfect result first time and I'll show you someone who should be in politics.) If you want a very informative and readable book, well written, and illustrated with good examples of the Black and White craft, you should buy this book. If you heed Mr Thornton's words, you are bound to benefit in your craft. "Edge of Darkness" is a very good read.

This is a great book:
Barry Thornton has come out with a really nice book on how to produce high quality black & white negatives and prints. The book is mainly concerned with 35mm and medium format negatives, although his approach is perfectly applicable to large format. I have prepared his two bath methol formula (shown in the book) and obtained really beautiful negatives, in terms of grain, sharpness and tonality, from a Leica and a Hasselblad. My next step will be to try Dixactol, a developer he has formulated and explains in the book, and which you can get, in the USA, from Photographers Formulary. In my many years enjoying photography as an advanced amateur, I was unable to produce negatives and prints as good as those I am getting now, after reading Elements and Edge of Darkness, both books by Barry Thornton. His chemistry and technique really allows to see the power and beauty of high quality camera optics. THIS BOOK IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Makes B & W appealing:
Mr Thornton is a very good writer. His book is more than a "how-to" book. He describes the way he made each picture and does it in a way that makes you want to do the same thing.