A late spring road trip through the Great Plains (Illinois, North and South Dakota, and eastern and central Montana) and the rolling farmlands of Wisconsin is always a pleasure. The fields are a lush green and the magnificent scenery seems to stretch on forever. I was so enthralled this spring that I resolved to pull out my copies of Larry Kanfer's "Prairiescapes" and "On Second Glance" as soon as I returned home.

I first read "Prairiescapes" in 1989 and repeated it again in 1990, but since that time it has remained on my shelf unopened. Reacquainting myself with the volume was a pleasure.

"Prairiescapes" consists of a two-page forward and two-page introduction followed by 99 full page reproductions of Kanfer photographs. Readers who prefer a lot of exposition may be disappointed but those who prefer to focus on the photography will appreciate Kanfer's restraint. Personally, I would rather look at the photos and focus on my own aesthetic and cognitive reactions.

My practice in perusing a book of photographs is to note the photographs that are most aesthetically and cognitively appealing to me in the front of the book. In reviewing "Prairiescapes" after an absence of some 30 years I found my good stability but some change in my reactions to the photos. Earlier I singled out 14 photographs as favorites and 12 were still among those I most appreciated. However, I found 10 additional photographs that now made my list of favorites and two more that I listed with a question mark. Part of that is due to my own ambivalence as I argue (with myself) that it is essential to make distinctions among good photographs to sharpen my critical faculties.

The photos were taken through the year so the four seasons are represented. Many focus on buildings, often standing in isolation on the prairie. Fields of crops close to harvest, barren fields in winter, and landscapes that illustrate the prairie's range of beauty and mystery are included. Some scenes are rendered in sharp focus that documents the prairie landscape while others are in soft focus that challenge viewers to create their own interpretation.

"Prairiescapes" is not limited to the verdant beauty of the prairie in spring. Instead, readers will come to know the beauty of the prairie in its many guises. ( )

Larry Kanfer is for my money the only photographer who can really capture the essence of the midwest. Every picture evokes essential midwestern qualities and this book epitomizes that. ( )