A few copies left autographed by the photographer; available while supplies last. Retail $34.95.

In his quest for those convergences of light and mood that define a great image, award-winning photographer Craig Varjabedian has spent decades exploring the secret corners of the American West. Yet tales of how pictures are captured—the stories behind the lens—rarely reach their audience, inspiring Varjabedian with author Robin Jones to write Four and Twenty Photos: Stories from Behind the Lens published by the University of New Mexico Press.

“Craig loves to tell stories about photographs and photography. What he’d prefer to keep away from is technical talk. He can be as “nuts and bolts” as necessary, but to him photography is something of the heart more than of the head. His favorite quotation, from Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, says it all: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

He prefers to discuss photography from a more subjective aspect. Mention a beautiful place, a wonderful sensation, or your emotional response to a sunset, and you’ll get his take on similar things. His photographs and his photographic process are often private and personal matters to him, or ones difficult to explain in words.

And that was the impetus behind this book—trying to put into words what Craig Varjabedian does, what he cares about, and why he photographs. That as well as his desire to share, to pass on what he has seen and done. The photographs reproduced here serve, in a way, as mile markers on his artistic journey—a journey he invites readers to take with him.”

~from The Making of Four & Twenty Photographs by Robin Jones

Craig Varjabedian is one of the West’s most eloquent photographers. In his sixth publication, Varjabedian shares his favorite photographs and the stories behind them. Landscapes, architecture, and people are magically revealed through his images as readers gain insight into his creative process. The strength of these four and twenty photographs is not only in their beauty but also in the relationship between photographer and subject—a relationship that goes far beyond the visual.

Varjabedian’s finely detailed photographs range from the magnificent landscapes of the Southwest, to intimate portraits and luminous places. Whimsical, solemn, enlightening—the narratives expand upon the photographs, so that you view the pictures with another level of meaning, the imagination behind the image. Varjabedian elaborates on his recognition of the decisive moment—the moment a subject reveals its authentic self to the photographer.

“The remarkable photographs by Craig Varjabedian are not only beautiful but also extremely valuable documents of architecture, culture, and lifestyle. . . .”
~Beaumont Newhall, Photographic Historian and author of History of Photography

Photographs by Craig Varjabedian
Text by Robin Jones and Craig Varjabedian; Afterword by Jay Packer
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2007
softcover, 12×9”, 152 pages, 63 duotones
ISBN-10: 0826340946
ISBN-13: 978-0826340948