This book presents three independent bodies of work by Henry Wessel from the past five decades. Each is a precise sequence recreating the experience of passing through the territory described. _Walkabout_ invites the viewer to walk with Wessel through working-class neighborhoods and bordering urban areas. The photos show sun-soaked homes, cars, bars, alleyways, gas stations and cyclone fences, reminding us that intuition can lead to dramatic possibilities anywhere. Wessel describes his approach: _At the core of this receptivity is a process that might be called soft eyes. It is a physical sensation. You are not looking for something. You are open, receptive.

At some point, you are in front of something that you cannot ignore._ _Man Alone_ comprises photographs Wessel made of men in San Francisco. What at first seems a study of the gesture and gait of the urban man is actually a collection of individuals: each man_s singularity is described through the interrelatedness of stride, garb, facial expression and the shape of the photo. Wessel_s final series _Botanical Census_ meanders through city streets, parks, roadsides and open fields. Images of bushes, succulents, trees, topiary and weeds, rendered by sharp-edged light, reveal the aesthetic possibilities growing all around us. Arranging a precise sequence of photographs is similar to arranging words to create a poem. The meaning comes from what is being described and the shape of the description. Henry Wessel.