[.ca] Lanting Jungles (ISBN 3822860786)

From Amazon.com:
Jungles are mysterious and even threatening places, among the least explored landscapes on the earth--and just the sort of place, therefore, that you might expect to find the ever-intrepid wildlife photographer Frans Lanting. "The tropical forest may be a naturalist's paradise," he writes, "but for a photographer it can be a nightmare. Once you are inside it is all blood, sweat, and leeches. Whatever you take into the forest becomes part of the food chain, whether it is your equipment or yourself." But difficult conditions come with the work. In this oversized portfolio of 120 full-color images made over two decades on four continents, Lanting chronicles the life of the world's jungles, organizing the work by themes (water and light, color and camouflage, anarchy and order, form and evolution). As befits the jungle's manic pace, few of the images are static, as Lanting captures macaws and butterflies and even frogs in flight, orangutans brachiating their way from vine to vine, turkeys and snakes scrambling and slithering. Some of the images are nothing short of astonishing, among them views of an otherworldly cloudforest lobelia thicket in Hawaii and of treetop expanses that exhibit the phenomenon called "canopy shyness," an arboreal version of animal territoriality. Admirers of Lanting's previous books, such as Okavango and Eye to Eye, will prize his new collection, while rainforest devotees will find much to inspire them in the images he brings before us. --Gregory McNamee

Chronique amazon.fr:
Frans Lanting a sillonné pendant vingt ans les jungles du monde entier. Ici pour traquer un animal, là pour rejoindre un savant, là encore pour réaliser un reportage sur la détérioration d'un écosystème. Considéré comme l'un des plus grands photographes de nature, il a su rendre à la jungle ce qui appartient à la jungle : le mystère, une poésie luxuriante, une splendeur naturelle, des impressions colorées. Rassemblant ses années de voyages des plaines du Congo aux forêts tropicales, Lanting a choisi ici de restituer le caractère kaléidoscopique de la jungle - têtes disparaissant dans la pénombre, éclats de couleurs et scintillements lumineux. De révéler comment l'obscurité naît dans la forêt et comment la vue le cède à l'ouïe et à l'odorat. En quatre parties (Eau et Lumière ; Couleur et Camouflage ; Anarchie et Ordre ; Forme et Évolution), riches de superbes photographies en couleur, Jungles est une vision personnelle qui a laissé place aux sensations plutôt qu'à une science de la forêt. C'est aussi un hymne à la nature, pour mieux la protéger. --Céline Darner

Stunning photography, but........:
This is really an excellent portfolio with some stunning photography that really inspires one. I am a fan of Lanting's work and this book does not dissapoint. My only issue is not with Lanting, but rather with Taschen (the publisher). The book is really very poorly bound and the glue just does'nt seem to hold the book together. This is not just an isolated case with my copy. I found that most of the copies (even those on the bookstore shelves) that I handled has this problem. I must say that this is quite dissapointing work from Taschen.

A vision of paradise:
JUNGLES takes you to a world you are not likely to visit in person. From Africa, to Australia, to Central and South America, you are afforded a view usually reserved for exotic and otherworldy animals, vegetation, and even insects (some such alien-like beings are pictured here). Such beautiful creations! My favorite portion of JUNGLES is the depiction of the beautiful Makaws of the Amazon jungle. In one shot, you see at least thirty of these magnificent creatures sitting on the side of a cliff, gathered there to eat the chalky red clay-like rock that provides them with the necessary calcium. These photographs had previously been published - in fact, were the cover story - of an edition of "National Geographic" magazine, which should give you an indication of the quality of photography you will be treated to in JUNGLES.