The Vanishing New Jersey Landscape

The Vanishing New Jersey Landscape by Fiori, Clem. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780813520919.

A life-long resident of New Jersey and an environmental activist, photographer Clem Fiori decided to document the New Jersey that earned the state the nickname "Garden State." In this book are surprising images of rolling fields, inviting woods, tumbling streams, and placid farmscapes. Much of the landscape in New Jersey, as in other states, has been converted to housing developments or malls. The remaining rural environment is always under siege. In preserving photographically the land as it was, Fiori hopes to remind people that the landscape has not been completely lost, that there are still remnants of the past to be protected. This book, then, is in part a plea for the preservation of the land. Accompanying the photographs are brief texts by the author that evoke the spirit of the place. The argument is implicit in the work, and all the more powerful for being understated. The photographs are beautiful to look at, expertly printed in duotone. The result is a work of art that is also a work of moral power.