National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen (previously) relates the harrowing tale of a sweet, insistent, and ferocious lunchmate (note - clip begins with a dramatic drumbeat, mind your speakers) [more inside]
posted by Hypnotic Chick on Nov 12, 2009 - 37 comments

Great photographers: Clark Little (surf photography), Nick Brandt (mostly African wildlife), John Hyde (mostly wildlife and Alaska), Veronika Pinke (landscapes), Dale Allman (miscellaneous; particularly beautiful are his Australian cityscapes and the HDR/DRI photos), Ansel Adams (the undisputed master of nature photography who died in 1984; famous quotes: "You don't take a photograph, you make it.", "A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words. "), Michel Rajkovic (mostly marine landscape, exclusively in black and white). And again, as a tribute to a gifted artist who died far too early, the work of Bobby Model (adventure photographer). Last but not least: Onexposure, probably the biggest collection of quality photography on the net.
posted by Matthias Rascher on Sep 21, 2009 - 9 comments

Bobby Model, brilliant adventure photographer, died Wednesday, September 16, 2009, at the age of 36. Here are some examples of his beautiful work.
posted by Matthias Rascher on Sep 19, 2009 - 18 comments

Microworld by Licht. More of Paul's macro droplet shots can be seen at his Flickr gallery and others' macro droplet shots in the Refractions in Liquid Drops group pool.
posted by Orb on Apr 29, 2009 - 5 comments

Wild Wonders of Europe "wants to show that Europe really is not about just highways and cities. But today, many seem to know more about nature in Africa or in America, than in Europe, because that is what’s on TV. The European natural wonders are still very little known to the World. We want to change that." 58 nature photographers are working on the project, and there are 29 galleries representing 16 countries thus far, with more to come. [via]
posted by cog_nate on Apr 17, 2009 - 14 comments

Rethinking Earthrise. On the 40th anniversary of the NASA's Apollo 8 mission [caution: weird JFK animation], which answered Stewart Brand's epochal, LSD-inspired question "Why haven't we seen a photograph of the whole Earth yet?" with an unforgettable image of a seemingly fragile and isolated blue planet, Nature editor Oliver Morton -- author of a new book on photosynthesis called Eating the Sun -- disputes the notion that the Earth is fragile and isolated. "The fragility is an illusion," he writes. "The planet Earth is a remarkably robust thing, and this strength flows from its ancient and intimate connection to the cosmos beyond. To see the photo this way does not undermine its environmental relevance -- but it does recast it."
posted by digaman on Dec 24, 2008 - 39 comments

The GDT's* European Wildlife Photographer of the Year; winning image is NSFW. (2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001) *Gesellschaft Deutscher Tierfotografen [more inside]
posted by Korou on Nov 14, 2008 - 22 comments

Violent death in the insect world - grisly yet compelling macro photographs of bug-against-bug carnage.
posted by madamjujujive on Sep 8, 2008 - 23 comments

10 Rare Clouds. 20 Cool Clouds. NASA clouds. List of Cloud Types (wiki). previously
posted by swift on Jun 27, 2008 - 28 comments

Stephen Burch's Birding Website is full of fine photos of feathered friends.
posted by owhydididoit on May 30, 2008 - 13 comments

Kennan Ward Nature-Wildlife Photography -- “Being a nature-wildlife photographer is a demanding job … but all the hardship is forgotten when I make eye-to-eye contact with a wild animal, or experience the moment when a window in the clouds opens up, highlighting a landscape … I feel honored to be able to bring the inspiring beauty of nature to others.” [more inside]
posted by netbros on Apr 29, 2008 - 4 comments

E.J. Peiker, Nature Photgrapher There are a lot of nature photographers out there -- some better than Peiker and some worse -- but what fascinates me about Peiker's site is the number of photos available. A birdwatcher's dream, it features pages of photos of over 500 different species of birds, including an index devoted solely to wild waterfowl. Maybe animals are more your speed? How about nearly 150 pages of photos of wild animals (including my favorite - a quite handsome, flower-eating porcupine.) There's also a section for scenic photography featuring 23 states and 20 countries (or you can search by national park.) The photos are, unfortunately, not that big but there a ton of them, many of them quite pretty.
posted by LeeJay on Feb 29, 2008 - 13 comments

The Young Gallery has an exceptional collection of photographs by both renowned and recently discovered photographers. The feast of visuals includes elegantly haunting images of African wildlife by Nick Brandt, Night Views of cities by Floriane de Lassée, salad vegetables by Viktor Polson, nudes and portraits by Patrick Demarchelier and images of Tibet, Mongolians and Tibetans by Richard Gere.
posted by nickyskye on Oct 27, 2007 - 8 comments

Photographer Kim Keever takes incredible, otherwordly nature shots using a unique technique: she builds the subject by hand in a 100 gallon fishtank. Other galleries of her work here & here. Via, which was via.
posted by jonson on Sep 24, 2007 - 37 comments

Scillywebcam. A frequently updated website with high quality photographs of Scilly. Here are some of my favorites.
posted by Effigy2000 on Aug 25, 2007 - 10 comments

Leopard seals, by Paul Nicklen. Leopard Seals are the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic, and are near the top of the Antarctic food chain. Paul Nicklen won first prize in the Nature Stories category of the prestigious World Press Photo contest for his photographs of Leopard Seals. The first known human fatality was in 2003 when a Leopard Seal dragged Kirsty Brown, a snorkeling biologist, underwater to her death.
posted by KokuRyu on Jun 17, 2007 - 14 comments

The Polar Bears of Spitsbergen is an amazing and gruesome photo gallery posted by a photographer who stumbled across a bear & its cubs at feeding time & spent the next 45 minutes capturing the event. via
posted by jonson on May 12, 2007 - 40 comments

Bee eaters and lesser kestrels.
posted by Wolfdog on Mar 3, 2007 - 12 comments

Rosmarie Fiore is doing some fascinating and beautiful things with long exposures and 80's arcade games.

In the meanwhile, Patrick Dougherty is doing some fascinating and beautiful things with sticks and twigs. [more inside]
posted by wander on Feb 9, 2007 - 17 comments

Gregory Colbert's Ashes and Snow has been linked to twice before on Metafilter. However, you can now view 10 minutes of his film as part of his Ted Talk--it's the most stunning nature footage I've ever seen. In the talk he also mentions a new concept he's developing called Animal Copyright, which I think is long overdue.
posted by dobbs on Jan 2, 2007 - 29 comments

Ed Book adds joy to my life.
posted by thirteenkiller on Dec 3, 2006 - 15 comments

The Institute for the Promotion of the Less than One Millimeter proudly presents The Micropolitan Museum of Microscopic Art Forms. [via]
posted by mediareport on Oct 22, 2006 - 7 comments

Birds As Art: Photographer Arthur Morris shares his dazzling images of (mostly) feathered creatures in his (up to 196 so far) email bulletins. It's quite worth wading through the archive.
posted by of strange foe on Jul 6, 2006 - 9 comments

Nature is so fucking horrible.
posted by jonson on Jun 4, 2006 - 79 comments

Meet punk, Don, Kawaii, Satan's Little Helper, and the incredibly colorful cast of characters that populate photographer Igor Siwanowicz's world. (via Mira y Calla)
posted by madamjujujive on Apr 4, 2006 - 19 comments

Missouri Skies: The show me state .
posted by hortense on Apr 2, 2006 - 18 comments

Scott Stulberg takes beautiful photography of people and places in southeast Asia. Also, some fantastic nature and wildlife work. (flash, sound alert)
posted by madamjujujive on Feb 11, 2006 - 14 comments

How To Have A Ton Of Fun Raising Baby Squirrels. Husband and wife document their adventures raising these little spazz-monsters with many photos and some Flash movies. Via Cute Overload.
posted by Gator on Jan 2, 2006 - 40 comments

Stunning photography of wild things. Whales, Eagles, and more. Flash interface, but it's not too bad to navigate. Every time I think I'm getting good at taking pictures, I see something like this and just drool.
posted by pjern on Dec 31, 2005 - 28 comments

National Wildlife Magazine's 35th Annual Photography competition. [via Fark]
posted by Gyan on Dec 10, 2005 - 9 comments

Big beetles (Breed your own! They're cuddly!), tarantulas, scorpions, millipedes, various butterflies and moths.
posted by Wolfdog on Oct 16, 2005 - 18 comments

Wildlife and Nature Photography by Miguel Lasa. Wow. (via)
posted by hortense on Oct 15, 2005 - 18 comments

Never store your honey in a birdfeeder for safe keeping. That's the FIRST place they look!
posted by jonson on Oct 15, 2005 - 28 comments

To live in a pristine land ... to roam the wilderness ... to choose a site, cut trees, and build a home ... Thousands have had such dreams, but Richard Proenneke lived them. In 1968, at 51 years of age, Richard Proenneke retired to Upper Twin Lakes, Alaska and using nothing but hand tools, built a cabin where he lived for the next 30 or so years. He filmed the cabin's construction (as well as much of nature's wonder) and kept meticulous notes on the back of wall calendars. In 1973, Sam_Keith produced a book (One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey) based on Proenneke's journal entries and photography. In 1999, at the age of 82, Proenneke could no longer endure the harsh winters of Alaska and moved to California to be with his family. He died there on Easter Sunday, 2003.
posted by a_day_late on Feb 10, 2005 - 16 comments

The Goleta Air & Space Museum/ Goleta Natural History Museum While looking for hot spring photos, I found this virtual museum. It is loaded with amazing shots of warbirds in flight and the latest in space travel On the other hand some very well done nature photography. Including desert panoramas This is all the work of one man.
posted by hortense on Jan 31, 2005 - 13 comments

I came upon an enchanting gallery of Lac Léman ice storm photos via presurfer today, which then led me to some rather beautiful scenes of the the Alps. There was also an amazing shot from space, and a link to another site where I followed hikers to les Massif de Bauges and le Massif de la Grande Chartreuse. OK, I didn't get my work done today, but I had a marvelous trip to the Alps.
posted by madamjujujive on Jan 30, 2005 - 16 comments

Portrait of Alaska Norio Matsumoto's unspeakably beautiful photographs. Mountains,lights,forests. tiny remote island in big ocean.
posted by hortense on Dec 29, 2004 - 17 comments

Take a nifty little tour of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. (QTVR pics). (Alternate sites for non-QTVR people.)
posted by madamjujujive on Oct 8, 2004 - 5 comments

The stunning photography of Yann Bertrand.
posted by moonbird on Aug 10, 2004 - 26 comments

Extreme Instability is a site by Mike Hollingshead, a weather buff from Nebraska who likes chasing storms. On his good days, he gets some spectacular photos of tornados and supercells, but, heck, even his 'crap chasing' days aren't too bad. More of Mike's photos at photoSig.
posted by madamjujujive on Aug 8, 2004 - 9 comments

The ARKive "is the Noah's Ark for the Internet era - the world's centralised digital library of films, photographs and associated recordings of species, accessible to all via the world wide web."
posted by tbc on Aug 14, 2003 - 4 comments

A lightning bolt created a beautiful smoke ring in the sky the other day. It resembles of Mt Etna's and other volcano's beautiful rings. Nature at it's best.
posted by tomplus2 on Jul 11, 2003 - 20 comments

Hot See-thru action! Radiography and Art: The obliging X-ray can detect forgeries, reveal the hidden process of genius (Picasso 1 [6 pages], 2, 3), and even serve as a glorious medium itself (Innervisions; Beyond Light; Mefi thread The Secret Garden).

Intrigued? Perhaps you'll want to check out How to make radiographs on Polaroid film from noah.org's X-ray page.
posted by taz on Jul 10, 2003 - 8 comments

Southwest: an exquisite gallery of photos by three friends on the road, including shots of Bryce, Antelope, and The Wave. The web has done wonderful things to that old phenomenon of vacation photos.
posted by alms on May 7, 2003 - 26 comments

German Objectivist photographer Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) once said "the best constructions for industrial design have already been anticipated in nature." Do your eyes a favor and look here.
posted by taz on Apr 30, 2003 - 9 comments

NaturArt - fed up with man's ugliness to man? Escape to this Budapest gallery's oasis of nature photography. Don't be off-put by the Hungarian text, hit start and wait for the main menu, then go to portfolios to access the works of about 30 photographers, Tagok for mini galleries, or diaporama for a lovely film. Flash & sound alert, but very well worth it if you have the time to explore.
posted by madamjujujive on Mar 22, 2003 - 12 comments

Mother Earth is Lookin' Good These Days --Maybe I just have a lack of culture, but I didn't know anything about earth erotica photography. Also didn't know if I should be viewing the site at work.
posted by DailyBread on Oct 17, 2002 - 24 comments

Gold cobblestones. Cracked ice. Cave art. Just a few of the amazing shapes, textures and patterns in the Lichen Portrait Gallery. Check the descriptions of the "fungi that have discovered agriculture" for info about how Native Americans used them for food, poison and pillows. And don't forget the surprising feminist connection.
posted by mediareport on Jun 7, 2002 - 6 comments