Be Extraordinary: Philosophical Advice for Photographic and Other Artists

An inspiring, educational, and practical book about philosophy and art, and finding a personally meaningful life.

Teacher, philosopher, and author Guy Tal has written several best-selling books on photography, creativity, and expression. While it would be understandable to label Guy a “photographer,” it is more accurate to call him a philosopher and artist who has forged a creative life on his own terms: a life shaped by his love of nature, his interest in science and philosophy, his individualistic temperament, and his desire to create art that is expressive and significant in the ways most meaningful to him.

In Be Extraordinary: Philosophical Advice for Photographic and Other Artists, Guy shares his knowledge of philosophy and art, then offers advice on how to implement it into your own work. In the first part, “Foundations,” Guy lays out a conceptual framework for the book with short essays about philosophy and art. In the second part, “Practical Advice,” he offers a series of brief essays aiming to enable and empower you to apply the foundational philosophies to your own life and work. Together, the two parts demonstrate how Guy has carefully fashioned his own perspective on philosophy, art, and life, and offer you a set of tools for finding your own path.

This is not a how-to book of techniques and tips. The goal of the book is to make you think, to pose hard questions, to challenge you to question common beliefs and attitudes, to nudge you out of your comfort zone, and to help you find the courage to become who you—and only you—are. And in so doing, to create a life and art that is meaningful in the deepest ways that life and art can be meaningful, which is to say: meaningful to you.

A deeply thoughtful and inspiring collection of essays about visual expression, art, creativity, and a life in photography

Photographer, teacher, and author Guy Tal has been photographing the landscape for more than 30 years, and in that time he has also been consistently contributing to the literature of photography, writing not about the technical aspects of the photograph—the gear, the exposure details, the “secrets to getting a great shot”—but about the deeper topics of visual expression, creativity, art, and life.

Building on the legacy of his previous best-selling books More Than a Rock and Another Day Not Wasted, as well as his work as a regular contributor to LensWork and On Landscape magazines, The Interior Landscape is a collection of more than 60 brief essays, packaged in a beautiful hardcover format and illustrated throughout with Guy’s stunning photography.

Organized into four parts, Guy discusses:

• Creativity and expression as the most significant aspects of making art

• The controversial and tenuous relationship between photography (by design a medium for objective representation) and art (by definition the subjective expressions of the imagination of artists)

• How he has formed a relationship with, and found meaning in, the natural landscape, and how he expresses these meanings in his photographs

• Lessons learned from more than three decades of practicing expressive landscape photography

The Interior Landscape is for anyone interested in, as the title suggests, turning inward to explore creativity, art, expression, and the landscape. It is sure to illuminate, educate, and inspire you on your photographic journey.

Reflecting on his years after leaving a lucrative but unsatisfying career to become a full-time creative photographer, writer, and wilderness explorer, Guy Tal shares with readers some of the experiences and lessons that marked his journey. Building on the success of his earlier book, More Than a Rock (now out in a second edition), Guy offers readers yet deeper insights into his life as an independent artist, his thoughts about photography as a form of art and as a means to a richer and more rewarding life, and his intimate relationship with nature and with his beloved desert—The Colorado Plateau.

“Many times since beginning my journey as a creative artist and outdoor explorer,” Tal writes, “especially in the evening hours of satisfying days, the thought naturally emerged in my mind: another day not wasted.”

The book is not intended as a guide to either photography or any particular place. It is decidedly non-technical and focuses on Tal’s philosophy, experiences, and the pursuit of photography as a form of creative and self-expressive art. The book contains 36 essays of varying lengths and is illustrated with Tal’s inspiring and breathtaking photography.

A deeper look at the creativity, art, expression, craft, and philosophy of landscape photography.
More Than a Rock, 2nd Edition is a passionate and personal book about creativity and expression. In this series of over 70 brief essays, photographer and teacher Guy Tal shares his thoughts and experiences as an artist who seeks to express more in his images than the mere appearance of the subject portrayed. Following up on the success of the first edition, this revised edition contains updated imagery, a new essay in each of the book’s four sections―Art, Craft, Experiences, and Meditations―and is presented in a beautiful hardcover format.

Tal makes an argument to consider creative landscape photography―expressing something of the photographer's conception through the use of natural aesthetics―as a form of visual art that is distinct from the mere representation of beautiful natural scenes. Tal covers topics such as the art of photography, approaches to landscape photography, and the experiences of a working photographic artist. His essays also include reflections on nature and man’s place in it, living a meaningful life, and living as an artist in today’s world.

The book is decidedly non-technical and focuses on philosophy, nature, and visual expression. It was written for those photographers with a passion and interest in creative photography. Anyone who is pursuing their work as art, is in need of inspiration, or is interested in the writings of a full-time working photographic artist will benefit from reading this book. The book is visually punctuated with Tal’s inspiring and breathtaking photography.