100 things that caught my eye

by Chris Packham

Award-winning photographer and wildlife presenter talks through 100 iconic images he captured in 25 years.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction

201 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Chris Packham is a British naturalist and TV presenter and is well known for his many BBC television series since the days of The Really Wild Show through to Springwatch. He is an award winning photographer and writer, whose career has revolved around promoting public awareness of wildlife and conservation for more than 25 years. He continues to be a part of pioneering natural history television, such as Secrets of our Living Planet, Inside the Animal Mind and Operation Iceberg.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book of photographs with 'captions' that fill another page whets the appetite for Chris Packham's forthcoming memoir. It is not a book filled with especially choice and pretty images of wildlife, his subjects are very wide and he has a wholly thought-out 'thing' about windows/doors and corrugated iron. There's a lot of decay of the man made in this book, and a lot of people for someone who has such a jaded view of his species. He also critiques his work in coruscating fashion... occasionally to the point of wearisomeness (I think he is well aware of the potential to acquire a handful of diagnostic labels but tortured as he sometimes seems to be, I have the impression he wears it with pride and would not wish to be any other way) There are some nice personal but subtle snippets... not big revelations.

I am generally not good at following a suggestion not to read a book cover to cover in a sitting but this book did insist on being put down from time to time rather than swallowed whole and was the better appreciated for it.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating study of what makes a photo more than a photo. Packham gives a lot of info about himself, although he's been doing that recently on bbc programmes about Aspergers. I did find it a bit difficult at times to constantly have to read how much he didn't like his own photos. Why were they in the book then?
But overall a beautiful record of this planet that is rapidly being ruined by humans. I agree with him on that issue.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has taken photos for decades. Reading the story of them was very important to enjoying the photos .

[Adam Chamberlain · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I find taking pictures intensely frustrating. I would go so far as to say that I don't really enjoy the process at all, that the pain far outweighs any rare and fleeting pleasure. This is because I am a perfectionist so nothing but perfection would ever be good enough, but because I believe that true perfection is in fact unattainable you might well wonder why I bother. Very often so do I! But for me it's about the process of improvement, honing my skills to be just that little bit better next time; it's about trying to nudge my pictures ever closer to that ideal and, of course, any satisfaction would soon stifle that desire and cut off the constant fuel of failure which continues to drive my ambitions."

I'm no photographer myself, but there's something about Chris Packham's self-critical, self-improvement approach to his approach to the craft to which I can relate. And the chosen range of subjects alongside his honest commentaries make for a captivating insight into his travels, his exploits, and the craft of photography, combining to form a sumptuous, offbeat volume.