Overview
The missions of the Apollo astronauts to the surface of the Moon and back-yielded 32,000 extraordinarily beautiful photographs, the record of a unique human achievement. Until recently, only a handful of these photographs had been released for publication; but now, for the first time, NASA has allowed a selection of the master negatives and transparencies to be scanned electronically, rendering the sharpest images of space that we have ever seen. Michael Light has woven 129 of these stunningly clear images into a single composite voyage, a narrative of breathtaking immediacy and authenticity that begins with the launch and is followed by a walk in space, an orbit of the Moon, a lunar landing and exploration, and a return to Earth with an orbit and splashdown.
Graced by five 45-inch-wide gatefolds that display the lunar landscape, from above the surface and at eye level, in unprecedented detail and clarity, Full Moon conveys on each page the excitement, disorientation, and awe that the astronauts themselves felt as they were shot into space and then as they explored an alien landscape and looked back at their home planet from hundreds of thousands of miles away. Published on the thirtieth anniversary of Apollo 11-the first landing on the Moon-this remarkable and mesmerizing volume is, like the voyages it commemorates and re-creates, an experience both intimate and monumental.
About the Author:
Michael Light is an artist and photographer based in San Francisco. His work is in the collections of The Center for Creative Photography and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His photo-novel, Ranch, was published in 1994.
Andrew Chaikin, who contributed an essay to this volume, is the author of the definitive study of the Apollo missions, A Man on the Moon (1994), which was the basis of the award-winning television series From the Earth to the Moon.
Synopsis
The missions of the Apollo astronauts to the surface of the Moon and back-yielded 32,000 extraordinarily beautiful photographs, the record of a unique human achievement. Until recently, only a handful of these photographs had been released for publication; but now, for the first time, NASA has allowed a selection of the master negatives and transparencies to be scanned electronically, rendering the sharpest images of space that we have ever seen. Michael Light has woven 129 of these stunningly clear images into a single composite voyage, a narrative of breathtaking immediacy and authenticity that begins with the launch and is followed by a walk in space, an orbit of the Moon, a lunar landing and exploration, and a return to Earth with an orbit and splashdown.
Graced by five 45-inch-wide gatefolds that display the lunar landscape, from above the surface and at eye level, in unprecedented detail and clarity, Full Moon conveys on each page the excitement, disorientation, and awe that the astronauts themselves felt as they were shot into space and then as they explored an alien landscape and looked back at their home planet from hundreds of thousands of miles away. Published on the thirtieth anniversary of Apollo 11-the first landing on the Moon-this remarkable and mesmerizing volume is, like the voyages it commemorates and re-creates, an experience both intimate and monumental.
About the Author:
Michael Light is an artist and photographer based in San Francisco. His work is in the collections of The Center for Creative Photography and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His photo-novel, Ranch, was published in 1994.
Andrew Chaikin, who contributed an essay to this volume, is the author of the definitive study of the Apollo missions, A Man on the Moon (1994), which was the basis of the award-winning television series From the Earth to the Moon.
Entertainment Weekly - Chris Nashawaty
Here you'll find haunting shadowy black-and-white moonscapes, breathtakingly serene vistas of our own tiny azure marble viewed from space, and even a few giddy snapshots of Apollo's space cowboys frolicking in their zero-gravity sandbox. A treasure.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewLet's face it: We're incurable browsers. But sometimes our habit of casually flipping through the pages of a book works against the magic that the author put there. For example, rummaging through the stunning photographs of Full Moon might give one a sense of lunar beauty, but unless we begin at the beginning and slowly turn those big folio pages towards the left, we won't realize that Michael Light has constructed not just an eye-feast, but a visual voyage to the moon. So, perhaps if you see one of us book people indulging in a quick random sample of this luxurious book, you might stroll over and let them in on our secret. And, if they seem to catch your drift, tell them that the anniversary of the original moon walk s July 20th and that this is a buyer's choice.
— Vicki Powers
Chris Nashawaty
Here you'll find haunting shadowy black-and-white moonscapes, breathtakingly serene vistas of our own tiny azure marble viewed from space, and even a few giddy snapshots of Apollo's space cowboys frolicking in their zero-gravity sandbox. A treasure.— Entertainment Weekly
Margaret Loke
From a sampling of 129 images in Full Moon, the pictures that the astronauts took have a lonely splendor in poetry and a startling artistry in the finest photography.Culled by the photographer Michael Light from more than 32,000 still pictures at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the photographs in Full Moon form a composite lunar mission, from fiery launch to sunny splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Most of the images have not been published before and, in this book, they have a marvelous pristine clarity.
— The New York Times
School Library Journal
YA-A San Francisco artist and photographer has pulled together 129 stunning, black-and-white and color photographs from 32,000 previously unavailable pictures of the Apollo missions. He has lovingly put them together to form one continuous moon voyage. The photos, mostly taken by astronauts, show fiery, explosive liftoffs; gorgeous, striking earthscapes; astronauts floating by their single umbilical cords in space; hauntingly beautiful moon shots; and many alternate shots recognizably from the first moon landing. An essay and a section explaining when, where, and by whom all the photos were shot are included. A terrific addition for libraries that need tie-ins with science, photography, history, or creative curricula.-John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|Matthew Reed Baker
[It is] wordless, with these eerie, magnificent views arranged in the order of one composite lunar visit: takeoff, lunar orbit, moon-walk, splash. Combining the best of words and images, Full Moon comes as close as the printed page can to capturing such an incredible journey— Brill's Content