Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Portfolio 28

I got to visit the Natural History Museum's (NHM) exhibition gallery of these wonderful photographs this year, 2019, and was struck by the beauty of just about everything in it. Even the more macacbre images had a modicum of art in there for good measure, and although nature might be "red in tooth and claw" it's also really rather beautiful and at times artistic. Some images are quite abstract at the smaller and larger ends of the spectrum, sometimes it is not always obvious what you're seeing, and the captions really help here - the smaller end of the spectrum being almost microscopic organisms and the larger views are sometimes taken from aloft by drone cameras.What I came to admire was that the creatures are very much parts of their environments and in some instances get an almost mystical aura about them, for example "The Golden Couple" (which can presently be found on the NHM web page for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year) could almost be a scene from an environmentally aware sci-fi movie - but is actually right here on the planet where we live.If you can see the images online at the NHM website, why would you need a book? The production of the images is as good in the book as anywhere else, the tome is lavish to the point where I occasionally wonder how it can be produced at such a reasonable price even given economies of scale! It's the classic old "coffee table book" format, just somewhat more compact, the descriptions are right there by the images. The book's a lot more impressive than a small screen, or a larger screen in perhaps a less comfortable part of the house! You can pick it up and be in its world in a moment.There are a few images that spread across between pages, but most sit by themselves with the exhibition text on the facing page. The book lies fairly flat when open, so having the central "gutter" through the image is less awful than you might otherwise imagine, and a lot of care has been taken to put the subjects of the pictures away from that gutter.The captions provide small insights into the situations surrounding the images, a monkey uncomfortable in a mask while being trained by a handler in Spain is equally uncomfortable to see, but the social context is explained and we get to learn that this is a consequence of poverty, in which people have to exploit any way they can to make some kind of a living - and we have solutions to that should we choose to help. So there is gentle activism in there too. In all of the ways we use books and learning to educate our own children, this book would very easily provoke some insights to be talked through, on philosophy and ethics and all those abstract ideas where sometimes we struggle to find ourselves a really good example when explaining the world to our own young.It's a rare combination of beauty, insights, and a few thorny issues to occupy ourselves with should we have the inclination; it's educational but not at length, and activist but not to any extreme. It's an absolutely contemporary take on the original coffee table book and it does the photographers and subjects a great deal of credit.For the present price on Amazon, I can't think of a single reason not to buy this book, and if you wanted to buy at the Natural History Museum for a little more and support their work, it is still extremely reasonable for what I feel I got and will get from reading and gazing through it.

Wasn't impressed with this book at all. I expected much better images. Would be far better off flicking through a copy of national geographic. I bought it for a gift but decided not to give them it after seeing it and gave to the charity shop instead.

Saw the actual photos in an exhibition in Chicago - wanted to get the book as a memory keeper. Stunning photographs.

Really good quality. Arrived on time and gave me the option to view where it was on a map on the day it arrived which I really found useful.

Good quality, same as the ones I saw in Natural history museum, and it is cheaper. The only one flaw is that there is no plastic package wrapped so the book is a little broken by long way delivery. The other book 2017 is quite perfect with plastic wraps.

Like all in the series fascinating books ,with amazing photos of the worlds wildlife.

As described and no complaints from me.

The usual high standard of publication and wonderful photos.