A Photographic Odyssey: Around the World with Alexander W. Dreyfoos - Hardcover

Alexander W. Dreyfoos

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1563521105 ISBN 13: 9781563521102

Publisher: Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, 2015

Synopsis

Few photography books of this geographic scope are the product of one man, and even fewer are by one man who is not a professional photographer. Divided into six regions, the images reflect the world s depths under waters such as the Red Sea and the South Pacific Ocean as well as its heights looking down on Mt. Everest. This life journey visits forests, jungles, glaciers, and deserts, in locales as extreme as Papua New Guinea and Antarctica. The perspectives vary as well on land, on the water, and from the air. The subjects are the most divergent: the solid surfaces of palaces and temples contrast with the vulnerability of people from childhood to old age, captured at work and study, in prayer and dancing in joy. Sea otters and sea urchins, giraffes and giant tortoises are among the many other species seen in their native habitats. Alexander W. Dreyfoos counts himself as a fortunate man to have made this journey. These images, selected from over 100,000 in his collection, encompass the years from 1950 to 2013 and reflect 60 countries. Those in the early decades have a historical aura, and many others may soon join that group as cultures evolve, and our dynamic environment eliminates or recovers species. A secondary history is in the great change in the medium of photography since the author first took up a camera. Prior to digital photography, he primarily used Kodachrome color slide film. A pilot most of his life, the author has created beautiful aerial views from his various flying machines. Many other images come from travels aboard his three yachts named Silver Cloud, including one 44,000-nautical-mile, 19-month voyage that nearly encircled the globe. Visit this Photographic Odyssey, and let him take you around the world.

About this title

About the Author

Alexander W. Dreyfoos began his lifetime of photography in the 1930s and 1940s, during his childhood summers in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Business School, he was able to unite his interests in photography and electronics, a new concept at the time. While serving in the U.S. Air Force, he managed a photo reconnaissance laboratory in Germany. After earning his pilot s license in 1960, the author went on to earn ATP, single-pilot jet, and turbine helicopter ratings. The author started Photo Electronics Corporation (PEC) in 1963 to manufacture electronic photography equipment, which was marketed by Kodak. One of their primary inventions is part of a permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution; another won them an Academy Award. Dreyfoos holds ten U.S. and many foreign patents. Because of his success, he qualified for membership in Young Presidents Organization (YPO), the World Presidents Organization (WPO), and the Chief Executives Organization (CEO). Travel with these organizations has gained him entrée to varied and unusual photographic opportunities. Dreyfoos is credited with founding the organization that became the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, and led efforts that resulted in The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Due to his support, the public arts magnet high school in Palm Beach County, Florida, is named the Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. School of the Arts. Dreyfoos and his wife, Renate, live in West Palm Beach and in the Adirondacks, when they are not traveling on Silver Cloud.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cultural Council of Palm Beach County
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1563521105
• ISBN 13: 9781563521102
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 372
• Editor: Lise M. Steinhauer