About Impressions and Inspiration

“An American landscape photographer charts his development as an artist and describes how Japanese art greatly influenced him. 

LaBella’s maturation into a serious artist didn’t happen overnight, he writes; in fact, it took him about 24 years of labor and study. As a landscape photographer, he increasingly found himself less drawn to depictions of grandly panoramic scenes as he ‘looked for subtleties and nuances that answered the urgings of some unidentifiable inner voice.’ This inclination pulled LaBella first toward the Hudson River School and its insistence that there’s a ‘universe full of nuance, depth, and mystery evident in the most austere subject matter’ and then to Japanese art—specifically Shibui, which is more of a school of interpretation than a ‘sense of refined understatement in art and aesthetics.’ LaBella explains: ‘In nature, and in handicraft, it is irregularity, imperfection—it exemplifies the seven Japanese artifacts of being: simplicity, normalcy, modesty, silence, naturalness, roughness, and implicitness'...the art presented by the author provides considerable clarification;  indeed, …the book is brimming with visually arresting photography....The brief art histories are instructive and thoughtful, and one can’t help but be impressed by his intellectual circumspection; he recognizes that the best understanding of Japanese culture he can hope for would be ‘the barest foothold of insight.’  

A wending artistic memoir with compelling images.”

~   Kirkus Reviews  

“The author expertly introduces his photography to neophytes and art aficionados by using quotes from legendary artists and intellects that tie in to his thoughts and beliefs of art. He examines Wabi-Sabi drawing the reader into the beauty of less than perfection art and photos always going deep into his subject to educate his enthusiasts. His writing is clear to understand for the beginner and the knowledgeable, as he brings history of Eastern and Western art together reflecting it in his photography. He further enhances his presentation with poetry that fits perfectly to his photos. The chapter titles are creative and informative, expressing exactly what to expect in the described chapter. The title, Child of Plentiful Rain, alerts the sensitive browser to the content they will find inside this wonderfully, deeply, written book of knowledge and matching exquisite photographs.”

~  Judge, 32nd Annual Writer’s Digest 

“LaBella blends history and philosophy in this analysis of identities in colonial America. 'The preferred model for European expansion,' writes the author in this exploration of the Americas before, during, and after European colonialism, 'was that the as-yet unmet others would change to accommodate them.' While post-Columbian history is certainly characterized by mass disruption of Indigenous lives, genocide, and territorial loss, this book also notes how the colonial project also unintentionally and fundamentally changed the worldviews of European colonists. In other words, the 'story of America,' per LaBella, is bound up in the notion that in 'transplanting one society onto a place entirely foreign to us, we change that place, and we change ourselves.' 

The history of the Americas, particularly the intersection of Indigenous and European beliefs in the 17th and 18th centuries, plays a central role in the book as the author uses this distinct period as a case study to explore philosophical questions related to identity, human nature, and historiography. The author of Child of Plentiful Rain: A Personal Journey in Japanese Art (2023), LaBella has a keen sense of the power of art, symbols, and visual culture. The highlight of this work is a 126-page photographic essay exploring colonial European and Indigenous identities through funereal art featuring dozens of high-resolution, full-color photos of gravestones and cemeteries ('no stone is without a story,' the author emphasizes). The book’s hauntingly beautiful menagerie of images is complemented by its astute analysis of the legacy of colonial America. While well written and insightful, this is not an easy read, as the author’s philosophical analysis of human nature requires readers’ full attention. While historians may quibble with the book’s lack of official citations, it includes a five-page bibliography that references scholarly literature on colonial history as well as a plethora of primary sources from the period. The book aptly connects the past to enduring questions about human nature and intriguingly explores how this early moment of cultural exchange connects to modern-day globalization. 

A visually stunning and thought-provoking exploration of intersecting and changing identities in the colonial Americas.”

~ Kirkus Reviews  

“A veteran photographer shares his work and philosophy, challenging readers and offering them beauty.

In this collection of photographs and essays, LaBella considers the nature of art and its importance to both the creator and the consumer. Chapters examine the relationship between paleolithic art forms and more recent creations, investigate Cubism, and detail the author’s interest in Japanese art. Epigraphs from a variety of writers including Simon Schama, Herman Melville, Josef Albers, and Tom Stoppard appear throughout LaBella’s text. Some introduce a topic and stand alone; the author engages with others directly throughout his essays. 

Hundreds of LaBella’s nature photographs fill the book’s pages, some with locations identified, others with captions provided only in the book’s back matter. The images generally dominate the work, and some pages are entirely text-free. The author does not purport to solve any mysteries about the nature of art or life (“the answer is that all of those questions matter, and that none of them matter,” LaBella declares after posing a series of questions to the reader), but he does not hesitate to make opinionated pronouncements (he laments “the endless Brownian Motion that has characterized the progress of Modern Art through the years”). At times, this volume feels like a commonplace modern gift book- a compilation of meaningful quotations occasionally annotated by the compiler and interspersed with art- but the afterword gives the reader additional insights into LaBella’s purpose in writing the book, which is a valedictory tribute to a longtime avocation. The combination of images and text ultimately produces a satisfying, informative, and thought-provoking work that readers will be able to appreciate both as a whole and in smaller portions.

An engaging, image-driven exploration of art, life, and meaning.”

~ Kirkus Reviews