Book review: FISK - scaled-up

OK, let me admit it right away: the author and photographer behind this book – Danish Søren Skarby – is a good personal friend.
That might have influenced my decision to cover it here, but I find both the book and Søren’s project as a whole very fascinating and extremely well executed, so you will get a review.

Also another fair warning: the book’s text is in Danish, and the book is published and sold in Denmark. I realize that this means that it’s both practically and reading-wise out of reach for most of you, but bear with me, because it’s definitely an interesting book and an interesting concept anyway. And I know that Søren is working on bringing the project out over the borders of this country, and someone who reads this might just be the person that Søren needs to make that happen.

So what is this book? What makes it worthy of a review here?
Well, it isn't fly fishing - hardly even fishing as such. But to anybody interested in the biology of fish and their enormous diversity and beauty, it's definitely worth looking into.

It’s a collection of Søren’s fantastic, ultra detailed images of Danish fish species, which he took a couple of years ago and exhibited as large prints. The story was told here back when I visited the exhibit and talked to Søren about the images and the process.

Pages

Søren Skarby

The displayed images were almost literally larger than life, printed in an impressing size, and really offering them justice. They are more detailed than you can imagine, and the large size exposed that clearly.
These pictures have now been gathered in this book, and Søren has written a text for each of the species, which accompanies the imagery.

Of course the images are still equally impressing, and although they aren’t as large as the out of this world wall prints, they still present themselves in stunning detail, because the book is large and the print quality is exquisite.

Søren has added way more text than what was found at the exhibit, and the images are also presented in a different context with a fantastic typography and layout, which also makes room for some smaller crops of many of the images.
Altogether this is a very worthy presentation of the images, and whether you have a deep felt interest in fish or just like to look at something beautiful, you will enjoy this book. It can also be left on the coffee table in any home, and will definitely stir some interest.

I won’t hesitate calling this global class. Large, beautiful, entertaining. And not even that expensive having a price tag of 350 DKK equaling some 45 Euros or 50 US$. Considering size and quality, that’s an absolutely fair price.