Customer Reviews

Chased By The Light: A 90-Day Journey

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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.

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.

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.

I stumbled across this book completely by accident. The photographs are exquisite, and the text is both spare and lyrical. Every time I re-read the book, I see something different. "Chased by the Light" is a stunning achievement. I can't recommend this book highly enough-- buy one for yourself, or give one to a friend. It's a present that will last a lifetime.

Brandenburg is know as a thoughtful and creative photographer, a reputation this book will only enhance. "Chased by the Light" is filled with wonderful color photographs taken on a 90 day experiment in photographic self-discipline. One single photographic exposure every day from the autumnual equimox to the winter solstice. All of the photographs were taken in Brandenburg's "backyard" of northern Minnesota, an area he obviously cares a great deal about. The book, based on a personal project he created for him own satisfaction never expecting to publish, is also full of lyrical writings about Brandenburg's thinking about the project, insights into some of the struggles and origins of the idea for Chased by the Light and is, thankfully, devoid of the usual technical gobbedly-gook associated with photography books. A book well worth owning for the nature photographer or anyone interested in wonderful photographs of nature.

Brandenburg's Chased by the Light is a great book. It is like walking into a virgin forest untouched by man and experiencing nature for the first time. A must have for all nature enthusiasts.

I gave this book to my parents several years ago and still leaf slowly through its pages whenever visiting their home in northern Minnesota. For amateurs and professionals alike, his is a fascinating photographic concept: your own property? a favorite park? your family? or pet? a holiday?

An unbelievable collection of one-exposure-per-day photograghs that deepens one's appreciation of nature. You find yourself caught up in Mr. Brandenburg's quest to see anew the beauty of God in nature. This work also makes you appreciate the difference between a technician who shots rolls of film and an artist who can capture the essence of nature in one shot. It challenges you to test your own abilities as a photographer.

Last summer I spent a week with Mr. Brandenburg at one of his seminars. Not only is he a great photographer, but a great man. This book is filled with pictures that only Jim could take, and make so meaningful to so many people. I know this all came as a challenge to himself, and yet it became so much more to so many people. We should all be thankful he chose to share this work with us. We look forward to more Jim.

"Chased" is by a local photographer. Actually, when the book came out I lived 900 miles from here, but I had and have ties to the community. Even though I lived in Michigan, I was married in Minnesota, and it seemed appropriate to celebrate what I loved about this state enough to travel here for my wedding, and so this book was one of the gifts we gave our little wedding party.

I love the images so much that the cover image and an image inside, both purchased from the gentleman's gallery, hang in my home. I have another giclee from the artist in the dining room, but it's not from this book. If you love nature photography, you can't go wrong with Jim Brandenburg, and this is most exceptional of all his acclaimed work.

Another review mentioned that there are a couple images of dead wildlife. That's true. One of he images is of the eye of deer recently killed by a hunter. The image is striking, because the eye retains the illusion of life and is lovely, with long eyelashes. Another image contains a deer killed by a wolf pack. The idea in neither case is to glorify death, but to acknowledge what most of us all ready know -- nature, and mankind, can be brutal and death is part of life. The deer dies so that the wolves may live. What you extrapolate beyond that from the image of the deer killed by a human hunter is an individual thing.

The majority of the pictures are stunning pictures, like the one on the cover. That they were done with no safety net, one click of the shutter per day, is extraordinary.