Foodchain: Encounters Between Mates, Predators, and Prey

by Catherine Chalmers, Gordon Grice (Introduction), Michael L. Sand (Editor)

A fresh look at the laws of nature, in startling, beautiful, and at times unsettling detail.

Working with a menagerie of insects and animals she raises in her New York City studio, Catherine Chalmers makes images that ask us to examine the lives we ordinarily overlook. What we find is by turns surprising, humorous, and thought
provoking.

In the series of photographs that gives the book its title, Chalmers vividly sketches the links between predator and prey, eater and eaten, from plant to insect to amphibian. Against a stark white background, caterpillars eat a tomato, a praying mantis eats a caterpillar, and a frog and a tarantula each eat a praying mantis. Another section, focused on "pinkies" (the pet-trade name for baby mice), shows with chilling clarity that the laws of nature apply equally to mammals as to the so-called "lower" life-forms. A series of photographs of praying mantises mating-during and after which the female devours the male-captures the metaphorical power and strange beauty of this infamous habit. The book includes an essay by the critically acclaimed nature writer Gordon Grice and a provocative interview with Chalmers by Aperture executive editor Michael L. Sand.

Genres: Science, Art, Animals, Nonfiction

136 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must say this is a pretty cool book although not for the squeamish. Graphic full color photographs that read like crime scene photographs or stills from a horror movie.

There's the sexy display between two praying mantis before the male becomes a post-coitus snack. Another praying mantis dances merrily on the head of a fat shiny toad before meeting its inevitable end. Caterpillars greedily gorge themselves on tomatoes only to be sucked dry by more ever present praying mantis.

The most graphic scenes though are the ones with the pinkies. Pinkies being born amongst a white blood smeared backdrop only to be gobbled up by another fat toad.

It's sick to look at and even a bit morbid at times, but it's Mother Nature and a testament to the circle of life and the survival of the fittest.

[Tamra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Food Chain is a series of photographs that illustrate the relationship between predator and prey. It starts innocently enough with insects eating plants and works its way up to snakes eating baby mice. It may sound gruesome, but it's compelling and beautiful, especially against the stark white background. The photographer raised all the animals herself (in her NYC apartment no less) and she comments on each of the photographs.

[Jenny Schmenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

These studio portraits of various animals eating each other are awesome. The white backdrop renders scale irrelevant, and each set of interactions hangs dramatically without context. The postscript is great too, explaining how the relationship between predator and prey isn't as clear cut as one might think.

Not good for the squeamish. Great for us nerds.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nicely done photography book exploring the relationship between predators and prey (tomatoes, caterpillars, praying mantises, tarantullas, frogs, and baby mice), all shot in shocking detail on bright white backgrounds. The frog and the praying mantis are particularly personable.

[Haruna · Rating 1 out of 5]

loved at first, but it dosen't inspire me anymore...

[Kathy (McDowell) Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! The pictures are fantastic, albeit some are a little disturbing.

[Fredrika · Rating 5 out of 5]

delightfully creepy.