Years ago while wandering through a used book store I happened upon a copy of Light Years. It must have been in the late Nineties because it has a price of $30 written in pencil inside on the first page. Today the book costs much more, but I would want it anyway because there is so much to learn from it!

Light Years was published in 1996 and served as a retrospective of Gibson’s work from 1960 – 1991. Gibson’s career has centered on the use of Leica cameras, Tri-X film and Rodinal developer. Then in 2013 he went digital but stayed with Leica.  That’s all right; I have not tracked Gibson’s later work to be honest, but he will always be a master to me.

Here’s the thing about Gibson … the images are high contrast and bold, they have grain, they’re abstract and focus on fragments of life. At first look they’re so simple and straightforward that you might be tempted to whip through the book. That would be a mistake!  Like Gibson, I use Leicas, one or two lenses and Tri-X, but that’s where the similarities end for me (oh … and he’s just a little better known then me). So what? I can learn a lot from his intense and compelling pictures … and so can you. He gets in close to his subject matter and isolates it to get to the essence of what it is, or what it is that he wants to say.  It’s up to you to interpret what it all means.

So these black and white fragments/abstracts are not really simple at all, that is not if you take the time to really study them in detail. Do that and you learn some valuable truths, such as how important it is to get in close and to carefully frame your subject.  In other words, concentrate on and think hard about every picture you make. That’s what I get again and again when I study this collection of many of Gibson’s finest pictures.  There are 92 of them so there is a lot to see and study. Take your time and you will be rewarded!

Highly recommended!

Stay safe,

Michael