A Visual Ode to Mother Earth Is A Beautifully Bound Wake Up Call.

mother by marsel van oosten

Award-winning nature photographer Marsel van Oosten has just completed a very personal project that goes public next month in the form of a large and beautifully bound new book. Working his way through over 666,000 images, reprocessing some old and processing some new, he has selected his favorite images from the past 15 years to represent his own stunning visual ode to Mother Earth: MOTHER.

MOTHER by Marsel van Oosten

Mother by Marsel van oosten

The pandemic gave the Netherlands-born photographer the extra time to process never-before-seen images that are included in the large and beautiful coffee table book, along with several of his most popular shots from over the years. Featuring 320 pages with 170 large format images, the book is broken down into five chapters, one for each continent upon which the pics were taken: Africa, North America, Antarctica, Asia, and Europe.⁠

lionesses photo marsel van oosten

MOTHER coffee table book

landscape photography book

The almost 2 pound book serves as a wakeup call about the various threats to our planet and the living creatures upon it. The animals and wild places in MOTHER are what we stand to lose if we don’t act now. The paper used for MOTHER contains no wood and part of the proceeds of each book sold will be donated to The Canopy Project which plants trees all over the world.

van oosten snow monkey

wildlife photography book

landscape photos

Oosten also did the book’s design as well as having written much of the text, including the introductions to each chapter.⁠

The forward in MOTHER is written by world-famous evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein and the book also features features a lengthy and candid interview with the photographer/author by Aleena von Storms.

snow monkey van oosten

⁠In the back of the book, you can find thumbnails of all the images in MOTHER, each with an informative caption as well as the EXIF information.⁠

Collector’s Edition
mother book collector's edition

There is also a Special Collector’s Edition limited to 100 that contains 58 extra images, 5 double fold-outs of over 1 meter (3 feet) wide, and comes in an oversized handmade clamshell box. It has a special cover and comes with a a large fine art print. The beautiful cover of The Collectors’ Edition is hand-bound in Italy using textured faux caiman leather made entirely from recycled natural fiber.

mother collectors edition clamshell box

Learn more about the MOTHER Collector’s Edition here.

Part of the proceeds of MOTHER will be donated to The Canopy Project. Their aim is to improve our shared environment by planting trees across the globe. In 2020, The Canopy Project has a goal of planting 7.8 billion trees – one tree for every person on earth. For every book sold, 5 trees will be planted. For every Collectors’ Edition sold, 50 trees will be planted.

About Marsel van Oosten
marsel van oosten

Marsel van Oosten is a professional nature photographer from The Netherlands, with a background in advertising and graphic design.

Marsel is a nature lover with a deep concern for the natural world. Successful conservation starts with awareness, and he hopes that his images will make people aware that Mother Earth needs our protection and inspire them to take action. In his work, he tries to simplify, to get rid of the extraneous: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

His images have won many awards around the globe, and he is the world’s only photographer to have won the Grand Slam: the grand titles Wildlife Photographer of the Year, International Nature Photographer of the Year, and Travel Photographer of the Year.

His images are featured in galleries and museums, are used worldwide in advertising and design, and he is a regular contributor to National Geographic. He is also a Nikon brand ambassador, a death metal connoisseur, and a recovering Nutella addict.

birds photo marsel van oosten

Marsel currently lives in South Africa with producer Daniella Sibbing. Together they also run workshops and safari tours! Check those out here.

Follow him on Instagram @marselvanoosten

MOTHER

mother book
Publisher: teNeues (May 15, 2021)
Language: English (and German)
Hardcover: 304 pages
Weight: 1.74 pounds
Dimensions: 10.63 x 14.17 inches

⁠Amazon has it for a discounted price of $50 here