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51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous and thought provoking, August 17, 2000
Jim Brandenburg has stepped beyond the comfortable environs of the successful photographer and created a true work of art. The premise is audacious... take only one photograph per day for ninety consecutive days and set them in order to illustrate the minimalist way of thinking so often absent in photo assignments. With typical photo-journalism assignments for publications such as National Geographic resulting in up to tens of thousands of photos, the presentation of ninety varied and spontaneous images exposed Brandenburg to the very real possibility that the result might be unwieldy and chaotic. The genius in this book is the way the images, supported by a gentle and well written narrative, weave a seamless tapestry of a three month journey. Lest one think this book is simply pretty pictures, look at the photograph of a poacher's kill... haunting, visceral and yet not gratuitously graphic. Images such as this give this book an edge that is gripping and very meaningful. Brandenburg is a "wolf person" extroardinaire... but here he expands his subject matter while paradoxically stripping his assignment down to the very barest of essentials. He presents some of the most flatly beautiful images I have ever seen in print. Lake Superior is not only a national treasure, it is Hiawatha's water... haunting, ethereal, powerful and fundamental. Brandenburg shows us several of the great lake's moods. The Boundary Waters area is a primordial wilderness still relatively unmolested. Brandenburg brings the delicate tracery of these waters and the winter's embrace alive. The Aurora Borealis is vivid, the midnight sun is brooding and the frozen waterfall speaks of latent, pent-up power awaiting spring's release. This book almost talks. Impressive, beautiful, moving and pretty amazing.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I normally hesitate to use this word, but...profound., July 8, 2002
I'm a verbal type; I'd rather read a beautifully written description of a frozen lake than stare at a picture of it anytime. Even knowing that, my mother gave me this book several years ago, and I fell in love. I sat with it for hours, seeing, dreaming, and I still take it down often to do the same again. The photographer, Jim Brandenburg, set himself the challenge of taking only one photograph each day for three months, in the boreal forest where he makes his home. The result is a portrait of life as many of us can never experience it: not just "calendar shots," but pictures that show the cruelty of man, the certainty of death, the very simple beauty of a single bright leaf burning on the dark, still waters of an evening pond. Some photos are amazing in themselves and some seem ordinary in the extreme, but it is important to take them as a whole, and see what you learn from the journey.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing restraint-amazing photography, May 14, 2000
Being from Minnesota and a lover of nature, the subject matter of this book intrigued me. Having done photography as an advanced amateur most of my life, much of it in the same areas Jim shoots, I am completely awestruck at his ability to capture such a sense of the northwoods with only one frame a day. Besides being a visually stunning work, it gives us "wannabes" food for thought. Maybe hunting that perfect frame would help us capture the essence we want, instead of firing off a whole roll of film. Myself, I know that if I ever encounter a wolf in the wild up close, I won't remember this advice but will take a whole roll, but maybe after my first encounter, the next one will show thought, inspired by this book.
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