Harry Callahan was a great American photographer and Water’s Edgeis a stunning, yet quiet book. Throughout Callahan’s life he found great pleasure and inspiration walking and photographing the beaches in Chicago, at Lake Michigan and on Cape Cod. Published in 1980, Water’s Edgecontains a magnificent collection of his elegant black and white images from what he called his Beach Series and is a real gem.
While some of the photographs focus in Callahan’s wife Eleanor, both clothed and in the nude, most are exquisitely captured images of beach activity, sand and water and plant life. These are simple scenes that any of us have witnessed a million times on our own beach outings, but few have had the intensity of vision to capture. For over forty years Callahan had a singular intensity of vision for everything related to the shoreline and that is on full display in Water’s Edge. He never tired of the exploration or the opportunity to grow and expand that vision as he discovered new things there.
I have always loved the beach and have spent many beloved trips and vacations at the water’s edge by myself and with my family. I didn’t make that many photographs there when I was younger but recently have thought about it again and have begun making photographs in and around the beaches that are within two hours driving distance from where I live … at the Jersey Shore and Coney Island. While I may not make the types of photographs Callahan made, this book is a true inspiration to me, as it illustrates in no uncertain terms to what can be accomplished if your mind’s eye and heart are open to seeing the quiet but incredible scenes that often stare us in the face but are seldom captured.
Water’s Edgeis a book I feel lucky to own. I treasure it and it inspires me often.
