Life: A Journey Through Time

by Frans Lanting, Christine Eckstrom (Editor)

Planet earth, home sweet home In the year 2000, world-renowned wildlife photographer Frans Lanting set out on a personal journey to photograph the evolution of life on earth. He made pilgrimages to true time capsules like a remote lagoon in Western Australia, spent time in research collections photographing forms of microscopic life, and even found ways to create visual parallels between the growth of organs in the human body and the patterns seen on the surface of the earth. The resulting volume is a glorious picture book of planet earth depicting the amazing biodiversity that surrounds us all. Lanting's true gift lies beyond his technical mastery: it is his eye for geometry in the beautiful chaos of nature that allows him to show us the world as it has never been seen before. From crabs to jellyfish, diatoms to vast geological formations, jungles to flowers, monkeys to human embryos, LIFE is a testament to the magical beauty of life in all its forms and is Lanting's most remarkable achievement to date. The photographer: Dutch-born Frans Lanting has been hailed as one of the great nature photographers of our time. For the past two decades he has documented wildlife and our relationship with nature in environments from the Amazon to Antarctica. Exhibits of his photographs have been shown at major museums in Paris, Milan, Tokyo, New York, Madrid, and Amsterdam. Lanting's previous TASCHEN titles include Eye to Eye, Jungles, and Penguin. The editor: Christine Eckstrom is a writer and editor specializing in natural history. She collaborates with Lanting on fieldwork, books, and other publishing projects from their home base in California.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Science, Nature, Art, Art Design, History

303 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Sven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een zeer mooi fotoboek dat het leven viert
A nice photobook to celebrath live

[Marianne Braam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a real Journey like the title says. Frans takes us back to the beginning and evolution of life.
You have to read and watch the pictures and it has been an incredible trip through time.

A book for people who are interested in this subject and in photography.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library book. Absolutely stunning.

[Steef · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting photographic take on the evolution of life on Earth, and of Earth itself. Lansing has travelled the planet in search of visible evidence and traces of the evolution of life. This book takes you through all the stages using wonderful photography, which is at times rather impressionistic. Very cool idea and well executed.

What I haven't seen in other reviews is how formidably, enormously BIG and HEAVY this book is. Because of this, there are really only a very few spots in my house where I can comfortably read this unfuckwithable book. This alone makes it a book to be reckoned with.

[Atra Bilis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compito arduo è quello di descrivere un libro fotografico. Lanting riesce a riprodurre una fotografia viva, non è la classica raccolta di foto, qui l'autore cerca di raccontare attraverso la fotografia naturalistica la magica bellezza della vita.

[Last Ranger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Focal Point.

This oversized coffee-table book is a photographers dream, even more so if you also happen to be interested in paleontology and natural history. Photographer Frans Lanting set himself on a seven year assignment: trace the story of "Life Through The Ages" with a series of images from all over the world. From Shark Bay, Australia to the Falkland Islands to boreal forest in Norway you get a grand tour of our planet. There is some text in the form of short essays that give you little tidbits of natural history but it's the pictures that catch your eye. The plants, animals, fossils and other geological oddities pictured are too numerous to list, but a sampling may be in order: Moon Jellies, Stromatolites, cooling lava, Iguazu Falls, diatoms, trilobites and Horseshoe Crabs. Lanting's photography is over the top, his exposers and compositions are right on the button, whether he's taking sunsets or the heart of an orchid. While it may be true that you can see most of these things on the Web, there's nothing like seeing huge 14X 11 blow-ups to give you a glimpse into nature's hidden world.

Last Ranger

[Cindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous, brilliant photography by world renowned photographer Frans Lanting!

It's fun to flip through the book without the constraints of the captions and just soak in the world's beauty. But, really to get the full effect, you have to flip to the last 1/10 of the book and read the explanations (the author also talks about his photography there). This book took me through the different geological events and evolutionary advances by using current world scenes. It was just spectacular. Under my bed, I have a poster which labels the different periods in earth's history as well as the new plants and animals in each. It's interesting to look at, but pales greatly in comparison to this book. This is a book that I greatly desire to add to my own collection. I can't say enough good about it. It has opened up my mind in such an exciting way!

[Alfredo Chizzoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il volume di Lanting è veramente imponente, nel peso, nelle dimensioni, ma soprattutto nel contenuto. Un lavoro di ricerca monumentale che ricostruisce le condizioni delle varie fasi di evoluzione della vita sulla Terra con fotografie di soggetti esistenti o scoperti durante scavi sul campo.
Ottimo per luna lettura meditata da fine serata.

[Rachel]

Stunning photos. (I haven't seen this book, but I have the weekly planner with photos from it.)

[Veneta · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful