Sand and Fog: Adventures in Southern Africa [Paperback]

Jim Brandenburg (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

The animals, people, and starkly beautiful landscape of the mysterious Namib Desert are captured in stunning photographs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Award-winning wildlife photographer Brandenburg ( To the Top of the World: Adventures with Arctic Wolves ) has a unique ability to capture the essence of a subject on film. Here he has assembled a breathtaking collection of images of life--both human and animal--in the desert realms of Namibia. His clear, tautly composed photos vividly depict a wide range of subjects, from the sinuous lines of shifting sand dunes to the results of a day's digging at a diamond mine, from the carefree splashing of seals in the coastal waves to a mass baptism by a Herero priest. But while the images speak directly and elegantly, Brandenburg's text is an unfocused combination of his musings on the elusive nature of the perfect photo, discussions of his professional career and florid descriptions of his wanderings, all of which ultimately detract from the power of the photograph. All ages.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-9. In this stunning photo-essay about Namibia in southwest Africa, the color pictures are mysterious and precise, and so are Brandenburg's words about the place and how he took the pictures. He tells the story behind the haunting cover photo of a horned oryx against the desert shadow: how he saw himself on a kind of "quest" for the "unicornlike" creature through a moonscape setting of shifting sand. He talks about the specifics of lighting: how the use of shadow helps express a mood of melancholy; how he waited for the exact moment to catch four ostriches glowing "in a sliver of light for a few moments at sunrise." The captions make you study the pictures and wonder about the precariousness of each creature as elephants gather at a shrinking water hole and a group of striped zebra is distanced through a filter of dust. Brandenburg (who last year published To the Top of the World: Adventures with Arctic Wolves) took these pictures while on an assignment in southern Africa for National Geographic. The few pictures of people are far less interesting than those of the landscape and animals, though there's one great shot of a Herero woman in a swirling print dress, striding down the street with a Singer sewing machine on her head. However, Brandenburg is frank about the fact that he tends to turn every assignment into a natural history story. The desert is his subject here, "the cliffs of cascading sand," where a group of flamingos makes a crowd or he finds a fog-draped wreck washed up on the Skeleton Coast. It's in the empty places that he finds the whole cycle of death and renewal. Hazel Rochman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802774768
• ISBN-13: 978-0802774767
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,494,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars STUNNING FULL COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS, December 13, 2005

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sand and Fog: Adventures in Southern Africa (Paperback)

Acclaimed nature photographer Jim Brandenburg has focused his camera eye on Namibia, its landscape, people, and animals. Bordered by Angola, Zimbabwe and the Atlantic Ocean, Namibia is a mysterious land of searing sand and cool waters. It is best described by contrasts, but better seen through the marvelous full-color photographs in this striking volume.

Although "Namib" means "Place of no people," the country holds several ethnic groups. Brandenburg shows a colorfully clad Herero woman gracefully carrying an ancient sewing machine on her head, a Himba woman wearing a mixture of fat and ocher, and Kung men during an all-night dance as they create their own music with singing and drums.

Crystal rock formations edging a desert etched by softly shifting dunes is a scene of breathtaking beauty, as are the coastal rock formations.

The armchair traveler will thoroughly enjoy visiting southern Africa with Sand and Fog.

- Gail Cooke

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars UNIQUE IN ITS CONTENT, STUNNING PHOTOS., October 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Sand and Fog: Adventures in Southern Africa (Paperback)

The ecosystem of the Namib Desert is absolutely fascinating. Even though I read this several years ago with my children, I occasionally think back to this desert of fog and the life that depends upon it. And of course Brandenburg's photos are always top-notch.