The Interior Landscape: The Landscape on Both Sides of the Camera: Reflections on Art, Creativity, Expression, and a Life in Photography

A deeply thoughtful and inspiring collection of essays about visual expression, art, creativity, and a life in photography

Photographer, teacher, and author Guy Tal has been photographing the landscape for more than 30 years, and in that time he has also been consistently contributing to the literature of photography, writing not about the technical aspects of the photograph—the gear, the exposure details, the “secrets to getting a great shot”—but about the deeper topics of visual expression, creativity, art, and life.

Building on the legacy of his previous best-selling books More Than a Rock and Another Day Not Wasted, as well as his work as a regular contributor to LensWork and On Landscape magazines, The Interior Landscape is a collection of more than 60 brief essays, packaged in a beautiful hardcover format and illustrated throughout with Guy's stunning photography.

Organized into four parts, Guy discusses:

• Creativity and expression as the most significant aspects of making art

• The controversial and tenuous relationship between photography (by design a medium for objective representation) and art (by definition the subjective expressions of the imagination of artists)

• How he has formed a relationship with, and found meaning in, the natural landscape, and how he expresses these meanings in his photographs

• Lessons learned from more than three decades of practicing expressive landscape photography

The Interior Landscape is for anyone interested in, as the title suggests, turning inward to explore creativity, art, expression, and the landscape. It is sure to illuminate, educate, and inspire you on your photographic journey.

Guy Tal spent the first 26 years of his life in Israel where he was born, served a mandatory military service, and studied and taught at the Tel Aviv University. As a youth, he loved to explore the natural areas around his home by the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the Negev Desert and the Golan Heights. It was during one of these outings that Guy first picked up a camera to document the things that fascinated him about the natural landscape and its wild inhabitants. This prompted a passion for and deep interest in photography that continues to grow and intensify to this day—three decades later.

At odds with the political turmoil and rampant urbanization of his homeland, Guy immigrated to California where he embarked on a career in information technology. He also began an enduring love affair with the wild places of the American West. Guy found that he was unfulfilled by the urban, career-driven life, and decided to move closer to his beloved deserts and mountains of the Colorado Plateau. He ultimately settled in a tiny, remote town at the foot of Utah’s Aquarius Plateau, on the edge of Utah’s famous canyon country—a place that inspires him deeply and where he practices most of his work.

A lifelong learner and explorer, Guy’s interest in art, science, and philosophy converged with his intense love of wild places, which he expresses through his photography and writing. He is a public speaker, educator, and frequent contributor to several photographic publications. Guy’s first book, More Than A Rock, was published by Rocky Nook in 2015.