In this mesmerizing book of photography, acclaimed photographer David Liittschwager reveals the unnerving beauty of three notoriously mysterious sea creatures—the jellyfish, octopus, and seahorse—and how they perceive the world. The jellyfish, the octopus, and the seahorse are among the most wondrous species on Earth—as well as some of the most difficult to document using traditional photography methods. Enter celebrated photographer David Liittschwager, who has spent decades developing specialized portraiture techniques to capture these creatures’ pulsating bioluminescence, translucent bodies, and ethereal movements. This luminous collection showcases 200 of Liittschwager’s most revealing photographs, paired with penetrating essays that explain how a creature without a brain or without bones perceives the world. Bestselling science writers Elizabeth Kolbert, Jennifer Holland, and Olivia Judson explain the biology and advanced cognitive abilities of these spineless denizens of the deep, exquisitely evoking their unnerving yet undeniable charisma. In these pages, you’ll glimpse a seahorse only half an inch tall, a moon jelly spinning off a snowflake-shaped clone, and the blinking comb jelly, which may be the most ancient living animal on Earth. Both enlightening and profound, this enchanting book documents the expanding frontiers of marine science, creating a powerful testament to the value and beauty of these little-seen—and endangered—species.
Authors
David Liittschwager is a freelance photographer who grew up in Eugene, Oregon. Between 1983 and 1986, he worked as an assistant to Richard Avedon in New York City. After working in advertising, he turned his skills to portraiture with an emphasis on natural history subjects. Now a contributing photographer to National Geographic and other magazines, Liittschwager is also a successful book author. In 2002 he produced the books Skulls and X-Ray Ichthyology: The Structure of Fishes for the California Academy of Sciences. Liittschwager’s books in collaboration with Susan Middleton include Archipelago, Remains of a Rainbow, Witness, and Here Today. Recipient of an Endangered Species Coalition Champion Award for Education and Outreach and a Bay & Paul Foundation Biodiversity Leadership Award, Liittschwager lectures and shows his work in both fine art and natural history contexts. His photographs have been exhibited at many museums, including the American Museumhere of Natural History in New York City; the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.; the Honolulu Academy of Art in Hawaii; and currently at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Liittschwager was honored with a 2008 World Press Photo Award for his article on marine microfauna, which appeared in the November 2007 issue of National Geographic magazine. He lives in San Francisco.
Olivia Judson (born 1970) is an evolutionary biologist at Imperial College London. Judson, who is the daughter of science historian Horace Freeland Judson, was a pupil of W.D. Hamilton. She graduated from Stanford University, gained a doctorate from Oxford, and worked for some time as a journalist before becoming a research fellow at Imperial College London. She has written one book, Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation. Written in the style of a sex-advice column to animals, the book details the variety of sexual practices in the natural world and provides the reader with an overview of the evolutionary biology of sex. The book was a critical success and an international best-seller and was nominated for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 2003. -Wikipedia
