Book Reviews

The Masters Of Nature Photography; Editor, Rosamund Kidman Cox; Firefly Books; $45; (ISBN: 978-177085-259-4)
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition stems from two of the most famous institutions of the United Kingdom—the Natural History Museum and BBC Worldwide. For nearly 50 years, talented artists from around the world have presented their work to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition hoping to be one of the chosen few who are lucky enough to stand out from the crowd and have their work selected. It is a great honor to obtain that goal and a prize well worth working toward.

This book showcases a collection of 120 breathtaking images from 10 of today’s top nature photographers—Jim Brandenburg, David Doubilet, Pal Hermansen, Frans Lanting, Thomas E. Mangelsen, Vincent Munier, Michael “Nick” Nichols, Paul Nicklen, Anup Shah and Christian Ziegler. Their work is expertly divided into 10 portfolios. The images are specially selected to reflect each photographer’s unique talent and perspective as well as the subject matter and style. Each portfolio contains 20 pages and each section includes a profile of the artist that describes their style, influences and goals. The captions reveal why the images are so special to the photographers and tells the story behind every shot. I believe that this extra information is a wonderful help to the reader by allowing a deeper understanding of the artists as well ad their creative vision and the driving forces behind their amazing work.