Penguin

by Frans Lanting

Book Overview

A celebration of the nature and beauty of penguins as expressed through the exquisite images and unique personal stories of master photographer and naturalist Frans Lanting. 114 illustrations. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3822865192
• ISBN13: 9783822865194
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Taschen
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 2.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.3" x 12.2"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant Pictorial Overview Of Our Favorite Flightless Waterfowl

"Penguins" by Frans Lanting is one of the most beautiful nature books I have ever seen. In it he details the lives of various species of penguins through his brilliant photographs and a modicum of text. Make no mistake; this is a book of pictures: it does have a small amount of informative text, but the main attraction is the incredible color photographs. The photos are arranged artfully, but my one nitpick would be the captioning: each photo has a very abbreviated caption (though not always on the same page,) but to find out more detail about a given picture, you must flip to the back of the book and cross-reference the photo in the image index, a feature that I found annoying. Overall this book is great, and I appreciated that Lanting did not devote the book to the more commonly known King and Emperor penguins, but also detailed the lives of other less well known species like the Rockhopper, Gentoo, and Macaroni penguins. For those interested, Lanting includes a section on penguin and Antarctic conservation in the back of the book. This is a great and visually stunning book, and I recommend it without reservation.

great

This book is top-notch and amazing, just like anything else you would expect from Frans Lanting. You can just imagine the hardwork the man goes into just get these photos you see, not to mention the ones you don't see. This book made me feel a connection to penguins I didn't have before. You look at the book and you can see how similar these animals really are to people, their behaviors and family and emotions are so human-like, it is scary and quite emotional sometimes. Amazing book.

Brilliant!

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.

In Praise of Penguins from the San Jose Mercury News

Published Monday, December 27, 1999, in the San Jose Mercury News: Warm look at penguins' cold habitat BY LINDA GOLDSTON ABOUT this time last year, I told you about a wonderful book called ``Eye to Eye: Intimate Encounters With the Animal World'' by Santa Cruz photographer Frans Lanting. Today I get to tell you about his newest, titled simply ``Penguin.'' Lanting has spent the last 20 years researching and photographing the worlds of wildlife and his books are gifts to the rest of us. They take us up close to animals in their habitats, help us see in new ways how much we all have in common. The difference, of course, is that we get to learn these things while looking at his books in the warmth of our homes. Lanting goes to the source. ``It hurts to breathe at minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit,'' he writes in ``Penguin.'' ``Even if you are an emperor penguin, you have to hunch and huddle. If you are a human, you have to hide.'' At the time, Lanting lay inside a tent in Antarctica ``holding on to the poles. The blizzard outside has pushed the ceiling down to a few inches above my nose. ``I am uncomfortably aware that only a thin membrane of nylon separates me from conditions I could not survive. Yet outside there are baby birds. They are emperor penguin chicks, and I am here to document their lives.'' As a former photojournalist, I have no problem saying that Lanting's work is very special. From the cover photo of an emperor penguin family to the series of king penguin chicks and numerous others in the book, ``Penguin'' is a celebration of the uniqueness of each bird, no matter how alike they might seem to the rest of us. ``There's a lot more than meets the eye,'' Lanting said. ``A penguin is not a penguin, is not a penguin.'' I've seen two of Lanting's books and quickly added both to my list of favorites. Lanting is a photographer with a purpose. He won the Sierra Club's 1997 Ansel Adams Award for using his photography to further conservation.

Penguins, penguins and more penguins

When you're fond of nature photography, in particular wildlife, then this book is great. Frans Lanting's pictures are fantastic; he is able to capture the essence of the life of penguins, particular those living at or in the vicinity of the South Pole. Mr. Lanting's style of photography is unique; he goes beyond pure registration as often seen in wildlife photography books and even beyond rules of composition. He makes portraits and tries to capture the soul of the animal in a picture. When you like his book 'Eye to Eye' you will also enjoy this book.