Blessed By Light: Visions Of The Colorado Plateau

by Stephen Trimble (Editor), Edward Abbey (Foreword), Gibbs M. Smith (Introduction)

Photographs from a generation who came to the canyon country of the Four Corners as park rangers, teachers, river guides, naturalists, and backpackers—for personal fulfillment rather than as artists or commercial photographers. Everything they know about themselves and the land is distilled in these photographs. They transcend the literal. The common thread is light—the magical, iridescent light that happens when clear air, naked rock, and sun collide.

The book pairs thematic portfolios (Rock, Water, Canyons, Mesas, Plateaus, Mountains, and Time) with words from a century of the region's most eloquent writers. Introduction by Edward Abbey.

Contributors:
Photographers include Mary Allen, Tom Bean, Michael Collier, Jeff Gnass, Philip Hyde, William Neill, Galen Rowell, John Running, Jeremy Schmidt, Tom Till, Stephen Trimble, Larry Ulrich, and Mark Zarn.

72 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1986

About the author

As writer, editor, and photographer, Stephen Trimble has published 25 award-winning books during 45 years of paying attention to the landscapes and peoples of the Desert West. He’s received The Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Award for photography and conservation and a Doctor of Humane Letters from his alma mater, Colorado College. In 2019, he was honored as one of Utah’s 15 most influential artists.

Trimble speaks and writes as a conservation advocate and has taught writing at the University of Utah. He makes his home in Salt Lake City and in the redrock country of Torrey, Utah. Environmental historian James Aton has said: Trimble's books comprise one of the most well-rounded, sustained, and profound visions of people and landscape that we have ever seen in the American West.