Richard Bain (1954–1999)

One might think that a book of photographs called "Niagara" would contain image after image of the famous falls. Not this book -- it's mainly a book of photos of the overall region, and in perusing it, the reader will gain a preview of what they'd see on a small vacation to the area. Among the images are those of small hotels and inns, cottages, farmlands, wineries, parks, hiking trails, rivers, and bridges. Other photos show such local sites of interest as Fort Niagara (famous from the War show more of 1812), the 11,000 square foot Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory, and Marineland. Likewise, there's a Casino, a Tussad's Waxworks, and the Art Museum. A few images of the falls themselves are shown, along with the famous Maid of the Mist, the boat that takes rain-coat wearing tourists to the base of the falls. A few pages of introduction begin the book (and contain a mistaken claim that the region might have been inhabited by humans over 90 thousand years ago). The photos are pleasant, colorful, and reproduced well. Overall, this 120 page book is the sort of keepsake a tourist might pick up at a local gift shop to remember their vacation -- or honeymoon -- in the area. show less

This book was a disappointment, but that might be due the fact that I don't appreciate photography as much as text. The book is essentially a collection of reasonably good photos of the University of Western Ontario with the occasional paragraph of text. It is perhaps worthwhile to jog one's memory of what the campus looks like but little more.