Frans Lanting (born 13 July 1951) is a Dutch National Geographic photographer, author and speaker.
Life
Lanting was born in Rotterdam in Netherlands. He studied economics at the Erasmus university in Rotterdam and later immigrated to the United States. He now lives in Santa Cruz, California, and operates a studio and gallery as well as a stock photography service. Lanting's wife Christine Eckstrom is a writer, editor, producer, and works on joint books of nature photography.
Lanting works in many different parts of the world, including the Amazon basin, Africa and Antarctica. His photographs are regularly published in National Geographic, where he served as photographer-in-residence. He took thousands of photographs of bonobos, most of which were deemed to be too explicit by the magazine, as the animals engage in frequent sexual activity. Lanter used some of these photographs in his collaboration with Frans de Waal in The Forgotten Ape (1997).
From May through July 2012 there was an exhibition with 75 photos from Life: A Journey Through Time on the SSRotterdam in the harbour of Rotterdam.
In August 2012, Lanting became an ambassador of the World Wide Fund for Nature in the Netherlands.
On 25 August 2012, a special concert version of LIFE was held in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam celebrating 50 years of the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Exhibitions
29 May – 30 August 1998: "Eye in Eye", Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam
5 October 2000 – 14 January 2001: "Jungles", about tropical rainforest, Naturalis in Leiden
23 September 2006 – 2 September 2007: "LIFE", a journey through life, Naturalis in Leiden
9 June – 4 September 2016: Solo exhibition: Dialogue with Nature, Netherlands Photo Museum in Rotterdam
January 19–April 30, 2023: Bay of Life: From Wind to Whales, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History
1997 – 2nd prize Nature and Environment Stories, World Press Photo
1999 – Lanting was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of The Royal Photographic Society in 1999. These are awarded to distinguished persons having, from their position or attainments, an intimate connection with the science or fine art of photography or the application thereof.
2001 H.R.H. Prince Bernhard inducted him as a Knight in the Royal Order of the Golden Ark, the Netherlands' highest conservation honor.