Portraits of Earth

CONTENTS

"I have an emotional attachment to Earth that goes far beyond my ability to understand or explain. I believe our species is no more special, in nature's scheme of things, than any other, and that all life and life habitats should be treated with the same care, respect, and dignity that we, in our best moments, treat our fellow human beings."

Freeman Patterson is an internationally renowned photographer and teacher whose deep love of the natural world is communicated through his extraordinary photographs and his writing. Though his work has taken him from the barren ice-scapes of Ellesmere Island and the hot sands of the Namib desert to the lush rain forest of the Pacific Coast, he can also find evocative images a few steps from his home overlooking the Saint John River in rural New Brunswick, Canada. "Here," he writes, "I can see the white-and-brown stretches of an Arctic island in a patch of snow-lined gravel, gaze down on desert dune patterns as I walk along a sand-rippled beach, and witness the spring greening of the prairie on a bit of lawn."

Portraits of Earth is an expression of Patterson's vision of Earth. Combining 114 remarkable photographs with a compelling text, he takes readers behind the lens of the camera so that they begin to see Earth through his eyes, to sense its natural designs, its shapes, its lines, its textures.

Of particular interest to photography enthusiasts are his discussions of natural and graphic design, the importance of light and colour, and techique of composition. Patterson demonstrates how making photographs of imagined landscapes can extend experience and enable the photographers to fashion new earthscapes that are a unique expression of thought and feelings. It is a compelling photographic portrait of this planet we call Earth.