| | Contents
| This theme includes example sections and will be revised and added to as we proceed. Suggestions for additions, improvements and the correction of factual errors are always appreciated.
Status: Collect > Document > Analyse > Improve |
977.01 Nature > Introduction to fauna and the animal kingdom
There are a vast number of photographers concentrating on animals of all types and I can not go into them all here. The early zoologists used photography to illustrate their scientific works and this is still done today. Magazines such as National Geographic have always used the finest photographers to bring to the public's imagination the wondrous variety of the biological world.
The bewildering colors and textures of the animal kingdom provide endless possibilities to entrance the eye and the popular coffee table volumes of Frans Lanting and Mitsuaki Iwago highlight the insatiable appetite of the public to explore from an arm chair. In the natural history and travel magazines the photojournalism is supported by stunning wildlife photographs by James Balog, Michael "Nick" Nichols, Joel Sartore, Chris Johns, Nick Brandt and a host of others.
Another approach is to use photography to point out the fact that the extinctions happening everyday mean that the possibilities are far from endless and they provide an ecological message that the world is heading towards less diversity and ultimate environmental disaster. This strand has it's roots in the 1962 publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson - it was perhaps this book more than any other that made the public aware of ecological issues. Here some of the keys trends and themes in photographing animals are discussed.
977.02 Nature > William Henry Fox Talbot: Animal photographs
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
 
The long exposures of the earliest photographs necessitated the use of static animals and William Henry Fox Talbot did this in several ways. Firstly he copied animal prints from printed works such as those by Thomas Beswick, secondly he took a photograph of a stationary rocking horse and thirdly he could take stuffed animals.
977.03 Nature > John Dillwyn LLewelyn and his stuffed animals
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
  
John Dillwyn Llewelyn (1810-1882) was a talented photographer and a cousin by marriage of William Henry Fox Talbot one of the inventors of photography in the late 1830‘s. He appreciated that the exposures required were too long for sharp photographs of live animals and so he placed stuffed animals in false habitats and then photographed them - so we have otters, rabbits, pheasants, herons and a stag all in supposedly natural settings. His wife Emma wrote to Constance the wife of Fox Talbot:
"Mr Llewelyn has been very busy lately making pictures of stuffed animals and birds with an artificial landscape, in real trees, shrubs, flowers and rocks and even shallow pools of water."
Unpublished letter quoted in Richard Morris John Dillwyn Llewelyn 1810-1882: Catalogue of Welsh Arts Council Exhibition (1980) p.15
977.04 Nature > Trophies and hung game
               
Just as the results of the hunting of game and wildfowl was a topic close to the heart of specialist painters such as Valentin Gottfried (German painter, 1661-1711) in photography the same tradition was continued in the Nineteenth century. This was the era of shooting parties on the estates of the landed gentry and aristocracy and so the trophy heads that were placed on the walls or hung in the larder to mature were all suitable subjects.
Early cameras were owned by the wealthy and leisured classes who were often of the same social strata as those who enjoyed the rural pastimes of hunting and fishing. Photography was used to record the events and the produce of these activities.
In the 1860 carbon print by Adolphe Braun we see the hunting horn and the gun along with the macabre trophies of the dead boar and bird. The way the items are carefully composed is reminiscent of a Baroque painting or a display at a country fair.
To make the point about the stylistic similarities here between the photograph by Adolphe Braun and the art of the period the 1862 oil painting Hunting Trophy by Claude Monet includes the paraphernalia of hunting along with the catch and an attentive dog.
977.05 Nature > Different ways of seeing animals
   
In this collection of images we can see different photographic processes as well as different ways of seeing and interacting with animals:
- Although long exposures made photographic live animals difficult those with patience did succeed and there are Daguerreotypes and ambrotypes showing pets, especially dogs.
- During the carte de visite craze comic cards were created for sale, the card here shows a rather happy cat after feasting on the canary.
- The images from the first Kodak #1 Snapshot camera were circular and here are two hunters with their presumably faithful dog.
- 4H Clubs in North America are to promote leadership, citizenship and life skills and in this photograph from the early 1960s we see an award being made complete with a photograph of a cow.
977.06 Nature > Adolphe Braun: Cows and oxen
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
       
977.07 Nature > Eadweard Muybridge: Animals in motion
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
    
977.08 Nature > Animals in the wild
Until the 1950's natural resources were viewed by most people as unlimited and their exploitation was seen as the natural relationship between man and the environment. In locations where wildlife still existed in plenty it was to be hunted and displayed as trophies or brought back for zoos and research institutes.
Proper wildlife photography was just beginning and when Ylla actually went on an expedition to Africa and took color photographs in natural settings for her book Animals in Africa. Behavioral scientists were starting to publish books that introduced scientific concepts to the public; Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) authored King Solomon's Ring (1952) and On Aggression (1966 - first American edition) and Desmond Morris authored The Human Zoo (1969). When Rachel Carson (1907-1964) published The Sea Around Us (1952) and Silent Spring (1962) it was a shock because she pointed out that the status quo of limitless abundance was tipping out of balance.
At a more popular, and sentimental, level Joy Adamson (1910-1980) wrote three books about her pet lioness Elsa (Born Free (1960), Living Free (1961), and Forever Free (1962)) and these encouraged younger readers to think about wildlife issues. Humorous books about the natural world by Gerald Durrell who was a naturalist, traveler and zookeeper were extremely popular. In the UK the 1954-64 series Zoo Quest with Richard Attenborough did the same as did Johnny Morris from 1961 onwards with Animal Magic. This outpouring of increased interest in the natural world found champions when in 1961 Sir Julian Huxley and Sir Peter Scott founded the World Wildlife Fund to protect the threatened species of the planet. Peter Scott was an artist as well as an ornithologist and he created the well-known panda logo.
This background is important as it gives the context for what has happened since the 1960's in photography of the natural world. As public interest developed so funds became available for larger scale projects on television and these switched from studio or zoo based programs to expeditions to photograph animals in their natural habitats. The popular TV series written and narrated by Richard Attenborough for the BBC such as Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990) were accompanied by a host of other series, special programs and accompanying books. The natural world was now mainstream and a consumer item.
The public desire to be shown the beauty of the world has made commercial successes out of documentaries that no studio based film company would ever have thought of. The cinema released documentaries, Microcosmos (1996), Winged Migration (2001) and March of the Penguins (2005), are technical triumphs that have raised environmental awareness.
Interest in the issues has meant more charities, magazines, support groups and books and these require images to support their aims, messages and advertising. Whereas until the 1960's most photographs of wildlife were taken by naturalists the situation has now morphed into photojournalists who want to become naturalists. They are now seeking out stories for National Geographic, Geo and hundreds of specialist magazines for the armchair naturalist and traveler. The internet has allowed groups of photographers to form image libraries and cooperatives to market their works in ways that make it economical.
977.09 Nature > The genius of animal photography
Susan Middleton and David Liittschwager photograph endangered species in an attempt to protect them and preserve their astounding beauty. The resulting images in their book Here Today: Portraits of our Vanishing Species look like Yousuf Karsh or Horst have been photographing animals instead of fashion models and celebrities. The fashion and celebrity photographer Jill Greenberg has pushed this to the extreme with her quite stunning photographs of monkeys.
977.10 Nature > Smithsonian National Zoo - Contemporary photography
   
Scientific research and the need to provide images for educational and marketing purposes go hand in hand in zoos. Here there is a selection of images by Jessie Cohen an official photographer for the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington.
977.11 Nature > Diverse perspectives on animals
   
977.12 Nature > Props, accessories and novelties: Horses
 
977.13 Nature > Animals conclusions
    
The number of wildlife photographers is vast but here are some of my recent favorites:
- Catherine Chalmers Studio shots of Foodchain: Encounters Between Mates, Predators, and Prey.
- Jim Brandenburg for his environmental work and his wolf photography.
- Hossein Amirsadeghi on the Arabian horse.
- Nick Brandt for his large toned prints of East African wildlife.
- Maureen Enns has photographed the bears of Kamchatka.
- James Mollison in his book James and other Apes includes portraits of ape orphans that have been confiscated from illegal traders across Africa and Asia. This is a billboard to the world shouting help us before we are extinct.
alan@luminous-lint.com |
Hossein Amirsadeghi • Heather Angel (1941-) • Jim Brandenburg (1945-) • Nick Brandt • Adolphe Braun (1812-1877) • Giacomo Brunelli (1977-) • Keith Carter (1948-) • Catherine Chalmers • Gregory Colbert (1960-) • Maureen Enns • Jill Greenberg • Frans Lanting • Nina Leen (1914-1995) • David Liittschwager • John Dillwyn Llewelyn (check) • Aleksandras Macijauskas (1938-) • Larry E. McPherson • Susan Middleton • Comte de Montizon (1822-1887) • Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) • Volker Seding (1943-2007) • William Wegman (1943-) • Art Wolfe • Ylla (1911-1955) | Home > Themes > Nature > Fauna
| A wider gazeA closer look |
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 | Amy Stein: Domesticated
Title | Lightbox | Checklist
Released (February 8, 2008) |  | Beth Moon: Thy Kingdom Come
Title | Lightbox | Checklist
Released (November 25, 2007) |  | Giacomo Brunelli: Creatures
Title | Lightbox | Checklist
Released (August 25, 2007) |  | Laszlo Layton: Natural History
Title | Lightbox | Checklist
Released (January 10, 2007) |  | Marian Drew: Still Life / Australiana
Title | Lightbox | Checklist
Improved (April 17, 2007) Introduction by Russell Storer added. |  | Nature: Cattle, bulls, cows and oxen
Title | Lightbox | Checklist
Released (April 14, 2012) |  | Nature: Dogs
Title | Lightbox | Checklist
Released (July 11, 2009) |  | Nature: Horses
Title | Lightbox | Checklist
Released (July 14, 2009) |  | Tony Mendoza: An evolving retrospective
Title | Lightbox | Checklist
Released (May 1, 2007) | | |
Photographer
Connections
 | Neal White - Tony Mendoza - John Divola - Giacomo Brunelli
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Occupationals
 | Taxidermists
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Themes
 | Nature: Fauna: Alligators and crocodiles
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Bears
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Bison
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Cats
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| | Nature: Fauna: Cattle, bulls, cows and oxen
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Deer
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Dogs: Bulldogs
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Dogs: Examples
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Elephants
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Extinct
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Frogs
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Goats
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| | Nature: Fauna: Hares
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Hippopotami
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Horses
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| | Nature: Fauna: Hung game
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Leopards
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Lions
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Monkeys, chimpanzees and apes
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Pigs
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| | Nature: Fauna: Rabbits
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Rhinoceros
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Rodents, mice and rats
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Sheep
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|  | Nature: Fauna: Snakes
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Techniques
 | Ambrotypes: Themes: Animals
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Still thinking about these...
 | Horses with long manes
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Refreshed: 20 May 2013, 05:27 |
