THE NATIONAL PARKS: OUR AMERICAN LANDSCAPE Preview & Two book Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY ENDED
THE NATIONAL PARKS:
OUR AMERICAN LANDSCAPE
BY IAN SHIVE
foreword by THOMAS C. KIERNAN

ABOUT THE BOOK:

America’s national parks and historical sites embody the American spirit. They are windows to our past, homes to some of the world’s rarest plants and animal species, and places where every American and international traveler can go to find inspiration, peace, and open space. American National Parks protect some of the most beautiful, majestic and awe-inspiring places on earth. From mountains and rivers, to forests and plains, these national parks open our minds and refresh our spirits. When you visit Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon or any of the 391 park units, you see nature at its best and stand in the shadow of our heroes and ancestors.

THE NATIONAL PARKS: OUR AMERICAN LANDSCAPE (Earth Aware Editions, August 2009) presents a wonderfully updated photographic survey of the nation’s greatest treasures. Seen through the eyes of the National Parks magazine photographer and International League of Conservation Photographers member Ian Shive, America’s National Park System comes to life through a collection of more than 200 new photographs. Sponsored by the National Parks Conservation Association and the International League of Conservation Photographers, Shive’s first book of photography is a journey to the places that have long inspired him. “Since my youth,” Shive writes, “I’ve seen the national parks as the last authentic vestiges of America’s wildest places — symbols of its one-of-a-kind spirit.” Thomas C. Kiernan, President of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), has contributed a foreword to the book. A portion of the proceeds from book sales will go to the NPCA.

Shive’s stunning images demonstrate the diversity and awe-inspiring beauty of the American wild lands. The National Parks features photographs of the major parks from the Florida Everglades to Mt. McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska. The book includes classic and popular parks such as Yosemite and Yellowstone, as well as images from less well-known parks such as Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California and Steamtown National Historic Site in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The primary style and driving force of the book are Shive’s natural landscape photographs. To complement the images, intimate details of Shive’s adventures photographing the parks are highlighted throughout.

Being a photographer seems like a mighty glamorous job — traveling to exotic places and enjoying dramatically beautiful landscapes and wild animals — but as Shive explains, “there is a brutal side most people don’t realize.” Imagine 100mph winds, and temperatures 50-below zero, blizzards and your vehicle hitting a rock in the middle of nowhere when you have a flight to catch in the morning. Physical challenges aside, the ensuing images that come from Shive’s travels clearly document his love for the natural world and his willingness to work with nature to capture the unique images in The National Parks, which were shot digitally using Canon 5D cameras, and are not doctored. A purist at heart, Shive “believes in the utmost truth regarding the ethics of photography. No skies were added, no details removed in any of these photos except for the exorbitant amount of dust that manages to find itself stuck to my camera sensor. All images of wildlife were taken in the wild. All images were processed using Adobe Photoshop and some contrast and saturation was added but nothing beyond what would have taken place if I had been shooting with Fuji Velvia film.”

Amy Leinbach Marquis, associate editor for National Parks Magazine, recalls her amazing adventure with the fearless photographer to Big Bend for a shoot, “We’d drive to a photogenic spot, and while I soaked in the scenery, Ian would bound swift and light-footed through fields of sharp, spiky agaves and dagger-tipped cacti to capture the best light. The plants would cut right through his jeans and into his legs, and he’d return to the car shredded and bleeding and plucking out thorns. But he always exceeded his goal of capturing one good photograph a day.” At the local diner, where Shive edited the day’s shoot, Marquis relates how the locals would react to his work; “Waitresses and park staff would linger around our dinner table, peering wide-eyed over Ian’s shoulder as if seeing Big Bend for the very first time. His images weren’t just illustrations of the place; they were a gift to the people who called it home.”

Monde de la Photographie, a Paris, France based photography publication has compared Shive to Ansel Adams and many consider Shive to be “picking up the torch” where Adams left off.

Singing Ian Shive’s praises comes easy for those who experience his work. Scott Kirkwood, editor for National Parks Magazine, sees thousands of images of national parks each year. “As much as I enjoy spending time reviewing images of Acadia’s cliffs, Zion’s peaks and everything in between, there’s a point where I start to think seen it. When the magazine sends a photographer on assignment to Glacier National Park, he’s got to execute a shot that not only screams ‘Glacier’ before the reader even sees a caption, but also whispers something new to those who have visited the park dozens of times. Like painting a still life that reveals something more than just a bowl of fruit, it’s not easy to do. But Ian Shive does it. I’m still trying to figure out how.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/PHOTOGRAPHER:

IAN SHIVE, 31, is an award-winning environmental and conservation oriented-photographer, author and film producer, who has emerged at the leading edge of related outdoor, lifestyle and landscape photography. A rock climber and certified scuba diver, Shive's relentless pursuit of inspiring imagery has taken him around the world - from assignments deep beneath the California coast, to the equatorial jungles of the Malaysian rain forest, to the far northern arctic mountainsides of Mt. McKinley, Alaska. Having documented for the last several years the world's diverse landscapes and the relationship mankind has with nature, Shive's photographs have appeared in countless publications spanning the globe including Time Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, National Geographic, Popular Science, The Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Popular Photography and Outside Magazine, to name a few.

In August 2009, Shive's first book was released titled The National Parks: Our American Landscape, a collection of over 200 stunning images depicting America's national parks with a fresh, modern approach published under Earth Aware Editions and available in stores nationwide. To date, Shive and the book have been featured in an eight-page spread in the August 2009 issue of Sunset Magazine, reaching 2.9 subscribers. Shive has also participated in numerous other television press interviews including for ABC News, CBS, PBS and many others. Followed on the social media networks, Twitter and Facebook, Shive has received prominence on numerous web sites and in print including, among others, Boys Life Magazine (Aug. '09) (2.3 million), Scholastic.com and Scholastic Magazine (Aug. '09) (1.3 print), About.com (1.2 million), Mother Nature News (MNN.com) (1.2 million), SierraClub.com (1.2 million), and Lonely Planet Magazine (Aug. '09) (70,000) which praised the book “the best in print.


Shive also is co-producer of the television travelogue from-the-road, Wild Exposure, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the parks book, which debuted in August 2009 and continues to air on the Al Gore television channel, Current TV. The program was created through Shive's multimedia production company WildCollective.com, an emerging leader in the development of multimedia pieces for the web using still photos and video. Shive pioneered the multimedia/mixed-media genre particularly for environmental and conservation-based non-profits including The Nature Conservancy and the National Parks Conservation Association, with whom he proudly maintains ongoing relationships among numerous other similar groups.

Beyond the role of photographer/author/producer, Shive also is an actively dedicated advocate for the causes he photographs, having met in 2009 with individual members of the House of Representatives and Senate to address the related issues through his images and to participate in a group exhibit on Capitol Hill. He is a member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) based in Washington, D.C., and whose membership represents the highest standards and ethics in nature photography today.

Prior to his career in photography, Shive worked in marketing for Sony's Columbia Pictures for over eight years on such films as the Spider-Man franchise, Memoirs of a Geisha, Pursuit of Happyness and over 60 other major motion pictures. Most proud of his role in the preservation of the world's wild lands, Shive's philosophy is that the powerful medium of photography has shaped our view of the environment in the past and can continue to shape those views in the future. He resides in Los Angeles.

GIVEAWAY

I am very excited that thanks
to Elizabeth at Terry Hines Associates
I have TWO copies of this MAGNIFICENT
book to give away to two lucky readers!

Today, is
IAN SHIVE DAY
on my blog and I will post another
two posts today. One will be with my
interview of Ian and my review of this
wonderful book. The other will be later
today for a couple more fabulous video
clips and MORE BONUS chances to enter!

RULES:

--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES, PLEASE
--EMAIL ADDRESS MUST BE INCLUDED
IN YOUR COMMENTS
--EACH COMMENT MUST BE SEPARATE
OR IT WILL ONLY COUNT AS ONE ENTRY


HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON A PHOTOGRAPH BY IAN SHIVE FROM THE ONLINE STORE OF IAN SHIVE'S WEBSITE HERE THAT YOU LIKED THE BEST (OH, THIS WILL BE HARD TO PICK, I KNOW). THEY HAVE TITLES YOU CAN USE IN THIS ENTRY.

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHICH OF THE NATIONAL PARKS YOU HAVE BEEN TO, OR WANTED TO GO TO, AND NAME IT/THEM.

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK HERE AND LEAVE A LINK

+1 MORE ENTRY: HAVE A NEW PERSON COME AND VISIT MY BLOG AND THEY MUST TELL ME YOUR BLOG NAME HERE FOR YOU TO GET AN EXTRA ENTRY. YOU MAY SEND AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU WANT BUT ONLY ONE WILL COUNT FOR AN EXTRA ENTRY.

DEADLINE TO ENTER IS
6 PM, EST, DECEMBER 14
GOOD LUCK!