Frans Lanting

“Life needs a membrane to contain itself so it can replicate and mutate.”

“A lion is not a lion is not a lion. As individuals, as mates, as members of a society, they're all very different.”

“Tourism is important because it can create sustainable local economies. I'd much rather have 1,000 tourists going up the Tambopata than 1,000 gold miners.”

“Life is a force in its own right. It is a new element. And it has altered the Earth. It covers Earth like a skin.”

“Biodiversity starts in the distant past and it points toward the future.”

“I think a photograph, of whatever it might be - a landscape, a person - requires personal involvement. That means knowing your subject, not just snapping at what's in front of you.”

“I became interested in photography during my first visit to the United States. I was a student at a university in Holland. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the American West. That was when I learned about the tradition of nature in American photography.”

“My wife says that I become different once I start to work with animals. My movements become different, my mood is different. It involves letting everything fall behind you, becoming intuitive in your dealings with wild creatures in a way that bypasses reason. Sometimes it's more like a dance than anything else.”

“Nature's my muse and it's been my passion.”

“The Galapagos Islands provide a window on time. In a geologic sense, the islands are young, yet they appear ancient.”

“I want to interpret the natural world and our links to it. It's driven by the belief of many world-class scientists that we're in the midst of an extinction crisis... This time it's us that's doing it.”

“Water is the key to life, but in frozen form, it is a latent force. And when it vanishes, Earth becomes Mars.”