Travel book: Ghosts In The Landscape

Ghosts in the Landscape, by Grant Sheehan. Photo / Supplied

Ghosts In The Landscape
by Grant Sheehan
Phantom Press, $150

A stunning exploration in black and white of the New Zealand countryside and the spirits haunting it.

Sometimes the ghosts are merely the abandoned houses and rusting cars that add colour to many a pastoral scene and by their presence hint at lost dreams.

Others are memorials to wars or disasters that serve as reminders that their tranquil setting has sometimes been the scene of a bloody tragedy.

And then there are the landscapes themselves, their present day beauty not quite disguising the fact that they have been created by the brutal forces of volcano and earthquake, storm and flood, burn-off and bulldozer.

Sheehan's images bring these ghosts to mind with extraordinary power.

I showed the book to the Herald senior photographer, a man rarely impressed by coffee table books, and he handed it back with a one-word judgment, "Outstanding."