Frans Lanting’s LIFE at the Annenberg Space For Photography

If you’ll be in Los Angeles between October 24, 2015 and March 20, 2016, make plans to see acclaimed National Geographic photographer and Outdoor Photographer columnist Frans Lanting’s exhibit, LIFE: A Journey Through Time. More than 70 images will be on display, along with an original documentary short film and four short videos spanning a multi-year project, exploring the story of our planet from its earliest beginnings to its present diversity.

From the official press release: “For The LIFE Project, Lanting set off on a journey of photographic discovery that led him to remote locations such as Western Australia’s Shark Bay and Siberia’s Kamchatka Peninsula to capture primordial landscapes—and into unique museum collections to explore fossils and microscopic life. The result is a celebration of planet Earth that aims to educate and inspire through images and stories of the incredible biodiversity that surrounds us.

“Organized in sections, the exhibition begins with ‘Elements,’ to interpret Earth’s early history and show interactions among the five classical elements: earth, air, fire, water and space; ‘Beginnings’ traces life from single-celled origins into more complex forms in the sea; ‘Out of the Sea’ evokes the time when life first ventured ashore; ‘On Land’ covers the period when plants and animals colonized solid ground; “Into the Air” highlights the evolutionary innovations of birds and flowering plants, ending with the cataclysmic events that caused the demise of the dinosaurs; ‘Out of the Dark’ portrays the rise of mammals; and the concluding chapter, ‘Planet of Life,’ envisions the collective force of life as a sixth element shaping our planet. An outdoor component of the exhibition, ‘Future of Life,’ portrays present-day challenges to global biodiversity caused by the impact of humans on the planet in an era many scientists now call the Anthropocene.

“’The simple idea of looking for the past in the present grew into a challenging photographic undertaking that extended over several years and continues to influence my work today,’ said Frans Lanting. ‘My mission was to create images of nature—from volcanoes to tree frogs—that could evoke a sense of time and origins. I wanted to apply both new scientific ideas to my subjects and new photographic concepts to my images. My approach has been that of a storyteller who draws on characters for the sake of telling a larger tale.’”

The Annenberg Space for Photography is located in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles at 2000 Avenue of the Stars. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday: 11 am–6 pm; closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Admission is free. Parking with validation is $3.50 Wednesdays–Fridays and $1.00 on weekends.

For more information: www.annenbergspaceforphotography.org.