The World?s Top Photographers Wildlife is packed with beautiful pictures of animals. The work of Frans Lanting, Art Wolfe, Jim Bandenburg, Heather Angel, and Stephen Dalton is renowned, gracing the pages of magazines such as National Geographic and Geo, and the walls of galleries across the world.

In The World's Top Photographers Wildlife, they and other top photographers tell the stories behind some of their favorite images in their own words. With anecdotes, tips, and technical details, this book gives a fascinating insight into the creative processes behind the amazing photographs. There is also a brief biography of each photographer, which includes a bibliography of his or her published work.

The book features beautiful images of birds, mammals, fish, insects, and reptiles from all over the world.

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.


Grand images   April 9, 2003
 2 out of 4 found this review helpful

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.


a brillant book!   January 8, 2003
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

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.