Eliot Porter

A world figure in nature photography, Porter here tells his life story in accompaniment to 128 color pictures chosen for a retrospective exhibition of his work to travel nationwide. ""Carefully selected detail rendered with startling clarity of color'' characterizes Porter's work, notes curator Sandweiss. Porter, 85, is matter of fact in recalling his Maine island boyhood summers, scientific education, gradual concentration on photography, marriage and children, acceptance by the legendary Alfred Stieglitz and others, book publication of his work, choice of Santa Fe as home base and avid conservation efforts. But he waxes eloquent about the beauty of nature itself and the need to preserve it: ``. . . his dark green azure-spangled back had glided unseen for the last time through the blue water empyrean.'' Porter has made photographic expeditions throughout North America and to Antarctica, East Africa, Egypt, Greece, China and the Galapagos islands, all of which are represented here. (November 3)