Put this on your Christmas List, quick!
The Masters of Nature Photography published by the Natural History Museum (out September 19) brings together, for the first time, 10 of the world’s greatest wildlife photographers (all past winners of the renowned Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition).
From the evocative artistry of Jim Brandenburg and Vincent Munier to the pioneering underwater photography of David Doubilet and Paul Nicklen, these influential artists display many different ways of seeing the natural world.
Pål Hermansen and his magical use of light and dark. The ground-breaking viewpoints of Frans Lanting. Anup Shah’s intimate portraits. The powerful visual statements of Michael Nichols. Thomas D Mangelsen’s vast, wild landscapes. And Christian Ziegler’s gems of wild behaviour.
The featured image, above, is Polar Panorama by Pål Hermansen. Taken in Svalbard, Norway, 2005: “I have met many polar bears in the vast, icy Arctic landscapes. But this bear was in the most breathtaking setting I had ever seen.
“Our small expedition vessel got as close as 15 metres from its breakfast table. But rather than a close-up, I wanted to show the bear within the whole, magnificent scene. I waited until it lifted its head from its meal of ringed seal and then took a series of shots as a panoramic stitch.
“It’s a picture that can be interpreted in many ways. When it was made, the timing was perfect to highlight the latest news about the effects of climate change in the Arctic: less summer ice forces the bears to hunt where they find ice – along the edge of glaciers. But it also illustrates the interaction between landscape and animal, as well as the harshness of nature and the food chain. But maybe I like it because it’s simply telling a story about nature.”
Blast Off by Paul Nicklen
Taken in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, 2012: “On the second day of the shoot, standing on the ice, I was knocked flying by a leopard seal that came hurtling out of the water and realised too late I wasn’t a penguin. At that moment, I knew first hand why emperor penguins rocket out onto the ice. To double or triple their speed, they use a lubrication of micro-bubbles released from their feathers that cut down the friction of feathers against water.
“The challenge was to catch this in a single, clean moment and with artistry. The water was crystal clear but with hundreds of penguins exiting the hole, the scene was chaos. Diving an hour at a time in the -1.8°C water, trying to maintain perfect buoyancy so as to not to move a muscle, I waited, with the scene framed in the viewfinder.
“Finally a single penguin in full-on bubble-release mode came shooting by, air coming out of its lungs, bubbles pouring out of its feathers. Shooting at 10 frames a second, I just caught it.”
Catch of the Day by Thomas D Mangelsen
Taken at Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA, 1988: “This is my most iconic image, copied more than any other – the split second before the grizzly moved his head and shut his jaws on the sockeye salmon. At the time, no one believed the picture was real. But it was shot on film, the result of planning and luck.
“I made the image at the now-famous Brook Falls, where the grizzlies congregate annually to feast on salmon coming upriver to spawn. Every day, I’d hike the two miles from my tent to the viewing platform, set up my tripod and focus on a group of bears stationed above the falls. They would stand for hours waiting for salmon to leap near enough to grab with their paws or catch in their mouths.
“The exposure, speed, depth of field and serendipity would be more critical than usual. The composition would have to be tight enough to make a viewer feel the spray from the cascading water and the rush of sockeye salmon against his legs, to smell the great bear’s breath – that was the tension I wanted. I saw the moment several times, which was special enough, but it happened so fast and there were so many variables that it was weeks later, when the film was developed, that I knew I’d caught that millisecond between mouth opened and mouth closed.”
Dancing Cranes by Vincent Munier
Taken at Tsuiri, Hokkaido, Japan, 2011: “Cranes are among my favourite birds. They led me to go on my first trip away from home, following the common cranes as they migrated across Europe. My next dream was to see the red-crowned cranes – their plumage so very white, their landscape so snowy.
“When it’s very snowy, I’m smiling, and it is the same with the cranes. They dance. When the flakes of snow are very big, the couples sing and dance even more, each mirroring the other’s move. You can tell they’re excited because the flash of red on their crowns becomes more red.
“On this trip, 10 years after I first photographed cranes in Japan, I managed to catch an impression of the perfect symphony of their courtship dance, with snow falling like confetti. I was so happy to see that their numbers had increased. But they are still endangered, and their survival still depends on humans putting out food in winter.”
Horse Spirit by Jim Brandenburg
Taken at Oostvaardersplassen Preserve, the Netherlands, 2010: “These horses truly have a wild spirit – the most I’ve ever seen in horses – which is what I wanted to capture. But when the herd raced past with great exuberance, I wasn’t quite ready.
“I’d gone to this unique wildlife refuge north of Amsterdam to test new camera equipment. But my fingers weren’t yet familiar with the camera, and I was using a long telephoto with a 2x extender – a combination never to use with the sort of flimsy tripod that I was borrowing. The resulting images were a surprise. One might even call this frame quite a lucky accident.
“I particularly like it as it reminds me of the ancient paintings of horses on the walls of the caves in southern France – a subject close to my heart. This refuge is a rewilding experiment to replicate Europe’s prehistoric past, and these Polish konik horses are the closest we’ll ever get to the tarpans that once roamed Europe. I was simply doing what my ancestors did with their cave paintings 30,000 years ago, trying to capture the magic of animals – nearly the same animals. Little has changed in this quest, though I don’t think we’ve yet matched that cave art.”
Malui and the Butterflies by Anup Shah
Taken at Bai Hokou, Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Special Reserve, Central African Republic, 2011: “Malui is the dominant female in a group of western lowland gorillas, and she is usually a morose and moody character. On this occasion, her group had come out of the forest to feed on plants in the swampy bai [clearing], just when there was a mass emergence of hundreds of butterflies. Most of the gorillas were avoiding the butterflies.
“But when Malui saw them, she got a gleam in her eyes. I saw it and positioned myself with the light behind me. Three times she ran through the area where the butterflies were, savouring the experience of the explosion of wings. It was a game she clearly enjoyed. My feeling was one of surprise and elation – surprise because her behaviour was out of character and elation because that was probably what she felt.”
Penguins, Ice and Light by David Doubilet
Taken at Danko Island, Antarctica, 2011: “I came late in life to the ice, but now ice is in my blood. I’ve been seduced by icebergs, and over the past few seasons, I’ve been working on them at every opportunity. I think of icebergs as a perfect metaphor for the sea – only a small percentage is visible to us.
“We were lucky to find this bergy bit with a small group of chinstrap and gentoo penguins squabbling on top of it. I made a few frames of the idyllic scene before they began to push each other off, and slide down one side, pop up on the other and start over again.
“I love the combination of grey sky, white ice and black penguins against the colour of the water, and the curve of the wave with just a little bit of reflection underneath. I was excited when two gentoo penguins circled the ice under water, providing perspective. Look how much ice there is below water. One of the greatest joys of shooting half-and-half is that there’s always a surprise – especially the way the surface receives the light.”
Perfect Trawl by Christian Ziegler
Barro Colorado, Panama, 2006: “The greater bulldog bat is ugly – hence the name. But it’s one of my favourite bats. It fishes on the lake surrounding Barro Colorado Island, using its long claws like rakes to collect insects on the surface. It also catches minnows. The bat researchers had created a small lake to study the bats’ sonar more easily. I made use of it. But getting the set-up right took weeks.
“The bats fly in fast and low, scanning for the bumps of fish lying close to the surface. I wanted perfect symmetry in the shot. In the end I used nine flashes. Three were fired from above and one from behind. Five faced the possible flight path – two straight on, two low down and close to where it would catch a fish, to get the underside of the wings, and one low shooting along the water under the camera.
“I thought the bats would never catch a fish. They have habits – one just hung up beside the water and watched. So I had to bet on a favourite fishing spot and then try many, many times. But in the end I got the shot, showing a bat doing something that is absolutely amazing.”
Twilight of the Giants by Frans Lanting
Taken at Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, Botswana, 1988: “This is an image I’d walked around with in my mind for a while. But in all the weeks I had worked at this waterhole, this was the only time that the conditions were perfect. I’d come every morning and afternoon, making myself a fixture in the landscape, sometimes working through the night.
“On this particular evening, a herd of bulls came to drink. For a short time, a group gathered across the water from me, just as the full moon started to rise, with the pink light of the dying sunset reflecting back onto the landscape and the elephants – a primeval scene of ancient Africa.
“To capture the full reflection of the elephants, I had to wade waste-deep into the water. That was tricky, as a bull coming behind me could have put me in an uncomfortable position. But I’d learnt a lot about body language from local guides who’d worked with elephants on foot, and these elephants were relaxed. I used a wide-angle lens and a neutral-density filter to reduce the contrast between the sky and the landscape. For me, the picture has a monumental message – the last
mega-mammals on Earth, running out of time.”
Whiskey by Michael “Nick” Nichols
Taken at Bujumbura, Burundi, 1989: “Whiskey was named after the drink his owner gave him. When he stopped being a cute pet, he was chained by his neck in a dark, wet, disused lavatory behind an auto-repair garage. I used a little flash mixed with a slow shutter speed to bring out the horror of his solitary confinement, the walls smeared with excreta where he had managed to hit them as he twirled around in his dance of madness.
“He was a tortured creature, a metaphor for what we do to these animals. Release came through the Burundi Chimpanzee Conservation Program, affiliated with the Jane Goodall Institute, but it was too late. He already had liver disease.”
The Masters of Nature Photography is published by the Natural History Museum, London. Available September 19 2013, ISBN: 9780565093150, price: £30.
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