by Donald Miller

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 22, 2001

One of the most beautiful photography books I have seen recently is "Along the Way" by California photographer Mark Citret.

Published by Custom & Limited Editions, San Francisco, in a hardcover edition of 3,700 ($50) and a deluxe boxed edition of 300, ($500) this large-format volume contains about 140 unnumbered pages.

Citret was born in Buffalo in 1949, grew up in the city by the bay and has been photographing seriously since 1968.

His book, printed on heavy paper in Italy, is an exquisite production. The black and white photographs have a pale-toned quality that lifts the sometimes everyday subject matter to a higher plane—that and the photographer's masterly eye, somewhat recalling Ansel Adams, but different in how intensely he has studied his subjects before photographing them.

These are for the most part subtle offerings: often misty landscapes and hushed interiors.

"Racing Sculls," 1995, catches the loneliness of a dock empty except for the overturned craft and the water and mist beyond. Nothing intrudes except the dark reeds that resemble a furry dark pelt.

The most flamboyant shot is of a "Large Bovine Statue" of a Hereford bull staring out of the photograph directly at the viewer in a near desert locale.

Every artist is concerned with light, but for Citret there is a special relationship that has resulted in a quietly memorable book ...