Creature
from Chronicle Books
Amazon Best of the Month, December 2007: December seems to be the classic month to celebrate the coffee-table book--those oversized tomes that sit out on display, easily enticing anyone within arm's reach to flip through the pages. One of my favorites of the season--and one you'll want to keep out all year long--is Andrew Zuckerman's Creature, a photographic safari of astounding studio shots of an ark's worth of animals, ready for their close-ups against a stark white backdrop. Mesmerizing, inspiring, and ultimately very, very cool. Badgers, fruit bats, and bald eagles never looked so good. --Brad Thomas Parsons
Photographer Andrew Zuckerman's strikingly detailed images of animals from around the world are as delightful as they are inspiring. This collection of astonishing studio portraits of 175 wild creatures from baby leopards to parrots, bears, mandrills, and many more are stunningly foregrounded against white backgrounds, depicting their subjects with rare sensitivity, insight, humor, and wonder. Zuckerman also an up-and-coming filmmaker, whose first short film, High Falls, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 has created a volume perfect for animal lovers, photography fans, and anyone fascinated by the world around us. Creature is a beautiful and thought-provoking look at the fragile wonders of the natural world.
John Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide
by John Shaw
from Amphoto Books
An updated bestseller, this book of extraordinarily beautiful photographs of nature contains state-of-the-art instruction on how any photographer can aim for equally impressive results every time a camera is focused on the great outdoors. Even highly skilled photographers are often baffled by the problems facing them when they work outdoors. But with this exceptional field guide in hand, every photographer-beginner, serious amateur, semi-pro, and pro-can conquer the problems encountered in the field. Using his own exceptional work as examples, the author discusses each type of nature subject and how to approach photographing it. Specific advice and information cover selection of equipment and lenses; how to compose a shot; how to get close ups; and other tips covering a range of techniques to enrich various types of nature photographs.
On This Earth: Photographs from East Africa
by Nick Brandt
from Chronicle Books
Nick Brandt depicts the animals of East Africa with an intimacy and artistry unmatched by other photographers who choose wildlife as their subject. He creates these majestic sepia and blue-tone photos contrasting moments of quintessential stillness with bursts of dramatic action by engaging with these creatures on an exceptionally intimate level, without the customary use of a telephoto lens. Evocative of classical art, from dignified portraits to sweeping natural tableaux, Brandt's images artfully and simply capture animals in their natural states of being. With a foreword by Alice Sebold and an introduction by Jane Goodall, On This Earth is a gorgeous portfolio of some of the last wild animals and a heartfelt elegy to a vanishing world.
John Shaw's Closeups in Nature (Practical Photography Books)
by John Shaw
from Amphoto Books
Shaw explains in exacting detail the intricacies of the close-up, covering exposure, metering, lighting and equipment selection. Delves deep into the topic of extension tubes, focusing racks and lenses.
Seashells
by Josie Iselin
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Artist Josie Iselin celebrates the diversity and beauty of nature with her exquisite portraits of seashells. Like her extremely popular Beach Stones and Leaves & Pods, Seashells is not a field guide but an artful and informative portrayal of a beloved part of our natural world. The book balances the exotic with the familiar, from tropical corals and rare fossils to everyday clamshells and barnacles. In her introduction and captions, marine geologist and paleontologist Sandy Carlson introduces the reader to seashells in all their variety, explaining why they look as they do. Both an art book and a contemplation of nature, Seashells combines aesthetic delight in natural things with scientific fact and philosophical wonder.
Heart Stones
from Abrams Books
A heart stone is one of nature's gifts. Heart stones are not rare or precious in the typical sense--a good scour of a beach with any stones at all will usually turn up one or two heart-shaped stones. But heart stones, lifted from their obscurity, with all of their cracks and blemishes, lopsided and imperfect, are simply the best find on any beach. Beachcombers collect them, keep them as talismans, and give them to friends and lovers.
Josie Iselin, author of Abrams' very popular Beach Stones, has put together a magical collection of 100 heart stones, and each one expresses a universal feeling. Love, passion, admiration, obsession, reassurance, joy, intrigue, comfort, wonder, and many other human emotions seem to be portrayed in these homely but appealing objects. This little book can bring great pleasure to anyone who has ever sought inspiration and solace in nature.
Storm Chaser: A Photographer's Journey
from Abrams Books
The weather used to be reported after the news; today, it often is the news. Tracking news-making weather, storm chasers seek dramatic images of tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, lightning storms, and other extreme and unusual weather phenomena. News organizations compete to broadcast and publish these images because people care passionately about the weather.
Jim Reed is one of America’s most successful and award-winning storm chasers in an era when global climate is changing. His fifteen years of photography documents this change. As the years go by, he sees spring come earlier, summers get hotter, and tornadoes and hurricanes increase in frequency and intensity. In Storm Chaser, a beautiful picture book about some of the most powerful—and sometimes deadly—phenomena in our world, Reed shares his best images and his experiences as he tracks these storms throughout the country.
Mastering Landscape Photography: The Luminous Landscape Essays
by Alain Briot
from Rocky Nook
Thirteen essays on landscape photography by master photographer Alain Briot. Topics include practical, technical, and aesthetic aspects of photography to help photographers build and refine their skills. Also covered is how to be an artist in business.
Alain Briot is one of the leading contemporary landscape photographers. He received his education in France and currently works mostly in the southwestern part of the United States.
This book starts with the technical aspects of photography; how to see, compose, find the right light, and select the best lens for a specific shot. It continues by focusing on the artistic aspects of photography with chapters on how to select your best work, how to create a portfolio, and finally concludes with two chapters on how to be an artist in business.
On Feathered Wings: Birds in Flight
by Richard Ettlinger
from Abrams
From falcons and eagles to swallows and hummingbirds, On Feathered Wings serves up a rich collection of images that is sure to delight birders both novice and veteran, and anyone who has ever looked to the skies in wonder.
Sierra Club 2008 Wilderness Calendar
by Sierra Club
from Harmony
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