By Lloyd Kahn, Shelter Publications, Bolinas, CA, 2019
Pages: 160
Dimensions: 8.75 in x 8.75 in
Cover: Hardbound
Binding: Hardbound
Process: Offset
Color: Full color
Edition size: unknown
ISBN: 9780936070339

Lloyd Kahn's books have long inspired our group Temporary Services but this one was new to us and we had to check it out and distribute it. Like his other books, Kahn shows us the fruits of his photographic collecting—this time the result of years of beach-combing. We love these kinds of temporary structures and the creative improvisation that produces them. From the publisher:

Here are nearly 60 structures, shaped by materials lying on the beach, and ephemeral in the sense that they are built without nails, and don’t last long ― victims of wind, waves, and high tides. (All of the ones depicted are now gone.)

Beach life is amazing, and perhaps nothing captures the quirky nature of those drawn to a place where ocean meets sand like driftwood shacks. The unique and whimsical structures are constructed by anonymous builders. They’re shaped by whatever materials are lying nearby and are ephemeral—short-lived victims of wind, waves, and high tides.

Lloyd Kahn has spent many years hiking and camping along Northern California beaches. As an author and expert on building, he has always been fascinated by driftwood shacks. At first, he simply studied and admired them, but he soon began photographing them. Driftwood Shacks compiles his favorites from over the years. It features 60 structures, as well as the following:

• Sculptures, seaweed, and sunsets
• Birds, sea lions, sea otters, and whalebones
• Anglers, surfers, sea caves, and beach art
• A section on the Lost Coast

Driftwood Shacks is a coffe-table book for beachcombers and beach lovers everywhere, all of whom share a deep, emotional connection to the ocean and its surroundings.