Bawadi, 2006 © Florian Joye

Randonneurs sur la glacier du Rhone, 2010 © Matthieu Gafsou, courtesy Galerie C, Neuchatel, Switzerland

Wild River, Florida, 2005 © Reiner Riedler

The words “landscape photography” can often, unjustly, elicit yawns and cause eyelids to droop. Landmark: The Fields of Landscape Photography, recently published by Thames & Hudson, proves this to be exactly the wrong reaction.

Expertly culled by photography writer and curator William A. Ewing, the variety of work encompassed in this volume sparkles. The selection introduces some unconventional options to the category—as with the inclusion of Levi Van Veluw and John Stezaker. In addition to the work seen here, the book includes a wide-ranging selection: Andreas Gursky, Sally Mann, Lee Friedlander, Trevor Paglen, Natan Dvir, Mishka Henner, Edward Burtynsky, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Klett and Wolfe, Chris McCaw, Matthew Brandt, Andreas Gefeller, Joel Sternfeld, Marcus Lyon, Naoya Hatakeyama, the list goes on. Image after image, it demonstrates the massive variety of perspectives on this home we all share. And, while it effectively demonstrates humankind’s negative effects on the planet at a time when it is imperative to change our behavior, it does so without making it a rallying cry. With the recent defacement of some of the USA’s national parks, it also shows us luminous visions of what it might have looked like before we went and messed it all up.

Landmark: The Fields of Landscape Photography, William A. Ewing, is published by Thames & Hudson.

“Arizona Arch Segment, 28 April 2009,” from the series The Bridge at Hoover Dam, 2009 © Jamey Stillings

Ilulissat Icefjord 7, 07/2003, 69°11’59”N, 51°08’08”W, from the series Broken Line, 2003 © Olaf Otto Becker

Camel Estuary, Padstow, Cornwall, from the series We English, 2007 © Simon Roberts, courtesy Flowers Gallery

“Estoril, S. Pedro, Portugal,” from New Trees,2006, his series on disguised cell phone towers © Robert Voit

“Onokami Village, Gunma Prefecture,” 1994 © Toshio Shibata

“Ringside with Dione,” 2005, NASA/Jet Populsion Laboratory/Space Science Institute

“Baumschule #001,” 2010 © Gerco de Ruijter

“VW Lernpark 2,” 2001 © Massimo Vitali

“#31,” from the series Heimat, 2004 © Peter Bialobrzeski. Courtesy Robert Morat Galerie, Hamburg

Landmark: The Fields of Landscape Photography, by William A. Ewing. Courtesy Thames & Hudson