Within the Stone by Bill Atkinson

One of my favorite things about art is that it is everywhere. Most often, it is in the simple things right in front of us. For anyone who collects art books (or wants to give away an awesome one for a present), Within the Stone Rocks! (no pun intended)...

Inside the front cover, Robert Hutchinson writes:

It began innocently enough. While photographing the Painted Desert, Atkinson became intrigued with the brilliant colors in the petrified wood scattered on the ground. He brought home some polished rocks, photographed them under glare-free lighting, and was captivated. The photographs looked more like paintings of forgotten dreams than either rocks or photographs. Atkinson proceeded to photograph thousands of art-quality polished rocks, bought or borrowed from international dealers and collectors, and to refine his photographic techniques.

From these thousands of photographs, Atkinson has chosen for “Within the Stone” seventy-two that have yielded the most striking, the most poetic, and the most ineffable images. Atkinson opens a vault beneath our feet, revealing to our astonished eyes the tumult of color, form, and desire hidden “Within the Stone.” He invites us to enter the dreams of Gaia. Some of these are epiphanies so far removed from our mundane experience as to beggar ordinary language and analogy.

You can check out more macro-photography images of stones on Bill Atkinson's website- or buy the book online.