National Geographic Photographer Publishes Evolutionary Anthology

Jellyfish (Robert Clark/Published by Phaidon)

Robert Clark has photographed more than 40 stories for National Geographic. One of these assignments, for a story on evolutionary theory, sparked an insatiable interest in Clark, who since then, has amassed a vast catalog of images exploring the topic.

Now, for the first time ever, Clark’s evolution project has been published in a 200-image book with accompanying writing from David Quammen. A stunning celebration of nature, Evolution: A Visual Record features images of fossils, birds, insects, mammals, humans, and plants complemented by fact-filled captions. Among the book’s highlights are photos of 120,000-year-old ancient human footprints and a whale skeleton with its hind legs (see below). It also focuses on vulnerable species and some conservation success stories as well.

Published by Phaidon, Evolution sells for $39.95. Copies can be purchased here. Enjoy some of Robert Clark’s arresting images from the book below.

From left: The five-toed foot of a saltwater crocodile and the tail of the same creature (Robert Clark/Published by Phaidon)

Southern cassowary (Robert Clark/Published by Phaidon)

Angraecum sesquipe-dale, now commonly known as Darwin’s orchid, a species from Madagascar (Robert Clark/Published by Phaidon)

Remains of Homo naledi from the Rising Star Cave in South Africa (Robert Clark/Published by Phaidon)

The skeleton of a prehistoric whale (Robert Clark/Published by Phaidon)

True leaf insect or ‘walking leaf’ (Robert Clark/Published by Phaidon)

Naked mole rat (Robert Clark/Published by Phaidon)

An anhinga wing (Robert Clark/Published by Phaidon)

(Robert Clark/Published by Phaidon)