Life in Color: National Geographic Photographs (National Geographic Collectors) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1426214510 ISBN 13: 9781426214516

Publisher: National Geographic, 2014

Synopsis

Life in Color, now available in an accessible mini edition, is chock full of beautiful, amazing photographs organized chapter by chapter according to their predominant color. With a rainbow of images that are guaranteed to make you smile and meditations and evocative quotes about color throughout, this eye-pleasing volume is sure to appeal to a wide variety of people, most especially to women.

About this title

About the Author

Leah Bendavid-Val , Director of Photography Publishing for National Geographic Books, is the author of Propaganda & Dreams; Changing Reality; National Geographic: The Photographs; Stories on Paper & Glass, and most recently Song Without Words: The Photographs and Diaries of Countess Sophia Tolstoy. She has curated photography exhibitions for museums worldwide.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

We gave out at a vast and ever changing kaleidoscope—life in color—every day. From the filmy pastels of a dream disappearing to the loud shocks of traffic lights, billboards, and fashion, color saturates our existence. Not only is color everywhere around us, but it is also in our minds and imaginations as well, an internal rainbow of appearances and meaning.
 
Color moves and motivates. Color calms and quiets. Color sings, color dances, color takes center stage in the theater of our lives. It is so woven into the fabric of our speech and vision, choice and circumstance that we rarely stop to pay attention.
 
Think about how the hazy blue of early morning street fog compares with the clear blue of a summer sky; how a still lake’s surface, despite all logic, takes on the orange of the setting sun; how green dapples and drenches our world, from the tiny new leaves of wildflowers underfoot to the electric night- time swaths of the northern lights overhead. Realize how red makes a statement— sometimes it whispers, like the spotted carapace of a tiny ladybug; sometimes it flaunts itself, like bright lipstick on a proud woman’s smile.
 
Photographers do notice. They make a business of noticing. In the litany of principles that make a photograph great, color stands near the top of the list, at the service of both content and design. A photographer may look for color with care and attention, or color may burst on the scene as a serendipitous surprise. Either way, it stands as a primary character in many a great photograph.
 
Colors speak directly to our hearts, without words and in many cases without meaning. Although scientists can second-guess the evolutionary advantage of certain patterns and colors within the natural world, many examples seem to defy explanation. What is a dandelion flower saying with its yellow? What do the ruby red throat feathers of a humming- bird signify? There is something primeval and sensuous in paying attention to color. It is a celebration of the native senses without the filter of the intellect.

Edition details

• Publisher: National Geographic
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1426214510
• ISBN 13: 9781426214516
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 504
• Editor: Griffiths Annie