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The best natural history photographic books |
 One of my favorite pastimes is to study the books and photography of other photographers, notably the world's best photographers working in natural history photography. I can spend hours gleaning over their photos and descriptions of photographs hoping to work out their methods and approach for a particular shot. It all helps we with my own photographic journey.
It's not only to try and learn from their work but also just to admire the photography that comes from full-time photographers who have dedicated part of their life to achieve what the rest of us aspire to. The world's best photography is inspirational photography that makes your jaw drop and yearn to visit the place it was taken or see the animal or culture it portrays.
I have put together my personal collection of what I think are the best photography books available today. Hope you enjoy!
For this project, Middleton and Liittschwager gained unprecedented access to photograph on and around these protected islands that are otherwise completely off-limits to people. Home to nearly seventy percent of America's coral reefs, known as the "rainforests of the sea," the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is a remarkable ecosystem that supports a vast array of interdependent native plants and animals that have evolved in this habitat over millions of years, many existing nowhere else on the planet.
The result is Archipelago. With its more than 300 stunning images, the book illustrates the spectacular diversity of these ocean and island creatures, as well as profiles many of the people dedicated to the preservation of this habitat.
In the year 2000 Frans Lanting set out on a personal journey to photograph the evolution of life on earth. He made pilgrimages to true time capsules like a remote lagoon in Western Australia, spent time in research collections photographing forms of microscopic life, and even found ways to create visual parallels between the growth of organs in the human body and the patterns seen on the surface of the earth. The resulting volume is a glorious picture book of planet earth depicting the amazing biodiversity that surrounds us all. Lanting’s true gift lies beyond his technical mastery: it is his eye for geometry in the beautiful chaos of nature that allows him to show us the world as it has never been seen before.
In his introduction, award-winning photographer Lanting states that he seeks to "show the strength and dignity of animals in nature." This book accomplishes that goal, as have his other works (e.g., Okavango, LJ 12/93). One simply cannot look at the photographs here without responding emotionally. The book is divided into three main sections: "One on One," in which the animals are seen individually; "Two by Two," in which pairs of animals come together to eventually become mates and parents; "All in All," in which large congregations are shown, often with a single animal on the opposite page. "Behind the Camera" features brief comments on techniques and equipment, and in "Photographer's Notes," Lanting describes each photograph, the animal, the situation, and/or the animal's reaction to the photographer.
The authors, who have worked with endangered species in their previous photographic work, Witness (Chronicle, 1994), here turn their cameras to Hawaii, home to over a quarter of the specimens on the U.S. Endangered Species List. As in Witness, they present most of their photographs in the form of stunning portraits of individual specimens against a stark black background. Each animal or plant appears almost jewellike in perfection of form or color. Some, like a pair of grinning monk seals or an inquisitive thrush, are playful as well. Over 140 portraits are presented, as are some scenes of unique terrain such as the Silversword Bog and the top of Mauna Kea.
From Botswana and Kenya to Djibouti and the Canary Islands, National Geographic's stunning Through the Eyes of the Gods provides a breathtaking aerial look at this vast and varied land. Whether stretches of desert too remote to cross or deltas too marshy to navigate, this book gives viewers an unequaled experience—access to places that are virtually impossible to reach from the ground.
This delightful heirloom volume is an in-depth look at the history of National Geographic photography, filled with spectacular images that span the century, and the remarkable stories behind them. It is a chronologically arranged collection of 250 photographs, including rare treasures from the Society's private collection and images never published before. Includes photographers' accounts of the dangers, adventures, and technical innovations behind their work, along with insights from renowned curators and critics.
This visually rich work was produced in conjunction with a National Geographic IMAX project filming spelunkers exploring caves throughout the world. The film follows two female cavers in subterranean sites in Greenland, the Yucatan, and the south-central U.S. The photographs and the story of the explorations would be sufficient to recommend this work, but it also includes fascinating background material on the history of the caves, their biological diversity, the tools used by spelunkers in their explorations, and the geologic forces that have made caves into natural works of art. The sites for this work were obviously, and successfully, chosen because of their visual impact and variety: a giant glacial ice cavern, vast networks of underground rivers, and cramped passageways of dripping delicate crystals. Perhaps the most astounding feature that the book highlights is not the geology but the amazing range of life-forms that prosper in impossibly harsh conditions.
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