Galen Rowell

Galen never made much of it, but people like Tom Brokaw and Robert Redford regularly asked him to take them up Mt. Everest. They knew they could count on his mountaineering skills and discretion.


It was a pleasure to know and work with Galen Rowell for over 20 years. For sixteen of those, we worked together while I was either Marketing Director or Publisher of Sierra Club Books. Sierra Club published eight acclaimed books of Galen's photography. He was considered to be the best nature photographer since Ansel Adams. There is no greater praise.

A tragic plane crash in the Eastern Sierra ended his life, and that of his wife, Barbara, in 2002. He was 61 years old when he died and left behind two grown children from a previous marriage, Nicole Rowell Ryan and Tony Rowell.

The last project Galen and I worked on was California the Beautiful. His wonderful, color photography supported the core concept of the book which was to demonstrate California's unique place in America and the world.

Galen was able to see a finished copy of our book two weeks before his death and he was very happy with the result. This was gratifying because photographers are very particular and Galen was particular , even for a photographer.

My contributions were initiating the project and compiling the text which includes wonderful quotations from California writers and visitors.

A new edition of California the Beautiful, published by Welcome Books, was released on October 20, 2009. Galen's photographs are more impressive in this new, larger-size book and there is a new introduction. Dan Jacobson, Executive Director of Environment California, has written a very compelling and relevant foreword.

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William Irwin Thompson

CALIFORNIA is not so much a state of the Union as it is an imagination that seceded from our reality a long time ago. In leading the world in transition from industrial to postindustrial society, California's culture became the first from coal to oil, from steel to plastic, from hardware to software, from materialism to mysticism, from reality to fantasy. California became the first to discover that it was fantasy that led to reality, not the other way around. --- William Irwin Thompson, author of Pacific Shift, which predicted that the center of Western civilization was moving to the Pacific from Europe as quoted in California the Beautiful.

William Irwin Thompson got it right but it was Beijing not Tokyo. The Pacific Shift, of which California was the leader, is a post-modern culture. Ancient wisdom, like accupuncture, co-exists with modern technology, the way the Golden Gate Bridge blends into the Headlands. All cultures and all epochs simultaneously with no linnear history. And the natural beauty that Galen Rowell photographed, eternal.

The new edition of California the Beautiful, featuring 100 color photographs by Galen Rowell and edited by Peter Beren is being released on October 20, 2009 from Welcome Books. Look for it.

Galen Rowell

I knew Galen Rowell for a little over 20 years and for 16 of those, we worked closely together when I was either Marketing Director or Publisher of Sierra Club Books. Sierra Club published 8 acclaimed books of Galen's photography. For those who don't know his work, he was the preeminent outdoor photographer of the late 20th Century and, it is said, the successor to Ansel Adams. He was an outstanding mountaineer and accomplished 100 first ascents in his twenties. These skills could bring him closer to his subjects. Often closer than other photographers would dare.

His vibrant life was cut short by a tragic plane crash in his beloved Eastern Sierra. Although he died 7 years ago, its still hard for me to believe he's dead. The last book he published when he was alive, was a hardcover that we did together, a small gift book, called California the Beautiful.

I was responsible for initiating the project and I also compiled the text, consisting of quotations and verse from California writers and visitors, to accompany Galen's super-real color photography. The core concept we developed was "California: Spirit and Place". This was a vision of California as "America's America", imbued with a unique spirit, portrayed in word and image, at once actual and symbolic. Galen saw advance copies about two weeks before his death and he was happy with the way his photographs were displayed.

On October 20, 2009 Welcome Books is releasing a new edition of California the Beautiful, in a larger size and featuring a new foreword by Dan Jacobson, Environment California and 100 color photographs of Galen's. Look for it.