Ecuador, Island of the Andes

The beauty of the Andes, the landscape and its inhabitants is revealed with arresting clarity in this accomplished photo-essay by the author/photographer of Tibet. Sweeping patchworks of tilled land, confronting a limitless horizon of the earth's gentle curves or climbing the sheer face of a mountain, are seen in strongly composed images with a brilliant complexity of blues, greens and golds that show Kling's painterly eye for color and exemplary graphic sensitivity. Rare among nature photographers, her images of peoplevillagers in fuchsia ponchos and brimmed hats sorting vegetables at a market, danzantes draped with multicolored damask strips assembling for the Corpus Christi Fiestashow equal skill. Kling's single-figure portraits are succinct in their design yet spontaneously expressive. Especially compelling are the faces of young Indian women, their fined-boned features caught in subdued reflection. The accompanying text offers informative, albeit superficial information about Aztec history, the region's unique geography and climate, and the merging of Indian and Spanish cultural traditions. The book's descriptive passages, however, pall in comparison to the richly evocative visual images. (April)