Wildlife

I love this book, it is sitting on my coffee table right now. I've read this book atleast 5 times in the past couple months, most photography books I read once then never touch them again for quite a long time.. This book is amazing though. I highly suggest purchasing it if you enjoy wildlife photography and reading about the photos. All the storys are short but very entertaining and the photos are of top notch quality.

Wildlife is a truly gorgeous showcase of wildlife photography from expert professionals. Still images are presented in full-color, along with a brief sidebar written by the photographer detailing the story behind the photograph in question. A wide variety of species are presented in all their glory, from a magnificent tiger in mid-leap to a penguin chick huddled for protection underneath its dutiful parent. Highly recommended for nature and photography collections alike, and simply beautiful to page through.

This is a collection of the work of 40 of the world's most famous wildlife photographers. Names like Iwago, Lanting, Mangelsen, Morris and Wolfe will be quite familiar to people interested in this genre.Each artist gets four pages for some biographical data and several pictures. Every one of the photos is world class.While the biographies are generally too short to provide much insight into the individual artists, one can discern a couple of trends in their lives. A good many started life in some other career and after a while decided to make the risky jump to professional wildlife photography. Others were interested in nature all of their life and the photography grew out of this love. No one started life as a commercial or fashion photographer and then made the switch to wildlife. Occasionally a photographer will offer a surprising statement about the commercial nature of wildlife photography, like the photographer who notes that the books he has published don't make financial sense, but do help to drum up other business.As I've perused a number of wildlife photography books over the years, I've noticed that a good book is like a good piece of music. As you proceed through it, you notice both the repetition and the variation of elements so that by the end of the book you have not just looked at pictures, but also come to understand something about the photographer and the way he relates to the animals he photographs. This book is more like a CD my son owns, called "50 Great Classical Hits" (or something like that). The CD plays just the most dramatic points from a number of symphonies. While that can be interesting, it certainly doesn't provide the same experience as listening to a single full symphony.This book has the same effect. Many of the pictures are obviously well composed and striking but when one turns the page the picture one just looked at disappears from the mind as the reader tries to come to grips with a completely different subject and style. Ultimately I found this beautiful book unsatisfying.But, it does serve the very useful purpose of introducing you to wildlife photographers you may not have yet encountered. I, for one, will be keeping my eyes open for the work of Chris Packham and Konrad Wothe. Reading it may also lead you to look for the work of unfamiliar artists.

The images are brilliantly printed with stunning details. I even liked the format whereby the equipment used were listed together with the image.Excellent book for inspiration.

This is my favorite book of the year. The photos are really beautiful! I gave this as a Christmas gift to several of my friends who are into photography. In addition to the fabulous photos there is useful practical information for up and coming photographers.