Customer Reviews

Wildlife

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

More than 600 pages of spectacular moments in time captured by this outstanding photographer. This book is a must for every animal enthusists library ! Again, Iwago has brought to us what we before could only imagine.

Is it the best photography you have ever seen? Is it the picture you dreamed you could take? Is it the patience to create a painting with the snap of a shutter? This book and Mr. Mitsuaki Iwago provide fulfillment. Before this I thought it had to be video. This presents the relevance and the intrigue and permits your own mind to wonder about the greatest creatures who inhabit the earth. We are so fortunate to be able to co-exist among them. If you have any doubt about what God created, you won't after you experience this masterful work.

Experience it, it is the essence of all life. A book which will renew itself everyday you possess it.

wonderful preview the to World Wildlife. the pictures beautiful and great. photography excellent from mitsuaki. mitsuaki the best in the photography World Wildlife .

My husband received this book as a Xmas gift. He spends countless pleasureful hours studying each photo on each page. We have traveled to Africa many times viewing and studying the fauna. We own many photography books but none of them capture the beauty and feeling that is contained in Wildlife.

Someone else who reviewed this book said Iwago had an artistic eye and that is SO TRUE! It never ceases to amaze me how someone can capture in a photo that which "they see" and it is conveyed so we too "see"! I've been collecting various Photography books and this one is my absolute favorite!! It is true that you don't get much text, much explanation, but this is such a gifted photographer. I sit and relax, enjoying these photos again and again and again...transported away to places I'll never get to and creatures I'll never see in person. God's creation is so varied and awesome and Iwago has captured it in so many ways. I have bought extra used copies to give to friends.

This is a spectacular book which depicts classic sites from
Hawaii to Australia to the African continent. Lava is shown
pouring from the Pacific. The Iguanas of Galopagos are shown in
their natural setting. The Hawaiian monk seals are shown in
full color. There is a good rendition of praise for the Serengeti.
This volume should be acquired before planning any major trip or
expedition to the areas covered. It is well worth the price charged. In addition, the student in your house can use this work
for any world geography or culture project.

Mitsuaki Iwago is one of the world's great wildlife photographers. This volume presents 450 color photographs of more than 200 species taken around the globe. Each of the pictures is technically perfect and worth an admiring glance. And yet there is something missing from the book.

It's not as if these were not exciting shots. Some of the pictures are quite spectacular. For example, the photographs of a huge herd of wildebeests crossing the Mara River in Africa, where they are attacked by crocodile, are absolutely arresting. But the problem is that there is nothing that distinguishes these shots from those of the other great wildlife photographers. Indeed, I remember seeing a similar series by Joe and Mary Ann McDonald.

One of the side effects of readily available high-tech equipment and relatively cheap travel to anywhere around the globe is that the bar has been raised for nature photographers. Because we are all familiar with really good nature photography, even if we have only seen it in a travel advertisement, we've come to expect more. It's not enough to have a good wildlife photograph; it has to be a great photograph. As Cathy and Gordon Illg say in their book "Dynamic Wildlife Photography", a wildlife photograph must be beyond documentary; or as Moose Peterson says, it has to "pop". Unfortunately most of Iwago's pictures don't go beyond documentary. All one has to do is compare the pictures in this book to something like those in Art Wolfe's "The Living Wild" to see what I mean.

It's not that Iwago can't make those pictures with something extra. He includes a picture of a New Zealand takahes in a grassy field with a lake, mountains and a cloud-filled sky beyond the bird. This picture tells you something about where this bird lives. But opposite is a standard portrait of the bird that is mere reporting.

Perhaps it's just too much to expect that, in a book of so many photographs, all will find that something extra. On the other hand there are a number of pictures that must have been taken in the middle of the day, or with a film without much latitude, where the black shadows seriously detract from the image.

At the end of the book, there are listings by class (e.g., mammals) that provide more information on the pictured animals. Unfortunately the order of arrangement is indiscernible, which reduces the helpfulness of these notes. I also found the captions for the photographs were not very helpful, and in some cases, incorrect.