Animals Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before [via Nina Reznick]

by Maria Popova

 
From armadillos to zebras, or what championship chickens have to do with a giant octopus.

It’s easy to take this amazing planet we inhabit for granted. While National Geographic‘s school of nature photography may have its place, there’s something remarkable and whimsical that happens when a fine art photographer takes her lens to Earth’s creatures — they become poetry. Today, we turn to five such photographers, whose portraits of animals — unusual, otherworldly, kooky, tender, charismatic — make the eye swoon and the heart sing.

ANDREW ZUCKERMAN: CREATURE

Andrew Zuckerman is one of my absolute favorite photographers working today, his Wisdom and Music projects priceless time-capsules of contemporary culture and his thoughts on curiosity and rigor as the key to creativity a beautiful articulation of my own credo. In Creature, Zuckerman brings his exquisite signature style, crisp yet tender, to Earth’s beings. With equal parts detail and delight, he captures the spirt of these diverse creatures, from panthers to fruit bats to bald eagles, in a way makes them seem familiar and fresh at once, and altogether breathtaking.

Asian Elephant
Image courtesy of Andrew Zuckerman

Six banded armadillo
Image courtesy of Andrew Zuckerman

Mandrill Monkey
Image courtesy of Andrew Zuckerman

Grant's Zebra
Image courtesy of Andrew Zuckerman

Common Dove
Image courtesy of Andrew Zuckerman

Canary
Image courtesy of Andrew Zuckerman

African Crested Porcupine
Image courtesy of Andrew Zuckerman

Blue and Yellow Macaw
Image courtesy of Andrew Zuckerman

Reticulated Giraffe
Image courtesy of Andrew Zuckerman


Reposted From Brain Picking.org