Frans Lanting

I once lived on the top of a ridge, with few buildings obstructing the view. I spent that year aware of the sky. It was a presence, not a background. The soul is fed by what the eye perceives. That year was one of exhilaration and growth.

We all need to get in touch with nature for nourishment. As an amateur Soul Nutritionist, I prescribe this book.

The pictures are powerful, majestic, touchable, absorbing, unexpected.
The text gently educates in geography and ecology. The narrative adds the show more other senses to the experience: weather, smells, sound.

This is a concentrated dose. show less

This book consists of > 140 photographs of wild animals taken in natural settings. Mammals and birds predominate, with a few of reptiles, amphibians, and insects. Frans Lanting is a highly - regarded photographer, and many of the photos are of excellent quality. The photos are organized into three broad categories -- (1) photographs of individual animals (commonly focused on faces and eyes -- as in the book's title); (2) photos of mated pairs; and (3) photos of large numbers of animals show more together. An appendix offers details for each photo of where it was taken, and comments on how the author took the shot.

Unfortunately, this book does not show Lanting's art to good advantage, because the quality of reproduction is substandard. Too many of the photos lack sharpness, color balance, and adequate contrast. Some are enlarged too much, resulting in poor resolution, and many have a red cast that either resulted from a poor original or clumsy editing. Given this book's printing date (1997 and 2003), the photos were taken on film and probably were not processed digitally. The photos would have benefitted markedly from digital processing and high quality printing. The reproduction of these photographs in Eye to Eye does not do them justice. show less

The farthest corners of the earth flourish with exotic flora and fauna, but man's increasing encroachment threatens these distant paradises. Beautiful photographs and lively prose highlight tours of four islands and one desert oasis. This book is organized by geographic area, and indexed accordingly. The content focuses on the delicately entwined relationships in the environment- relationships that can be devastated by commercial exploitation of natural resources, but also repaired and show more rebalanced when humans stop or altar our activity. show less

Lanting never fails to impress; his photographs are always wonderful