     |
 reaking from the traditional assumption that nature photographers should work in a naturalistic setting, James Balog shows animals as they are — wild, captive and somewhere in between. Many of his images are stylized portraits taken in a studio to dramatize the endangered nature of these animals and to glimpse into their psyche. The Boulder-based photographer said he didn’t want to take pictures of animals that simply helped to disseminate a pleasant fiction about an endless Garden of Eden. Instead, his modern images portray the tension between nature and civilization. These photographs are taken from his anthology Animal, published September 1999. |
