Tuesday, January 29, 2008

A loving tribute



This evening Janie Turnbull asked me to bring a book to my friend Katie. Of course, just having the book in my hands was temptation enough to open the cover and take a look around. Inside the cover is a wonderful inscription from Janie to Katie, so with each turn of the page thereafter, it felt more and more like I was "stealing" a glance at the pages rather than simply reading. What I found on those pages was truly remarkable. I hope that you will find this book, "A Place Called Home", as rewarding as I did.

"A Place Called Home" is a collection of photographs by William J. "Bill" Turnbull. Janie Turnbull filled the remaining spaces in the 64 page book with a description of their life in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Janie's deft touch amplifies the beauty of Bill's photographs of wildlife, landscapes and shipping in this part of southern Louisiana the way it was when the photographs were taken between the hurricane storms named Audrey in 1957 and Rita in 2005.

My favorite image is "alligator along a Creole nature trail" on page 12. It's an impressionist rendering of a steel blue alligator gliding through the forest green swamp water. The alligator is tipped in silver and dollops of blue borrowed from shelves of Claude Monet's studio in Giverny. Mottled twists of thick sap greens make the alligators focused eyes even more menacing.

"Evening at Rutherford Beach" is a study in glorious blue. It occupies the whole of page 25, and is counterpoised with a study in orange named "Pogey boat at sunset Rutherford Beach".

It's a great book and loving tribute to Bill's photography.

Published by:
Turnbull Ink Press
Box 720447
Norman, Oklahoma 73070

ISBN-10: 0-9799057-0-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-9799057-0-4

1 comment:

Jessica Ferguson said...

Just came across your very nice post. I have the book too. And I had the pleasure of knowing Bill Turnbull. His heart is in every picture.