Last Big Cats An Untamed Spirit

Erwin Bauer became forever fascinated with wildlife during boyhood visits to the Cincinnati, Ohio zoo in the 1920's. An interest in nature and wildlife photography naturally followed with the acquisition in high school of a used, single lens reflex camera (to be exact, a German-made Pilot Super). Since then, as a full-time professional photographer, he has left behind footprints in sand and snow, in swamps, forests and on mountainsides, carrying more modern (but much heavier) gear. He has focused on everything from lemmings to lions, from tsetse flies to tigers through his viewfinder. But Bauer believes his career really began -- leaped to a much higher level -- in 1971, when on safari in Africa, he met and married Peggy. Since then the team has roamed the world's wilder places, cooperating, working side by side. It is impossible to tell which partner shot which picture in the Bauers' 250,000 photo file. The question most often asked the Bauers: "Isn't photographing big cats and bears dangerous?" The answer is no, although it could be for a careless cameraman. "Some of the humans we've encountered are a lot more threatening than the animals." The Bauer credit line has appeared in virtually every periodical that ever features nature photography. Their pictures have often been used in advertising programs. The Bauers have written and produced 51 books on wildlife, natural history and wilderness adventure, winning awards for a number of them. Most recently Erwin and Peggy Bauer were awarded the 2000 Lifetime Achievement Award, the top honor of the North American Nature Photographers Association.Bauer, Erwin A. is the author of 'Last Big Cats An Untamed Spirit' with ISBN 9780896585935 and ISBN 089658593X.