LIFE MUSIC COMES TO NAPA VALLEY JULY 13TH  The multimedia orchestral production of LIFE will be performed during Napa Valley’s “Festival del Sole” on Sunday July 13 at 3:00 pm at the Lincoln Theater in Yountville. Tickets are now on sale and we expect this performance to sell out. For more information please check: http://www.festivaldelsole.com/napavalley/main.htm Last month’s performance of LIFE by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on June 15 received rave reviews, including this from the Detroit Free Press: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080616/ENT04/80616001 The conductor for this event, Carolyn Kuan, Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, will also lead the Napa Valley Symphony performance of LIFE.    LIFE PRESENTATION AT STANFORD MONDAY JULY 14TH  Frans Lanting and Christine Eckstrom will give a presentation about The LIFE Project at Stanford University on Monday July 14 from 8:00 to 9:30 pm at Kresge Auditorium. The evening will include a conversation with Frans and Chris moderated by Richard Stolley, former managing editor at Time, Inc. The event is a co-production of Stanford’s prestigious Aurora Forum and the Stanford Professional Publishing Courses. It is free and open to the public. For directions and more information please check: http://auroraforum.stanford.edu/events.php?id=65    JUST ANNOUNCED: New Field Assistant Internship Opening  A new internship position is now available through our studio. The Field Assistant Internship offers students the opportunity to work directly with Frans in the field. To learn more about all of the internships available at the Frans Lanting Studio and for application instructions please click here.    JUNGLES EXHIBIT OPENS IN DALLAS/FORT WORTH, TEXAS:  From June 7, 2008, through August 3, 2008, Frans Lanting’s Jungles Exhibit will be on display at the Irving Arts Center in Texas. For more information about the Jungles exhibit please click here….    FRANS LANTING AWARDED PMDA PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR AWARD!  The PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association (PMDA) has awared Frans Lanting their 2008 Photographer of the Year award. The PMDA awards are given annually to persons or organizations that have significantly contributed to the imaging industry throughout the year, or throughout their careers, and have had a positive and meaningful impact on the business of photography. The award was presented at the annual PMDA awards dinner on January 30, 2008 at the New York New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Click here for more information about the PMDA awards....     LANTING ALBATROSS PROJECT LAUNCHED AT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC  In this season of wonder, we invite you to share in the remarkable story of the world's most majestic seabird--the albatross. It's a story that connects the legends of the albatross's past with amazing new knowledge about their lives in the present and concern over the future of "the grandest living flying machine on Earth." Our Albatross Project has just been launched by National Geographic--in print, online, on display, and on the air. Please check the links below for more information about where you can connect with the big birds: IN PRINT: Check out the December 2007 issue of National Geographic Magazine for a global story about albatrosses and their plight, featuring spectacular new photos by Frans Lanting and a lyrical text by marine conservationist Dr. Carl Safina, award-winning author of "Eye of the Albatross." ONLINE: Click here to view photos and text from the albatross story online at NationalGeographic.com, and to see and hear Christine Eckstrom's video stories about the albatrosses of Hawaii and New Zealand. Click on "How to Help" to find out what you can do to help protect the big birds: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-12/albatross/safina-text.html ON THE AIR--TV: Christine Eckstrom's video coverage of albatrosses will be aired on National Geographic's "Wild Chronicles" on PBS beginning on December 15, 2007. The story features Frans Lanting, author Carl Safina, and UCSC biologist Scott Shaffer on location from tropical Midway Atoll to subantarctic Campbell Island. To check your local listings for times and dates, or to download the podcast, please visit: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/donate/wildchronicles/ ON THE AIR--RADIO: Hear Alex Chadwick's NPR "Radio Expeditions" interview with Frans Lanting and Carl Safina on location with albatrosses in the Falkland Islands on his nationally syndicated "Day to Day" show: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6526640 Later this month, Public Radio International (PRI) will air an interview with Frans Lanting and Carl Safina from Midway Atoll, where they traveled to document the first flights of young birds from the world's largest albatross colony. ON DISPLAY: If you're visiting Washington, D.C., be sure to check the new outdoor exhibition of Frans Lanting's albatross images at the National Geographic Museum at Explorers Hall, located at 17th and M Streets, N.W. The exhibit features 34 large-scale photo panels of the big birds, and will be on display from November 20, 2007 through February 10, 2008. To view images of this exhibit, please check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/natgeomuseum/2083645621/ ON STAGE: If you're in the Santa Cruz, California, area please join us on Saturday February 2, 2008 for a special presentation about albatrosses given by Frans Lanting and Christine Eckstrom at the Rio Theatre. This year's show will benefit the Seymour Discovery Center at UCSC's Long Marine Lab. Tickets are available at our Gallery or at the Seymour Center. To learn more about this show, please check: http://www.lanting.com/workshops.html#Annual IN THE GALLERY: Frans Lanting's Albatross images are available as Fine Prints. Please contact our Gallery Manager, Danielle Marquis, for information by phone at (831) 429-1331 or e-mail at gallery@lanting.com. To view the Frans Lanting fine print collection, please check: http://www.lanting.com/fineprints/ HOW YOU CAN HELP: To get in touch with organizations working to make a change, please click here.    TODAY! HEAR LANTING & CHIMPS ON NPR:   Right now you can hear Frans Lanting and the remarkable chimpanzees of Fongoli, Senegal, on Alex Chadwick's NPR show "Day to Day" : http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89306493 Alex interviewed Frans by satellite phone from the wilds of West Africa while Frans was on assignment to cover this unusual group of chimpanzees who are making people rethink the nature of chimps and the boundaries between apes and early humans. Alex's interview includes Chris Eckstrom's sound recordings of the chimps hooting and drumming on baobabs as Frans explains what makes these chimps so special. THIS WEEK ON PBS "WILD CHRONICLES": Chris Eckstrom's footage of anthropologist Dr. Jill Pruetz and the chimps of Fongoli, Senegal, will be featured on National Geographic's "Wild Chronicles" show on PBS. Jill's research is breaking new ground, and in recognition of her work, she has just been named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer. To check your local listings for times and dates, or to download the podcast, please visit: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/donate/wildchronicles/ NOW IN PRINT AND ONLINE: "Almost Human," Frans Lanting's new feature about the Fongoli chimps, is on newsstands today in the April 2008 issue of National Geographic, paired with a great story by Mary Roach, best-selling author of "Stiff" and "Spook". The story has also been launched on the National Geographic's website, where you can see Chris Eckstrom's video stories about the chimps, including exclusive footage of chimps going into a water hole together and never-before-filmed scenes of the chimps spearing--a behavior that made headlines around the world when anthropologist Jill Pruetz reported it last year. Chris's videos also feature author Mary Roach as she tries her hand at "termite fishing"--a skill the chimps have mastered: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/04/chimps-with-spears/mary-roach-text CHIMPS ON "NOVA" ON PBS: Last summer, Frans Lanting and Chris Eckstrom traveled to southeast Senegal to cover an unusual group of chimpanzees--the first to be studied in a savanna-woodland habitat. The results of this work have just been released in National Geographic--in print, online, and on the air. Chris Eckstrom's video coverage of wild chimpanzees in Senegal is featured in the new NOVA-National Geographic TV special "Ape Genius," a fascinating film that zeroes in on what separates humans from our closest living relatives. Here is a link for viewing "Ape Genius" online: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/apegenius/program.html FRANS LANTING ON CNN IN "QUEST FOR THE PERFECT PHOTO" Tune in to CNN International as Richard Quest interviews Frans Lanting and joins him on a photo shoot with elephant seals on the California coast in "Quest for the Perfect Photo," the newest installment of Richard Quest's monthly show where he searches for "the secrets of genius, leadership, and inspiration." In this show he also meets photographers Patrick Demarchelier, Steve McCurry, Raghu Rai, Anne Geddes, and Darren Lyons, as he sets out to discover the secrets to capturing the perfect image. "Quest for the Perfect Photo" aired on CNN International on Saturday February 23 and again on Sunday February 24, 2008. SEE IT ONLINE: Here is the link for viewing Frans's interview on CNN International's Richard Quest show: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/15/quest.photography/#cnnSTCVideo     HEAR Frans Lanting on NPR's "Science Friday"  In a radio show entitled "Wildlife Safari," NPR host Ira Flatow talks to three world explorers--photographer Frans Lanting, acoustician Bernie Krause, and scientist Alan Rabinowitz--about documenting wildlife in the most remote places on Earth. The program was broadcast on December 28, 2007, but you can still hear this fascinating series of interviews online. Click here to listen.    EUROPEAN PREMIERE OF LIFE MUSIC IN ITALY  LIFE Music enjoyed its European premiere in Genoa, Italy, on November 3, 2007, with Carlo Boccodoro conducting the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra to a sold-out house at the beautiful Teatro Stabile in downtown Genoa. In his online review of the show for Science magazine, writer John Bohannon described the performance: "Listening to evolution But the part of the festival that really blew me away was the concert. Of course, calling it a concert sells it short. In a program titled "Life," the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Carlo Boccadoro, performed a piece of music by minimalist composer Philip Glass, while projected overhead were stunning images created by nature photographer Frans Lanting. This was no ordinary slide show. Design artist Alexander Nichols animated the photographs with a complex sequence of zooms, pans, and transitions in time with the music, literally bringing "Life" to life. The goal was to tell the story of 3 billion years of evolution in about an hour, and it came off spectacularly. My favorite moment was when the percussion section first kicked in, corresponding to the outrageous innovation of body shapes about half a billion years ago known as the Cambrian explosion. Lanting may be best known for his shots of animals in action, but for my money, his photographs of cells, rocks, mud, and fossils were the real show-stealers. Then again, judging by the oh's and ah's of the audience, the evolutionary transition from sea to land--full of expressive amphibian faces peering uncertainly from the muck--may have been a bigger hit. The performance was "science poetry," says Marco Cattaneo, the editor of Le Scienze, the Italian version of Scientific American, based in Rome. "But it also made me sad to think of how fragile it all is. Will Lanting be able to find all those ecosystems and animals in 20 years?" Cattaneo's somber comment illustrates one of the deeper purposes of an event like the Genoa Science Festival. The wonders of the natural world will be lost if people do not know what they're missing. Scientific exploration deserves a celebration--and in Genoa, they're doing so with great style." To read more about the festival and the full review, please check: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/1107/2?ck=nck    Christine Eckstrom: 2007 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award Winner  Christine Eckstrom: 2007 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award Winner The Society of American Travel Writers announced the 2007 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism winners. Among magazines, National Geographic Traveler won five awards, including the Bronze winner Christine K. Eckstrom, for her article “The Last Real Africa,” in the March-April 2007 issue of National Geographic Traveler. Read Chris's story: "The Last Real Africa," by Christine Eckstrom See National Geographic Traveler's press release about the awards: http://intelligenttravel.typepad.com/it/2007/10/we-have-a-horn-.html Read more about the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism award winners: http://www.satwf.com/2007lowellthomastraveljournalismawards.aspx     Life: A Journey Through Time, featured on NPR's Day to Day  SANTA CRUZ, CA, July 31, 2006. The National Public Radio show "Day to Day," hosted by Alex Chadwick, featured a segment on the multimedia orchestral premiere of Frans Lanting's "Life: A Journey Through Time," in Santa Cruz on July 29. The broadcast is archived on the "Day to Day" home page on the NPR web site. To read the press release, please click here. To LISTEN to Alex Chadwick's NPR interview, please click here. To READ the Yahoo! story about Frans Lanting and LIFE, click here. To VIEW images from the LIFE Music premiere, please click here. To READ the Santa Cruz Sentinel editorial about the LIFE Music premiere, please click here. To READ the San Jose Mercury News interview with Frans Lanting, please click here.    Bay Area Back Roads Features Segment on Frans Lanting  For those of you who were not able to tune in on June 5, 2007, local TV show Bay Area Back Roads did a feature segment on Frans Lanting. This ten-minute clip gives a brief tour of some of Frans's favorite local photo locations. The feature also gives a preview of the gallery and many of Frans's famous photographs. Watch the segment...    May 2007 National Geographic Feature on Zambia Wildlife  Frans Lanting and Christine Eckstrom recently spend two seasons in Zambia's remote Luangwa Valley observing how the dry season effects wildlife. Be sure to watch Chris's video clips for a glimps into the lives of hippos, giraffes, and elephants. Read the main article... View the photos... Watch the video clips...    Frans Lanting Speaks at TED Conference in Monterey  TED started out as an annual conference in Monterey devoted to Technology, Entertainment and Design. The content has broadened in recent years, but this annual event is still the main engine that drives TED's success, bringing together 1000 of the world's most remarkable people. In 2002 Frans spoke on "Eye to Eye" and then again in 2006 on "LIFE". Recently the new TED website went live and it features several dozen of the best TED presentations, including Frans's presentation about LIFE. Check out the new TED website... Preview Frans's TED talk...     Santa Cruz Magazine Focus!  "Celebrating the Wildlife with Frans Lanting & Christine Eckstrom" Read Santa Cruz Magazine's cover story on acclaimed nature photographer Frans Lanting and writer Christine Eckstrom. Learn of their travels around the world to document life, and time, on Earth. Click here to read the on-line feature...    What the press is saying about Frans Lanting's LIFE:   "Renowned wildlife photographer Frans Lanting has unveiled a new project with an unexpected new partner - acclaimed American composer Philip Glass. Their collaboration is "Life: A Journey Through Time," a multimedia presentation that's a feast for both the eyes and ears." --Alex Chadwick, National Public Radio "Frans Lanting is one of the world's foremost wildlife photographers, with a portfolio that stretches from Antarctica to Africa, diatoms to elephants... What distinguishes the Dutch-born photographer's work is not just his technical excellence - it's the idea behind the image, or more accurately the thinking behind a collection of images. He's the master of high-concept photography: finding the word or phrase or unifying idea around which the images orbit, not just illustrating the idea but amplifying it, demonstrating it... "Life: A Journey through Time" is Lanting's latest project, and it takes high concept to a still higher plane. This time he's joined forces with composer Philip Glass to create a multimedia concert experience that attempts to demonstrate the entire flow of life, from the big bang to the full flowering of life on Earth." - Christian Kallen, Yahoo! "...'Life: A Journey Through Time,' is a multimedia creation story built around hundreds of images by the acclaimed nature photographer Frans Lanting, and digitally matched to the lushly pulsing music of Philip Glass. Saturday night at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, the hourlong work received its world premiere and it worked. A high-tech charmer, it offers up gentle shock and awe, taking a romantic view of nature and the evolution of life. In the world of Lanting and Glass, the eyes of frogs look like jewels in a Tiffany display case; lagoons glow iridescently; and all the while, the music lifts and swirls, as we are proffered images of life moving out of the sea, onto land, into the air, and so on. Music director Marin Alsop led the festival orchestra through a supple performance of Glass' insistent, pinwheeling, seven-part suite as Lanting's images (of Earth's crust and mystic volcanoes, trilobites and birds in flight, jellyfish and tortoises, apes and people) danced, almost literally, to the music, dissolving and morphing across a giant projection screen, 48 feet long and 13 feet high, above the players. I found 'Life', which was commissioned by the festival, to be whimsical, fairly wondrous and lacking in pretension, happy to provoke pleasure. Saturday's sold-out performance was a real event, with 'bravos' ringing out before Alsop even lifted her baton." - Richard Scheinin, San Jose Mercury News