Kind Nature's Scenery To Portray: The Life And Work Of William E. Hook, 1833-1908.

This exceptional program documents, in vivid chronological detail, the remarkable life of William E. Hook, entrepreneur and nature photographer through the use of archival B/W photographs, dramatic readings and tall tales and commentary by historians and biographers. William E. Hook left his family in England and traveled to America where he settled in Chippewa Falls, WI for a while. Hard times fell upon him and he set out for the mountains of Colorado, landing in Mountain Springs close to Pike's Peak. He found immediate success at nature and tourist photography, taking photographs of scenery around Pike's Peak, as well as Canada, Montana, Yellowstone National Park, Bismarck, North Dakota and other places in the American southwest. Hook was the first person to utilize a flash to take pictures of the Cave of the Winds, as well as the first to hand color his photographs. But Hook's success was short-lived when the Cog Railway wanted to acquire rights through his prime mountain property of 800 acres. Away from his family and 4 children for almost 20 years, in 1887, he finally brought them to the frontier to make a home. The superb pacing is aided by period background music with voice-over narration and precise visual fades from photograph-to-photograph lending a seamless quality to the program. Highly recommended for all public libraries. A superb compliment to Direct Cinema's The Wilderness Idea. Editor's Choice. (J. Scholtz)