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Elephant Reflections
by Dale Peterson
| List Price: |
$39.95 |
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$26.37 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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$13.58 (33%) |
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Hardcover
Publisher: University of California Press
Karl Ammann
Elephant Reflections brings award-winning wildlife photographer Karl Ammann's gorgeous images together with a revelatory text by writer Dale Peterson to illuminate one of nature's greatest and most original works of art: the elephant. The photographs move from the purely aesthetic to the informative, depicting animals who are at once enigmatic, individual, mysterious, elusive, and iconic. In riveting prose, Peterson introduces the work of field scientists in Africa and explains their recent astonishing discoveries. He then explores the natural history and conservation status of African elephants and discusses the politics of ivory. Elephant Reflections is a book that could change the way the world thinks about elephants while we still have some measure of control over their fate.
| Customer Reviews: |
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| Pictures are good, not amazing |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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I love Elephants and was inspired to purchase this book after seeing African Elephants in the wild in East Africa. I wanted something to remember these incredible animals. In that sense, this book is good for Elephant aficionado. It includes hundreds of close-up photos of Elephants by Karl Ammann, as well as text by Dale Peterson. However, as a photo book, I had mixed feelings about Elephant Reflections.
I enjoyed looking through Ammann's photographs, and many of them are very good, but to be honest they're not as amazing as I had expected from a professional wildlife photographer. This might be because, having photograph African Elephants in the wild myself, I have very high standards. However, some of the pictures also look a bit blurry and don't really portray the vibrant colors of East Africa - they seem drab when compared to the real thing. I think this is in large part because Ammann still uses film rather than digital, the latter of which allows you to enrich colors. Of course, there are some excellent photos, particularly of Elephants fighting and adults mating, which you probably won't seen on your average safari. By contrast, I found the pictures Steve Bloom's Elephant a lot better, with colorful photos taken from creative angles.
Most of the book is taken up with pictures, not the text about Elephants, as it should be. Nonetheless, I was disappointed with Dale Peterson's text. First of all, there really isn't much, just a short intro and conclusion. It doesn't really explain what's happening in the pictures or anything about Elephant biology. Moreover, the introduction was useless mutterings on the philosophy of photography. The conclusion was much better and more substantive (at over 40 pages) and goes into Elephant biology. However, it often seemed as if Peterson had just cut and paste anecdotes from Cynthia Moss' Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family. If you haven't read much on Elephants already, it's a nice synthesis of the literature. Ammann himself has a brief essay at the end that was rather interesting about the bushmeat trade. Overall, I got the sense that Ammann is really interested in campaigning against the bushmeat trade, not Elephants.
I decided to give this book 3 stars, despite my disappointment, because there are some good photos. However, I can't say I strongly recommend it. Hopefully, if you haven't yet seen wild African Elephants, I hope Elephant Reflections inspires you to plan your safari and take your own photos.
For anybody who loves Elephants, I'd strongly recommend:
Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family
Elephant Destiny
Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures
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| Great Gift |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This book was purchased as a gift for a friend who loves elephants. It's full of great photos and information. She loves it!
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| UP CLOSE & BEAUTIFUL |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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BREATHTAKING! Beautiful photography, of course, but how did Ammann create such powerful pictures, each filled with feelings, expressing and engaging emotions that will live in my mind's eye forever.The same photo developed from connecting, condensing, and expanding perspectives adds even more beauty and artistic power than "being there" ever could. I have had ELEPHANT REFLECTIONS almost a week, but I cannot get through the entire book. I start and then find I cannot move past a certain picture. When I have absorbed this one, I must close the book and plan to give myself another new gift to be opened tomorrow.
Dale Peterson's writing arrests one's attention almost (sorry, Dale) as strongly as Ammann's photography. Whether one knows elephant facts or is reading them for the first time, it is easy to see that Peterson loves these beauties with a passion to match my own. I hope he is wrong when he wrote "We can never fully understand them." We do not now, but this book and others coming out soon will add to our knowledge of these, the most majestic and loving inhabitants on our small planet. I believe that many of us feel as I do about these intelligent and sensitive giants.
If you want a book that just decorates your space, you may find that you are enraptured more than you planned. I cannot imagine anyone could put this book down and expect it to stay theres.
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| Mari's review |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I collect elephants and my family room is elephant-themed. This was the perfect coffee table book! The pictures are outstanding and the text informational. I'm very glad I bought it.
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| Large and Beautiful |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Elephant Reflections is a terrific collection of photos of a magnificent animal. Having seen a heard of 30+ interacting in the wild in Kenya, my appreciation grew and this book does a fine job of capturing that beauty.
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