A splendid coffee table book featuring 175 of Steve Shaluta’s color photographs of West Virginia and Jeanne’s commentary.

RAVE REVIEW from WV Commissioner of Culture and History, Randall Reid Smith. “I was 90 minutes late to work this morning because I couldn’t put it down. I’m NEVER late to work.”

FROM THE INTRODUCTION

Copies of Wonders of West Virginia – our first photobook published in 2005 – were scarcely on bookstore shelves before Steve was sorting through photos for the next book. This is understandable when you are a world class photographer with a library of literally thousands of perfect images of West Virginia. Wonders sold through two printings of several thousand copies before our publisher made the call – he was ready for the second volume. Steve and I came up with 180 new photos. That meant I had nearly 180 individual research projects to conduct trying to find the tiny tidbit or slightly skewed slant that would deepen and make more memorable the experience our audience would have from looking at the photographs. Describing what could be seen on the page was obviously redundant – that’s the point of a photograph. I needed to inspire, amuse, inform or simply locate in ways that take you beyond the image no matter how splendid.

There were some avenues we did not take in choosing our content. This is not an equal opportunity collection. There were no lists of counties to be certain we had an image from each one. It is also not pitching a message at tourists or CEOs looking to relocate.

These pages are simply another love note from Steve and me to our favorite state serving up tidbits of West Virginia beauty, both familiar and rare.

See Steve’s photos at https://www.steveshaluta.com/