Bird

Starred review from September 29, 2009
Animal lovers will be just as entranced by the newest from photographer Zuckerman as they were by 2007's Creature. Once again, Zuckerman works with the cooperation of zoos, wildlife preserves and aviaries to photograph his living subjects in bright white light against a flat white background, a setting that nature purists might find off-putting at first, but which reveals each animal as a self-contained, emotionally responsive being-the photo of a Great Horned Owl is less a documentary nature photo than a portrait of an individual who just happens to belong to another species. Thus, observers see and identify with the curiosity of a red-and-green Macaw, the haughty pride of a Snowy Owl, and the coy flirtation of a Palm Cockatoo. The quality of the images is astounding, bringing out color variation, feather patterning, facial markings, leg scales, and winged flight in detail that's simply unprecedented; the complexity of color and structure should inspire textile designers and architects for years. In the epilogue, Zuckerman's creative partner Alex Vlack describes Zuckerman's photography and editing techniques (Zuckerman's ideal shutter speed is 1/8000th of a second, impossibly short without digital photography). Zuckerman makes brilliant use of new technology to showcase nature, giving us access to astounding surface detail as well as revelatory emotional depth.