Extreme Nature: Images from the World's Edge (Discovery)

Lovers of marine life and connoisseurs of photography will delight in this beautifully produced book dedicated to the surprising elements of the "unseen." In Extreme Nature, National Geographic photographer Bill Curtsinger takes us to locations around the globe, from the North to the South Poles, where he reveals in amazing detail the lives of elusive water creatures-some never before photographed-and those that are ubiquitous but rarely observed close up. These images represent some of the best of his thirty-year career, and here he reflects on the subtle elements that make his art so powerful.The splendid photography in Extreme Nature is the result of a profound sensitivity to the aquatic environment. "I worship the single-minded effort that still photography embodies," Curtsinger says, "the challenge, the solitary immersion in an animal's world and the rewards that are often found in such an adventure." The reader accompanies him on these adventures, plumbing the depths around icebergs and volcanoes, meeting sharks, sea turtles, seals, narwhals, whales, and many others along the way. As he shares his wondrous visions, the author also explains his approach to the photographic artistry. "My goal," he says, "is to immerse myself in an animal's world so that I can extract from those moments a new image, or a new insight into behavior heretofore unseen. I become the creature I pursue, in theory anyway . . ." This elegant book becomes a journey not only into aquatic wildlife but also into the art of photography itself.