Black & White Long Beach presents a fine art photographer's impressions of a one of America's most photogenic cities. The black and white photographs in this 9"x12" hardcover book take the viewer on a tour of Long Beach, California using a combination of visual styles ranging from architectural to still life to cityscape. The photographer, Doug Hawks, spent over two years getting to know Long Beach and the result of his efforts are 57 beautifully composed scenes of both well known and obscure locations throughout the city. In a recent review of Mr. Hawks' Long Beach Photography, James Scarborough of the Grunion Gazette said, "It's startling, the range of expression in these pieces: lyrical and whimsical, stoic and solemn, mysterious and supernatural. And it's all done with so little: light, line and unerring composition.

Doug Hawks was a commercial photographer in Los Angeles from 1976 to 1982. His clientele included many of the regions leading advertising agencies and corporations such as Coca Cola, AMF/Voit and Yonex Sports. He left photography in 1982 for the corporate world as a strategic planner and has since helped start two companies. He has recently returned to photography through the “fine arts” path focusing his artistic attention on Long Beach, other Southern California coastal cities and Paris. During his commercial photography period, Doug attended Art Center in the Working Professionals program and there studied under Max Yavno (b. 1911 - d. 1985), widely considered one the masters of American urban landscape photography.

Mr. Hawks’ Long Beach work has been acknowledged by critics and art curators worldwide and in 2005 earned awards at the prestigious International Photography Awards (IPA) competition in two categories, Editorial - Photo Essay and Architecture - Historic. This past year, a photograph of Long Beach’s own Aquarium of the Pacific was honored at London’s Black and White Spider Awards, the leading international ceremony recognizing excellence in black and white photography. Most recently, Mr. Hawks’ book, “Black & White Long Beach” was sighted by the IPA as one of the best photography books of 2006.