As you can see, I held one out on you!
 

 

I know. I know. It couldn’t be helped. I just can’t get enough of those beautiful Lions.
 

Apparently, I am not alone. Last week’s post “Love Lies Within A Jungle”, received one of the highest number of visitors to this site. It seems that we all love animals!
 

So I thought, hmm, that’s interesting.
 

Perhaps I should give you a glance beyond the jungle this week and expose the person who is responsible for those amazing pictures—wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas.
 

Suzi Eszterhas lives in the San Francisco bay area, but because she spends nine months out the the year away shooting taking photos of a wide variety of animals in the wild, I guess you could say her real home is Africa.
 

In recent years, she has specialized in documenting family life of endangered species and has become well known for her unprecedented work with newborn animals. Her photographs are published in books, magazines and newspapers all over the world, including the front covers of “Time” and the “Smithsonian”.
 
As you can imagine, Suzi has won many awards, including those from the National Wildlife Federation, Nature’s Best and Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Although she primarily works in Africa, she has also undertaken commissions and led photography tours and workshops in the Antarctica, the Arctic, Alaska and Montana. Well, as you can see, just about everywhere.
 

 

In fact today she is headed back to Africa to teach a current workshop and wildlife tour. I could go on and on about her involvement with several International Wildlife Conservation groups, but what I really wanted to point out to you is this:
 

Suzi Eszterhas is a fellow writer.
 

Isn’t that cool? Who knew?
 

But before I get into that, I just had to ask…What attracted Susi to become a wildlife photographer? Was it her love of nature? Her passion for photography? Or was her childhood love of animals?
 

This was Suzi’s answer. “For me the attraction to wildlife photography has always been more about the animals than the photography. Though I love photography, wildlife has always been my biggest passion. I find animal behavior fascinating and learned very early on that knowing your animal subject is critical in taking good wildlife photographs. You must know where and when to find your subject, how to get close to it, and how to predict what an animal might do next in order to capture that special moment.”
 

 

And when we study each picture on this page, we can see Suzi’s passion for that special moment shining right on through.
 

As I mentioned above, Suzi Eszterhas is also a writer and she has produced a new series of children’s books that follow the lives of baby animals from their birth to adulthood as they grow up in the wild.
 

I had originally contacted her, after sighting that gorgeous picture of the father lion and his cub on the internet, wanting her permission to publish it on my blog. But after our correspondence by email, Suzi admitted that she had released these fabulous books.
 

And the name of this series is: “Eye on the Wild”.
 

 
Copies are available on Suzi’s website or on Amazon.com
 

These beautifully photographed books are for young children ages 4-7. They show all aspects of the animal’s life in the wild, with close-up pictures of the family group in its natural habitat. The books also include conservation information and useful websites.
 

If you have any young children or grandchild, you’ll want to be sure to check them out. They are so adorable. What child or adult for that matter wouldn’t want to read one of these books!
 
 

So what do you think? Which one is your favorite among the animal kingdom? Do you have any animals at home? Do you love photography? Have you ever contemplated going on a Wildlife Safari?
 

Be assured that I am forwarding your many comments to Suzi. But it might take awhile for her to reply do to the distance and her remote circumstances. 🙂
 

Thanks everyone!