Frans Lanting (born 13 July 1951) is a Dutch National Geographic photographer, author and speaker.

Life

Lanting was born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

in Netherlands. He studied economics at the Erasmus university in Rotterdam and later immigrated to the United States. He now lives in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

, and operates a studio and gallery as well as a

stock photography Stock photography is the supply of photographs that are often licensed for specific uses. The stock photo industry, which began to gain hold in the 1920s, has established models including traditional macrostock photography, midstock photography, ...

service. Lanting's wife Christine Eckstrom is a writer,

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

, producer, and works on joint books of nature photography. Lanting works in many different parts of the world, including the

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

, Africa and

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. His photographs are regularly published in ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'', where he served as photographer-in-residence. He is also featured in '' Outdoor Photographer'', '' Audubon'', and ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

''. A 2005 exhibit in the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...

, entitled ''Jungles'', focused on the plants and animals of the

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

. Lanting's 2006 exhibit, ''Life: A Journey Through Time'', part of the

Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music is an annual Festival dedicated to contemporary symphonic music by living composers. The music director since 2017 has been Cristian Măcelaru. According to Jesse Rosen, CEO of the League of American Orc ...

in Santa Cruz, California, combined his photography with the music of

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

. A traveling exhibition, ''Frans Lanting: LIFE'' began in fall 2006 at the Dutch

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

museum in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, Netherlands. The show then traveled through Europe and the United States. Lanting is a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP). From May through July 2012 there was an exhibition with 75 photos from ''Life: A Journey Through Time'' on the in the harbour of

. In August 2012, Lanting became an ambassador of the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. On 25 August 2012, a special concert version of ''LIFE'' was held in the

Concertgebouw Concertgebouw may refer to one of the following concert halls: * Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands * Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium * Concertgebouw de Vereeniging, Netherlands {{disambiguation Buildings and structures disambiguation pages ...

in Amsterdam celebrating 50 years of the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Exhibitions

*29 May – 30 August 1998: "Eye in Eye", Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam *5 October 2000 – 14 January 2001: "Jungles", about tropical rainforest, Naturalis in Leiden *23 September 2006 – 2 September 2007: "LIFE", a journey through life, Naturalis in Leiden * 9 June – 4 September 2016: Solo exhibition: Dialogue with Nature, Netherlands Photo Museum in Rotterdam * January 19–April 30, 2023: Bay of Life: From Wind to Whales, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History

Awards

* 1988 –

World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization holds the annual World Press Photo Contest for press photography. Since 2011, World Press Photo has orga ...

* 1989 – World Press Photo * 1991 – Wildlife Photographer of the Year * 1997 – Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography Award,

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

* 1997 – 2nd prize Nature and Environment Stories, World Press Photo * 1999 – Lanting was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of The Royal Photographic Society in 1999. These are awarded to distinguished persons having, from their position or attainments, an intimate connection with the science or fine art of photography or the application thereof. * 2001 H.R.H. Prince Bernhard inducted him as a Knight in the Royal Order of the Golden Ark, the Netherlands' highest conservation honor. * 2005 – Lennart Nilsson Award * 2008 – Photographer of the Year, Photoimaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association * 2010 – The

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

Cherry Kearton Medal and Award The Cherry Kearton Medal and Award is an honour bestowed by the Royal Geographical Society on "a traveller concerned with the study or practice of natural history, with a preference for those with an interest in nature photography, art or cinemato ...

* 2021 – Art/Act Award from the David Brower Center

Awards

* 2015 – WNF-Frans Lanting Award by

* 2018 – Wildlife Photographer of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award

Books

* 1982 – ''Feathers'' * 1985 – ''Islands of the West'' * 1990 – ''The Albatrosses of Midway Island'' * 1990 – ''Madagascar, A World Out of Time'' * 1993 – ''Forgotten Edens, Exploring the World's Wild Places'' (with Christine Eckstrom) * 1993 – ''Okavango, Africa's Last Eden'' (with Christine Eckstrom) * 1996 – ''Animal Athletes'' * 1997 – ''Bonobo, The Forgotten Ape'' (with

Frans de Waal Franciscus Bernardus Maria de Waal (29 October 1948 – 14 March 2024) was a Dutch-American primatologist and ethologist. He was the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Primate Behavior in the Department of Psychology at Emory University in ...

) * 1997 – ''Eye to Eye, Intimate Encounters With the Animal World'' (with Christine Eckstrom) * 1999 – ''Living Planet, Preserving Edens of the Earth'' (with

David Doubilet David Doubilęt (born November 28, 1946) is an underwater photographer known primarily for his work published in ''National Geographic'' magazine, where he is a contributing photographer and has been an author for 70 feature articles since 1971. He ...

and

Galen Rowell Galen Avery Rowell (August 23, 1940 – August 11, 2002) was an American wilderness photographer, adventure photojournalist and mountaineer. Born in Oakland, California, he became a full-time photographer in 1972. Early life and education Rowe ...

) * 2000 – ''Jungles'' (with Christine Eckstrom) * 2003 – ''Penguin'' (with Christine Eckstrom) * 2006 – ''LIFE, A Journey Through Time'' * 2017 – ''Into Africa'' * 2022 - ''Bay of Life: From Wind to Whales'' (with Christine Eckstrom)

References

External links

* * *
"The story of life in photographs" (TED2005)

Bay of Life project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanting, Frans 1951 births Living people 20th-century Dutch photographers 21st-century Dutch photographers Dutch nature photographers Artists from Rotterdam Dutch expatriates in the United States Sierra Club awardees National Geographic photographers

Life

Exhibitions

Awards

Awards

Books

See also

References

External links