Wide Angle: National Geographic Greatest Places

by Ferdinand Protzman

In 250 glorious photographs Wide National Geographic Greatest Places documents the beauty and depth of every part of the world. Delving deeply into a picture archive that houses over ten million images, with many photographs being published for the first time, this new book-the third and final in the "greatest photographs" series-presents the world's amazingly diverse places with epic grandeur, unparalleled intimacy, romantic beauty, and gritty realism. The photographs are landscapes, cityscapes, famous landmarks, and unfamiliar spots that reveal special qualities of geography or culture one might otherwise never see.

Spanning more than eleven decades, the images in Wide Angle are divided into twelve chapters, each depicting a unique geography—including East and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Polar Regions. Each chapter is introduced by award-winning cultural writer and critic Ferdinand Protzman, whose essays accent the stunning photographs by renowned National Geographic photographers. Both essays and photographs carefully examine a region's special qualities, creating unique character and its own special and unforgettable sense of place. In Wide Angle, National Geographic photographers have recorded the world's places close up, in sweeping breadth, in depth, and over time.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Travel, Art, Reference, Coffee Table Books, Art and Photography

504 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2005

Reviews

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 3 out of 5]

The photographs are great of course. I've just seen so many of these kinds of books that it does not offer a whole lot of anything new. However, if one has not looked at many documentary photograph books, they would probably consider this a treasure as I once did.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking through this big beauty again this morning I was struck once again that I have never seen anyone comment on the convention in photography publishing that it's okay to print a photo across two pages, so it's got a big division right down the middle. If the photo is in the middle of the book, no problem, but if it's towards either end it's all wrong, the unity of the photo is wrecked, your eyes have to do a lot of forgiving. These publishers love their photos, so I wonder why they do this. It may be that they would say it's analogous to listening to some gorgeous acoustic guitar music and having to ignore the sudden screech as the player makes a difficult chord change. This happens all the time and it doesn't bother me, so maybe these centre-of-the-page photographic funhouse-mirror distortions are supposed to be glossed over like that. It a world full of anomalies, that's another one.

This is a five star book with the usual one star deducted for the pompous leaden text it comes packaged with. This is another thing that always happens in big photo books.

[Stevie Ada · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that is five-starred for sentimental reasons. National Geographic has supported a colonial lens and framework since its inception and in recent years has seem to become a place of really base entertainment (NatGeo), however, for a high school student who was unsure of where they were going to land, being gifted this book from my high school English teacher was an incredible offering. One of my favorite things about my copy is the inscription from my teacher.

Beautiful images that are reminders of our own smallness in a vast and ever-changing world.

[Lexi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely photography, but dated. Sections on Asia could be more widely diversified. Quality of images is pretty fantastic for before 2005, but less impressive with current standards.

Great coffee table book but that's pretty much it.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual National Geographic puts out a book of great photos. I have some problems with the way the book was put together though. It opens to 12 double-page photos with no explanations. After you get past those and another not-explained photo, you get to the title page, followed by the table of contents page which shows those photos as representatives of the various continents into which the photos are organized: East and Southeast Asia, Oceania, Central & South Asia, Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Western & Southern Europe, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, North America, Central & South America, Polar Regions. Each section gets 3 pages of description & history, which is a bit hard to read because the text is so wide; it's easy to continue to the wrong line. Some of the photos are double-page spreads; some are double-page wide but thin like panoramas; some are single page with captions opposite; some are historic photos in black and white of early expeditions. I dislike that the captions are in such a small font and that they're in ALL CAPS. That makes them slow to read. There's plenty of room to make the captions larger and more readable. They give the photographer, date, location, and very brief description.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful book, some of the best photographs I've seen in a while. I spent hours looking through this massive book. It would look nice on a living room table and be used as a conversation starter. If you like great nature photographs for inspiration, give this book a read.

Some of my favorites:
p. 93 reflection in the water with sand as the background - China
p. 125 ruined castle with a backdrop of clouded-in snowy peaks - Bhutan
p. 170 ice steps - Turkey
p. 188 the expansiveness of this desert is otherworldly Saudi Arabia
p. 202 the peace of a horse drawn carriage in a snow storm - Bavaria
p. 281 Casa Mila looks like a ton of fun to explore, a place I'd love to visit - Barcelona, Spain
p.394 elk enshrouded in mist with a lone crow (?) in a tree overhead - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA
p. 466 swimming in a lake in the Chihuahuan Desert, this looks unreal with the clear blue water and desert in the background, Mexico

[Avid Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection showcases 250 breathtaking photographs from National Geographic's vast archives, capturing the beauty and diversity of landscapes across the globe. Spanning over a century, the images transport readers to various regions, offering glimpses into both iconic landmarks and lesser-known locales.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful photos from around the world by National Geographic. Even if you can't be bothered reading the blurbs, the photos are well worth seeing.

[R. David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read such books to garner ideas. The best photographs in this book are found op pages 396-7, and 406.

[BookBec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful photos, annoying all-caps captions, and roll-your-eyes pretentious essays introducing each chapter. I recommend not reading but just admiring this book.

[Kathleen Messmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it’s true that there are many books out there similar to this, it never fails to amaze me that they just keep turning out such high quality work with so much meaning.

[David Highton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant photography, natural beauty and some great historic shots

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very nice photographs but on the whole not one I found unique.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent compilation of a broad range of photography with several early pictures scattered throughout a majority of relatively recent images (mostly from within the past 20 yrs). As one might expect, the photographs, being National Geographic caliber, are outstanding. The icing on the cake is the inclusion of a written essay at the beginning of each chapter as an intro to the particular part of the world that the given chapter focuses on. This touch is extremely well done. The introductions are more than helpful to easing into the spirit of the chapter; each is a thought-provoking, evocative word painting that stands on its own as a commentary regarding a particular world culture.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this while on a waiting room; they had it on the table. It is a very nice book to look through and browse. The photos are excellent, which is something to be expected from National Geographic. At times I do wish they would put little insets of the locations in the photo instead of doing the "see previous page" or "the next page is..." But that is little irk, not a major issue. There are some brief text sections to introduce each part; the book is divided by major geographic areas. Overall, this is a nice book to just sit back with a nice cup of coffee or tea and relax.

[Nyit-nyit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saya selalu suka foto-foto yang ditampilkan oleh National Geographic. Saya punya buku ini. Senang sekali. Saya menemukannya di Kinokuniya Singapura.

Wide Angle, kumpulan foto-foto dari tahun ke tahun. Jadi bukan hanya yang tahun 2000an... Karena merupakan foto-foto lama, sudah pasti dihasilkan oleh kamera manual.

Wide angle menyajikan kumpulan foto landscape dari seluruh dunia. Indonesia ada di dalamnya, yaitu Ubud serta Danau Kelimutu.

Selamat menikmati..


N

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book needed to be both longer and bigger to help capture the epic majesty of the photos without being hindered by the binding crease in the center. The photos were so lovely. The text too was just the right amount of informative without being too cumbersome or distracting from the photos. Could have done without the occasional artwork stand-in but the few black and white or historical photographs were nice.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

National Geographic Wide Angle: National Geographic Greatest Places by Ferdinand Plotzman (National Geographic Society 2005)(779.0). Beautiful photos grace this volume of what National Geographic has deemed to be the earth's grandest and most beautiful places. My rating: 7/10, finished 2006.

[David Skies · Rating 3 out of 5]

A serviceable collection of photographs, if not one that evokes quite the same feelings of awe as conjured by some of the better examples of such. Still, there's one photo of a gaucho roping a capybara that manages to make me quite happy when I see it; just something about a man on horseback chasing down giant rodents with a lariat.

[Nico · Rating 2 out of 5]

The text introductions to each section are almost unreadable (both due to their tiny print size and their substance), the book itself is small, the printing quality low, the photos mostly not memorable.

[Ryan Watkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful coffee table book

[Cecelia]

Great essays

[Claire Coverley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully shot. As expected in a NG production.

[Miguel Barrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gracias a la espectacularidad del libro Retratos de Natgeo, me compré este y no me decepcionó en lo absoluto, todas las fotografías son espectaculares en su estilo

[Séverine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally inspiring!

[Barb Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!