Thomas Joshua Cooper

Thomas Joshua Cooper, one of the most celebrated and distinctive landscape photographers working today, focuses his lens on the Hudson River and the waters surrounding Long Island. Throughout his career, Thomas Joshua Cooper has been using water as a focal point for his fascination with the landscape, historical and cultural geography, and cartography. Working exclusively outdoors with an 1898 AGFA field camera, Cooper has established a unique aesthetic and philosophy. This collection juxtaposes twenty recent images that Cooper made on the East End of Long Island and Shelter Island with twenty-three images he made in 2000. Each photograph is accompanied by texts from a wide array of writers, artists, and historians that provide eloquent historical and geographic context. A special section on Cooper's unique and painstaking artistic process offers readers an understanding of how Cooper researches, experiences, and captures the essence of the locations he photographs.