Seasons of Life and Land

Though beautifully illustrated, this is not just another coffee-table book. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land is a two-year photographic investigation documenting the necessity of preserving this land in its pristine state.

Press Release for Seasons of Life & Land

Seasons of Life & Land, press release

Review Clips for Seasons of Life & Land

[The photographs] defy the administration's argument...that drilling would not disrupt the refuge because for most of the year it is an area of 'flat, white nothingness. In the tradition of landscape photographers Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter, Banerjee's images of a densely feathered American dipper flitting in a pool of icy water, of the bleached bones of whales reaching out from a snow-covered cemetery, of a sky painted lipstick red by the Northern Lights, tell otherwise. — Los Angeles Times - June 5, 2003

When you see Banerjee's most memorable pictures, it's not hardship that's evident but beauty. A non-formulaic beauty. Banerjee doesn't try to get perfect 'Hallmark' scenes. While he did shoot the most spectacular, neon-like image that I have ever seen, he isn't one to milk sunsets. Instead he shows the beauty of ordinary scenes and the passing of the seasons. He isn't afraid of what others might see as 'a mess.' He finds the grace in tangled-up branches and unruly weeds…Banerjee's landscapes seem epic, and there is something about them that is haunting. — Vanity Fair - December 18, 2003

Through his photos, Banerjee memorializes a unique landscape of great scale…Roland Barthes described photographs as images that can only happen once, imploring us to look at a moment captured in time. ANWR, rendered so magisterially in Seasons of Life and Land, demands that we look now. If this great wilderness goes the way of the Everglades, the photographic record will be one of shame. — Wildlife Conservation - December 18, 2003

This book contains gorgeous close-ups of wildflowers and spectacular panoramas of wilderness as far as the eye can see. There are breathtaking aerial shots of mountains, rivers and migratory routes-and there are gut-wrenching photos of the industrial sprawl at neighboring Prudhoe Bay….Seasons of Life and Land deserves a large and receptive readership. — The Olympian - June 5, 2003

The spectacular 120 photographs have the power to transport the viewer into the extraordinary beauty of this 'sacred place where all life begins'. — Outdoors West - July 13, 2003

It's hard to believe that this beautifully executed, passionate book about a nature preserve north of the Arctic Circle that is home to thousands of migrating caribou could well be a significant ecological publication. ... From a double rainbow arching over the taiga... to a rare red aurora borealis... this book is an eye-opening treasure. — New York Newsday - July 9, 2003

It's a spectacular tour of endangered wildlife, tremendous terrain, otherworldly skyscapes, and isolated Inuit villages. And it is arguably the most comprehensive -- and potentially politically influential -- visual chronicle of the Refuge to date. — National Geographic Adventure - March 20, 2003

Amazingly, it has taken a native of Calcutta, India, to bring home to the American people the jewel in our crown. And he has done a superb job. This book should be required reading of every senator, congressman, and president. — The Explorers Journal - March 29, 2004

[Banerjee's] exquisite photos allow the voices of plants, animals and indigenous people to be heard, and make it impossible to consider this land as a barren expanse. — E, The Environmental Magazine - March 29, 2004

What a grand and timely achievement. Banerjee has influenced the course of a political battle over whether to open the refuge to oil drilling. Essays by Peter Matthiessen and David Allen Sibley, among others, and a forward by Jimmy Carter, add depth and force. The talented people at The Mountaineers Books have produced an elegant, intriguing book with spectacular color photographs. — Audubon Naturalist News - March 29, 2004