The harsh beauty of the polar regions has long fascinated explorers and armchair adventurers alike, and the forbidding terrain and exotic life-forms appeal to our sense of wonder. In Poles Apart, Rowell takes readers on an exh ilarating visual journey to the top and bottom of the world, using his camera to reveal the fascinating differences in these polar opposites.
Galen Avery Rowell (August 23, 1940 – August 11, 2002) was a wilderness photographer, adventure photojournalist and mountaineer. Born in Oakland, California, he became a full-time photographer in 1972.
Don't talk to me about polar bears in Antarctica, and penguins at the North Pole!
This is a beautiful large scale book of photographs that illustrates the similarities and the differences between our world's two polar regions. The North Pole is located in an ocean surrounded by land, and that land has been occupied by hardy people for thousands of years. The South Pole is on a land mass surrounded by ocean, and the only people are visitors.
This volume includes a section when two photos are displayed side by side, one from the north and one from the south, perhaps both with whales, or a puffin and a penguin, and the viewer is offered a glimpse of the beauty and challenges of survival at each of the poles.
Other sections are grouped by themes, such as In Shackleton's Wake, Antarctic Biology, South Georgia Island, A Closer Look at Polar Bears, and so on. Wrangel Island, in the Arctic Ocean, is often called the Galapagos of the North because of its unique fauna. The book also includes short yet detailed essays about each photograph. So much information!
I have spent hours with this wonderful book, and yet each time I pick it up I discover something new. Perfect book to get lost in while the snow is falling, ever falling.