Rich feast of nature

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 19

Rich feast of nature

New Zealand: The Living Land. By Geoff Moon. Collins, 1966. 184 pp. $5O.

(Reviewed by

Thelma Strongman).

Geoff Moon is a photographer and veterinarian whose work has appeared in several of his own books and those of others. In much of this work he has concentrated on photographing birds — and birds also form the basis of his latest book of New Zealand landscapes, plants, and animals. His colour photographs are numerous and well-chosen. Every picture seems to make more than one statement. The core Idea is direct and simple, and yet looking further the image changes to an aesthetic appreciation of nature in general. For instance, the photograph of< spur-winged plovers gives excellent information on how these particular birds behave in flight. It also says something about all flight, whether by wing or machine, and the qualities of air and of space.

In other photographs there are**” secondary statements about the abstract patterning of nature, of;“ texture, of moods engendered by . subtle variations of colour, and of’ concepts of time and movement,'.' encapsulated for a single moment when the camera’s shutter fell. The variety of the New Zealand. ,7 landscape is indicated by divisions of-* the book into areas such as the wetlands, the forests, rural and urbanlandscapes, and high country. With such rich visual fare it Is not surprising that the text becomes'‘ rather insignificant, but-it contains’ much information, some of interestingly expressed. This is a book to be enjoyed on its,, own merit, but for visitors to New - Zealand, or family and friends abroad,, .* Geoff Moon’s photographs will give a fair indication of the essence and diversity of New Zealand’s rich ecological structure. ’. j