Up Close and Personal
An Interview with James Balog

Listen with RealAudio          Need audio help?

Gazelles bend their necks in balletic grace over a waterhole. Elephants gather for a chat. Massive-jawed hyenas descend on their prey, revealing teeth that seem to belong to arks. A two-week old orangutan rejected by its mom and saved by zoo-keepers, looks quizzically into the camera's lens. These are just a few of the images you'll find in James Balog's book, Animal, one of the most astonishing collections of wildlife photography I've ever seen. Balog's work has appeared in magazines like Time and National Geographic. Now I've heard James say that getting a good shot has nothing to do with film or equipment. So when he stopped by the studio recently I asked him, if that's true, then what are the ingredients of a successful picture?