STUNNING. Yes, I know it is an overused word, but it is impossible to think
of another that conveys the impact of Art Wolfe鈥檚 photographs in this
remarkable book. In his introduction, Wolfe says he has tried to incorporate
everything that he considers important in nature photography today into
Migrations. To fulfil his criteria, it should be both visually stimulating and
mentally engaging so that 鈥渋t pulls the reader into a swirling vortex of
movement and mass鈥�. And it does, for gathered here is a collection of the most
arresting wildlife photographs I have ever seen in a single book. If you think
you have seen the ultimate pictures of massed flamingos or migrating
wildebeest, then take a look at Migrations.
Wolfe鈥檚 title is a little misleading, as many of the animals and birds
portrayed here are not migrating. What they are all doing is gathering
together in spectacular numbers. Wolfe has travelled to many of the world鈥檚
classic wildlife sites, such as East and southern Africa, Antarctica, Arctic
Canada and Alaska, to capture these shots. None was taken in Europe.
What makes the pictures so special is Wolfe鈥檚 individual and highly
original approach. He uses his camera rather as an artist wields a brush, to
create an image rather than a frozen moment of time. There are galloping
pronghorn antelope that look almost surreal 鈥� a blur of movement across the
page. In contrast, the majority of shots are pin-sharp from corner to
corner.
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Wolfe does share his photographic secrets with his readers: an appendix
gives details of the exposure, lens and film used. Budding photographers might
care to note that his favourite lens appears to be a 200 to 400 millimetre
zoom, for this is what the majority of photographs were taken with.
But be warned, this is an 鈥渁rt book and not a treatise on natural history鈥�,
says Wolfe. Digitalisation has been used to enhance and improve the
photographs, 鈥渢aking the art of the camera to its limits鈥�. Wolfe points out
that several of his pictures would have been unusable because 鈥渋n a mass of
animals invariably one would be wandering in the wrong direction, thereby
disrupting the pattern鈥�. He admits that 鈥渋n a small percentage of the
photographs I have enhanced the patterns of animals much as a painter would do
on a canvas鈥�. Quite which ones these are you will have to work out for
yourself.