Animal Paths

Manabu Miyazaki's photobook, "Animal Paths." This photobook compiles works from a period of about a year and a half, starting in 1976, where Miyazaki set up automatic camera traps in the mountains of the Central Alps in Nagano Prefecture to record the "animal paths" where wild animals traversed. It was published by Kyoritsu Shuppan in 1979.

Miyazaki placed unmanned camera traps in multiple locations, from the mountaintop to the foot of the mountain, continuing to photograph even when no humans were present. The book captures wary wild animals walking along the paths, stopping, and surveying their surroundings, all while reflecting the changing seasons.

By repeatedly photographing the same locations, such as mountains with lingering snow or seasons with lush vegetation, it becomes clear how animals move through the mountains and utilize their environment. The method of leaving the camera behind and waiting, rather than chasing animals to photograph them, also characterizes this work.

This is one of the representative early works of Manabu Miyazaki, who has documented the ecology of wild animals using his self-made automatic camera traps. It contains the starting point of his photographic method, which continued into later works, seeking to view human society and the natural environment from the animals' perspective.

[Title] Animal Paths
[Publisher] Kyoritsu Shuppan
[Publication Date] June 1, 1979 (First Edition)
[Number of Pages] Unpaginated
[Size] Approx. 217×305×17mm / 898g
[Format] Hardcover
[Language] Japanese
[Title Reading] KEMONOMICH
[Author/Editor, etc.] Manabu Miyazaki / Author
[Printing/Binding] Shin Nippon Printing / Printing
[ISBN] 00728182401371
[Condition] Used [7] Good (Obi: slight creasing/slight sunning on spine, Top edge: 1 stain/slight dent)
[Accessories] Obi
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Manabu Miyazaki (born 1949)

Born in Inadani, Nagano Prefecture in 1949. Photographer.

After working for a precision machinery company, he became a self-taught photographer, focusing his work on the relationship between nature and humans. He positions himself as a "news photographer of the natural world," documenting the ecology of wild animals, primarily mammals and raptors.

He has long practiced the method of photographing animal behavior in the absence of humans by making his own automatic camera traps incorporating infrared sensors and small strobes. He has published works such as "Animal Paths," "Owls," and "Death."

In 1978, he received the Ehon Nippon Taisho (Picture Book Japan Grand Prize) for "Fukurou" (Owls), in 1982 the Photographic Society of Japan Newcomer's Award for "Washi to Taka" (Eagles and Hawks), in 1990 the Domon Ken Award for "Fukurou" (Owls), and in 1995 the Photographic Society of Japan Annual Award and the Kodansha Publishing Culture Award for "Shi" (Death). In 2013, he held the exhibition "Manabu Miyazaki: Pencil of Nature" at the IZU PHOTO MUSEUM, and in 2021, a solo exhibition at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum.

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