David duChemin comes crashing in again with another visually compelling and inspirational eBook chronicling his most recent excursion to Iceland. Like all of Craft & Vision’s The Print & The Process series, the book offers a variety of images in portfolio fashion that capture the photographer’s vision and then reviews each image in a fashion that explains that vision. I’m always encouraged to see one of the books in this series come out, because it reminds me of the conversations I had and still have with mentors and other photographers about the genesis behind their own images. For working photographers, I don’t think there’s much else you’d like more to hear from others who are part of the same industry!

Two things in particular make this eBook stand out from duChemin’s previous additions to the series lineup. The first is the apparent transformation in photographic style for many of the images compared to what we’ve seen come as a result of duChemin aiming his lens at a particular subject. This tool-belt addition to the images provides a rather open look at how a creative communicator/artist experiments, adapts, evolves, and ultimately strives to tell the story in a more unique and potentially effective way than previous successes. This change is part photographic maturation (not in the sense that the images are better or more intellectual, but rather part of a photographer’s progressive vision) and part learning tool (in so far as the author mentions this leap of style as a departure from his own norm).

The second aspect of note is the extensive inclusion of information related to how the trip and shoots were actually pulled off, both from a technical point of view and from a logistical perspective. A good deal of the process portion of the book actually relays information about the type of gear used and how the trip to Iceland was ultimately scheduled and thought through from a working photographer’s mind. However, this is not to negate duChemin’s mantra of “gear is good, vision is better.” Probably the single most important part of the book is the thorough explanation of how the gear is USED in order to fulfill the vision. Not to spoil too much of the reading, but you can apparently see this in duChemin’s explanation of how he uses multiple filters to achieve a certain image of a tundra landscape or waterfall, and even his reasoning behind using a tilt-shift lens to embark upon photographic styles akin to what we’ve come to enjoy from the likes of Vincent LaForet’s Olympic sports images. This adoption of the gear and technology to achieve a certain “look” further stresses how the creative process is bore out in a series of images selected from a 10-day travel shoot.

An emerging travel photographer would eagerly eat up the information in this eBook, if not from the images alone, but from the extensive professional and creative information provided in the second section! This is another reason I recommend my own students the books from Craft & Vision and will keep doing so: there’s a little bit of giving back to the industry each time one is put out. As a bonus, there’s even a link to download one of duChemin’s Adobe Lightroom 3 presets used in the final process for some of the images.

As always, from the time of this review, you can purchase Iceland: A Monograph for $5.00 US – basically less than you used to (or may still do) spend on developing a role of Fujichrome Velvia. However, until September 12, you can purchase the eBook for $4.00 US by entering the code ICE4 upon checkout. You can also save 20% on five or more eBook purchases during this time by entering the code ICE20.

Look for a quickly upcoming review of another David duChemin text from his Vision and Voice series!