A Conscious Gift

Ansel Adams and Vittorio Sella are among the most famous photographers in the world of art history. This photography book features a collection of the mountain photography done by these two master photographers, spotlighting the brilliance of mountain ranges and geological environments from around the world. This work includes 50 prints by Ansel Adams and nearly 50 works by Sella. For me, just browsing through the preview images was rather awe-inspiring.

A Conscious Gift

We’ve featured this work before. And it’s wonderful enough to spotlight again. The work was a New York Times Bestseller and showcases some of the most spectacular, hidden, and compelling photographs of the natural world. According to the summary, it features everything from: 30,000-year-old cave art sealed from the public; animals that are among the last of their species on Earth; volcanic lightning; giant crystals that have grown to more than 50 tons; and much more.

A Conscious Gift

I was very happy to find this work. I knew I wanted to feature a myriad of different ecosystems and environments, but had difficulty finding a photography book that captured the natural phenomena present within the sky, such as auroras, storms, sunsets and sunrises, and shooting stars. This books does exactly this — and more. The photographs in this book are almost ethereal, cosmic, and other worldly. If you’re hoping to get a gift for someone who loves nature, but has a particular affinity for the cosmos, perhaps this is your book.

A Conscious Gift

When a title of a photography book is “The Masters of Nature Photography”…you know there’s got to be some special photographs in it. This book is a collection of photographs from winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. What does that mean exactly? According to their site, “For 49 years, this prestigious exhibition has drawn submissions from around the world. Being shortlisted is something to which nature photographers around the world aspire and every year new talent competes with established names for a chance to become Wildlife Photographer of the Year.”

This work features 10 absolutely brilliant artistic portfolios from 10 of the world’s top nature photographers. In total, you’ll find 120 stunning photographs.

A Conscious Gift

If you’re planning on getting a gift for a nature lover who loves, specifically, the natural parks of America — well, you’re in luck. Once again, in an effort to cover the many kinds of environments that exist in the world, I though it’d be nice to feature some beautiful nature spots from right here in America. With more than 200 never-before-seen images of the national parks — including Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon — as well as images from many of the 400-plus national park units, this collection of photographs should satiate and keep the attention of any nature lover.

A Conscious Gift

You may be thinking, ‘I love natural ecosystems and all…but where are the animals?’ To that I would say: one, don’t worry, you’ll find photographs of animals in several of the above books; and two, here you go. Popular nature photographer, Joel Sartore, travels the globe and captures photographs of 12,000 species, with an emphasis on those facing extinction. This photography book not only brings to light the beauty of animals, but also highlights those that need our care and attention. Hopefully this work will make some realize the important task of preserving and conserving our natural environments.

A Conscious Gift

Enter, global climate change. I felt a moral responsibility to include a photography book that covered the many ways in which global climate change — or as I like to say, global climate degradation — is negatively impacting our human communities, the animals we know and love, and so many species of the plant kingdom. This work includes a diverse number photographs, from aquatic and polar, to terrestrial ecosystems. It accompanies a major exhibition at the Ryerson Image Centre in Toronto, and includes works by pioneering and renowned artists such as Edward Burtynsky, Naoya Hatakeyama, Richard Misrach and Robert Rauschenberg.

A Conscious Gift

Trees are a beautiful thing, when you take the time to appreciate their inner workings and, of course, outer beauty (i.e., their colors, leaves, and texture). In “Woodlands”, German photographer, Mat Hennek captures portraits of some of the most spectacular, rare, and oldest trees we know. Hennek is a hiker. The work is a beautiful consequence of the many hikes through various forests in Europe and the US. he has completed. Most of the paths he ventured out on are remote from human civilization, meaning you’ll see trees that only a handful have ever experienced.

A Conscious Gift

This is another Volume from “The Masters of Nature Photography” collection. This beautiful work of nature photography features some of the most outstanding and highly lauded photographs within this artistic genre. You’ll find photographs of plants, animals, and ecosystems from around the world.

The master photographers making up this volume are Tim Laman (Lexington, MA), Brian Skerry (Uxbridge, MA), Steve Winter (Hoboken, NJ) Art Wolfe (Seattle), Hannu Hautala (Finland), Klaus Nigge (Germany), Thomas P. Peschak (Germany/South Africa), Tui de Roy (New Zealand), Cyril Ruoso (France), and Stefano Unterthiner (Italy).

A Conscious Gift

Finally, the sea. Of course I had to include a photography book that focuses on the beauty, majesty and mystery of the aquatic world. The oceans and seas of Earth are a mystery to many of us, even environmental scientists. They also hold some of the most breath taking and other-worldly creatures imaginable. I encourage you to click through and view the images they offer as a preview. They’re incredible. If you’re planning on getting a gift for a nature lover who has a fondness for marine life…need I say more about this book?