Penguin

Rating:
Summary: Great pictures
Review: Dutch-born nature photographer Frans Lanting should be a familiar name to the readers of National Geographic, Audubon, LIFE or several other prestigious high-circulation magazines. With a Master's degree in Environmental Economics, he devoted himself full-time to photography in 1980. Since then, he won numerous awards, including the Sierra Club's 1997 Ansel Adams Award, and was named the Photographer of the Year 1991 by BBC. Lanting now lives near Santa Cruz, California.

This monograph, which is actually his eight book, was conceived during his three visits to the Antarctic waters. The first of them brought him amidst the rockhoppers, gentoos and Magellanic penguins on the Falkland Islands. The second one was a two-month cruise around South Georgia, South Orkney and South Sandwich islands, where he observed the king, Adelie and chinstrap penguins. And finally, as a crown, he spent several weeks among the emperor penguins on the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. In total, there are over 100 photographs. Lanting's photography is always brilliant. True, penguins are always cute, but as other birds, they have no facial expression. It is therefore amazing how he managed to capture the spirit of the moment of a bird's life.

The book will surely attract any nature lover, ornithologist or not, and amateur nature photographer. For these latter, Lanting added some short notes on photographing penguins. And finally, if you are interested, you can learn more about Lanting on his internet site, triple W dot lanting dot com.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Dutch-born nature photographer Frans Lanting should be a familiar name to the readers of National Geographic, Audubon, LIFE or several other prestigious high-circulation magazines. With a Master's degree in Environmental Economics, he devoted himself full-time to photography in 1980. Since then, he won numerous awards, including the Sierra Club's 1997 Ansel Adams Award, and was named the Photographer of the Year 1991 by BBC. Lanting now lives near Santa Cruz, California.

This monograph, which is actually his eight book, was conceived during his three visits to the Antarctic waters. The first of them brought him amidst the rockhoppers, gentoos and Magellanic penguins on the Falkland Islands. The second one was a two-month cruise around South Georgia, South Orkney and South Sandwich islands, where he observed the king, Adelie and chinstrap penguins. And finally, as a crown, he spent several weeks among the emperor penguins on the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. In total, there are over 100 photographs. Lanting's photography is always brilliant. True, penguins are always cute, but as other birds, they have no facial expression. It is therefore amazing how he managed to capture the spirit of the moment of a bird's life.

The book will surely attract any nature lover, ornithologist or not, and amateur nature photographer. For these latter, Lanting added some short notes on photographing penguins. And finally, if you are interested, you can learn more about Lanting on his internet site, triple W dot lanting dot com.

Rating:
Summary: Linux fan becomes penguin fan
Review: I was wondering through the bookstore (sometimes I'm also in a real life bookstore y'know :-) the other day and my eye fell on this book's funny cover immediately. That's probably because I'm a Linux-user, which has a penguin as a mascotte. Anyway, I took a sneek peak inside and I was in awe of the quality of the photo's and the book itself. And of course bought it right away, which I never regretted.

I was a Linux fan and now I'm also a penguin fan :-)

Rating:
Summary: Every icture merits further looks
Review: I'm not really a "picturebook" person but got this as a gift --- and I adore it. Wonderful, lush photos, not a one wasted, all meriting more examination, in strange exotic snowscapes. All around as good as it could be. Informative but not much so -- the point is not the brief words but the stunning images. Congrats to the photographer.

Rating:
Summary: Every icture merits further looks
Review: I'm not really a "picturebook" person but got this as a gift --- and I adore it. Wonderful, lush photos, not a one wasted, all meriting more examination, in strange exotic snowscapes. All around as good as it could be. Informative but not much so -- the point is not the brief words but the stunning images. Congrats to the photographer.

Rating:
Summary: PENGUINS - WHAT MORE CAN YOU SAY
Review: I'VE BEEN TO A LOT OF THE PLACES THAT FRANS LANTING MENTIONS IN HIS BOOK . AND TAKEN A LOT OF THE SAME PHOTO'S , ALTHOUGH HIS ARE BY FAR BETTER THAN MINE . THE BOOK WAS GIVEN TO ME AS A GIFT AND IF I'M EVER IN NEED OF A REMINDER OF THE FALKLANDS OR SOUTH GEORGIA AND CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO DIG OUT MY PHOTO'S I READ THIS BOOK . THE QUALITY OF HIS PHOTOGRAPHS IS OUTSTANDING , YOU CAN VIRTUALLY EVOKE THE SIGHTS AND SMELLS OF THE COLONIES OF PENGUINS , ALL IN ALL AN EXCELLENT BOOK .

Rating:
Summary: Great pictures
Review: If you are looking for great photographies of wildlife and nature, this is the right place for looking.

Rating:
Summary: Penguins Up Close and Personal
Review: Known for his exquisite images and extraordinary fortitude, Frans Lanting will travel to the ends of the Earth, weather the most extreme conditions and still persist in making the most beautiful and creative photographs of his subject imaginable. Over the course of a decade, he traveled to the Falklands, South Georgia, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica, and the Southern Ocean, where his subject was penguins. In "Penguin", Lanting exhibits his photographs from these expeditions, in which he aspires to evoke the personalities of the individual birds and convey some sense of the experiences that their lives entail. "Penguin" features photographs of a wide variety of penguin species, from the diminutive to the imposing: Emperor, King, Gentoo, Galápagos, Rockhopper, Macaroni, Magellanic, Adélie, and Chinstrap, representing all four main clans of penguin species. The book is organized into three large sections: Coming to Land, Going to Sea, and Living on Ice, which each consist of an preface by Lanting introducing us to the featured penguins and explaining a little about their lives, followed by many color photographs of penguins doing what the sections' title implies. There are also several smaller sections containing an introduction, an essay about photographing the penguins, and an image index. Most of the images in this book are at least full page. Many span two pages. Some images are accompanied by captions, but more detailed captions are found, alongside thumbnails of the images, in the image index. This is a little awkward, but it does allow images to be printed full page without having to leave room for captions. The reproduction quality of the photographs in "Penguin" is not on the level of fine art books, but it is very good for a book in this price range. Recommended for penguin lovers and Frans Lanting fans.

Rating:
Summary: Penguins Up Close and Personal
Review: Known for his exquisite images and extraordinary fortitude, Frans Lanting will travel to the ends of the Earth, weather the most extreme conditions and still persist in making the most beautiful and creative photographs of his subject imaginable. Over the course of a decade, he traveled to the Falklands, South Georgia, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica, and the Southern Ocean, where his subject was penguins. In "Penguin", Lanting exhibits his photographs from these expeditions, in which he aspires to evoke the personalities of the individual birds and convey some sense of the experiences that their lives entail. "Penguin" features photographs of a wide variety of penguin species, from the diminutive to the imposing: Emperor, King, Gentoo, Galápagos, Rockhopper, Macaroni, Magellanic, Adélie, and Chinstrap, representing all four main clans of penguin species. The book is organized into three large sections: Coming to Land, Going to Sea, and Living on Ice, which each consist of an preface by Lanting introducing us to the featured penguins and explaining a little about their lives, followed by many color photographs of penguins doing what the sections' title implies. There are also several smaller sections containing an introduction, an essay about photographing the penguins, and an image index. Most of the images in this book are at least full page. Many span two pages. Some images are accompanied by captions, but more detailed captions are found, alongside thumbnails of the images, in the image index. This is a little awkward, but it does allow images to be printed full page without having to leave room for captions. The reproduction quality of the photographs in "Penguin" is not on the level of fine art books, but it is very good for a book in this price range. Recommended for penguin lovers and Frans Lanting fans.

Rating:
Summary: Seen many macaroni penquins lately?
Review: No, neither have I but you'll find them in Frans Lanting's beautiful paperback of penguin photos, along with the emperor, gentoo, king, magellanic, chinstrap, adelie and rockhopper, all in dazzling color. As he says in the books short introduction it is not a natural history of these amazing birds but a personal photographic interpretation shot over a ten-year period. The birds are shown in all weather conditions, as huge groups, ten or so and as individuals in very detailed close-ups. Naturally the close-ups of parents with chicks are the most appealing photos in the book.

Many of the photos have captions and rather strangely there are twenty-four pages at the back of the book with thumbnails of all the photos and detailed captions, I would have thought it better to use these pages for more photos and have a caption (where needed) on each page. Apart from this I think it is a lovely book of penguin photographs and excellent value too.