Read more
In every one of his images,
National Geographic photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols touches the very spirit of wildness.
A Wild Life tells the stories behind the stories in the life and work of this intrepid photographer; it also delivers a call to action, grounded in one of the most urgent ethical issues of this era: humans' accountability to the earth and our cohabitants here.
I love Nick because of his bravery and love of animals. I love the way he's able to integrate himself into the lives of animals in their habitats. He becomes part of them, which is extraordinary; no one else does that. He's not showing us anything sentimental about animals. He's a realist. So we're seeing the intimate side of the lives of animals. I'm amazed he can do that. He's patient. Nick's work is wonderful. I love the fact that he's able to show us that intimacy.¿Mary Ellen Mark, author of
Tiny: Streetwise Revisited and
Man and Beast
About the author
Melissa Harris is editor-at-large of Aperture Foundation, where she has worked for more than twenty-five years, including as editor-in-chief of award-winning
Aperture magazine from 2002 to 2012. Harris has also edited more than forty books for Aperture. As a curator, Harris has organized photography exhibitions for venues worldwide, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography, Moscow; the Triennale di Milano; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; and Visa pour l¿Image, Perpignan. Harris teaches at New York University in the Tisch Photography and Imaging department, and occasionally at Yale University. She served on New York City¿s Community Board 5 for several years, and is a trustee of the John Cage Trust.
Summary
Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols has for decades created powerful and eloquent images of iconic wildlife species. His vision is to stir the emotions of viewers leading to empathy and conservation. Melissa Harris has provided a sparkling text not just of Nick and his colleagues at work in the field, but one which provides many fascinating insights into the conservation issues related to his photographic quests. Among these are the survival of mountain gorillas during nearly six decades of civil war in their realm, the horrendous elephant slaughter for ivory, and the ethics of trophy hunting, of killing lions for pleasure. This is an illuminating and honest book about some of the world’s greatest natural treasures and those who strive to protect them.
—George B. Schaller, author of The Serengeti Lion and The Year of the Gorilla
A Wild Life is Nichols’s story, told with passion and insight by author and photo-editor Melissa Harris. Nichols’ story combines a life of adventure, with a conviction about how we can redeem the human race by protecting our wildlife. The book’s two central characters are the photographer—who journeys from the American South, via the photographers’ co-operative Magnum, to becoming lead wildlife photographer of National Geographic magazine—and the author, who travels with the photographer on assignment in Africa, to gain intimate and deep insight into her subject. Harris’s story also draws on meetings with some of the world’s leading eco-scientists—including legendary primatologist, Jane Goodall.
Additional text
Nick and Melissa give us photography in concentrated form, brilliantly seized and wonderfully explained.—Robert Farris Thompson, author of Tango: The Art History of Love and Flash of the Spirit
