By Richard Misrach
278 pages; Aperture

When photographer Richard Misrach looked out on an idyllic Hawaii beach from the balcony of his hotel room in November 2001, he saw more than an expanse of sun and sand. He saw tiny, vulnerable human beings lost in space. His gull's-eye views of beach and shimmering blue water, intricately textured swathes of color punctuated by the forms of solitary swimmers and sunbathers, are collected in On the Beach (Aperture), a stunningly vibrant visual meditation on "the precarious nature of life itself."