Yann Arthus-Bertrand is a French photographer and author. He became famous in 1999 with his illustrated book "The Earth from Above" - impressions of our planet, nature and people, shot from a helicopter.
"Now the 67-year-old Frenchman has climbed back into the helicopter with his camera - and this time he only focused on the oceans. 200 photographs made it into the large-format volume "The Human and the Oceans" (Knesebeck), which is both a picture book and an environmental pamphlet.
In a dozen interviews, oceanologists and ecologists comment on topics such as fishing, biodiversity and the impact of shipping on nature. The photos show far more than just blue masses of water and shimmering green lagoons. They document oceans as habitats. They show where the Human a friendly, where is a ruthless flatmate.
This creates impressive contrasts. One picture shows a salt lake in Australia coloured blood red by millions of microalgae - a natural process. The next page shows the gruesome work of sealers in Canada: the blood of dozens of dead animals seeps into the white ice cover in the Gulf of St Lawrence.
Another photo shows the Raja Ampat archipelago, one of the most biodiverse marine regions in the world. You can see nothing but green-covered hills rising out of aquamarine-coloured water. Here, between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, swim sharks, rays and green sea turtles."
Such an article in Spiegel Online about the illustrated book.
The relationship between Human and the sea are reciprocal, so you don't have to be an environmental moraliser. We find the selection of published pictures impressive and have ordered the book directly!
The Human and the Oceans
Yann Arthus-Bertrand (Author), Brian Skerry (Author)
Knesebeck
For example at amazon.de
English 
German
The photographs confirm the thesis that the maritime can also be aroused through emotion. If you can underpin this emotion with facts and figures, what more could you want?
A great book with impressive photographs that is highly recommended. However, in view of the now well-known labour conditions at amazon.de, you may want to consider whether you are supporting this by making your own purchases. Due to fixed book prices in Germany, you can also order the book from the bookshop around the corner. They also deliver within two days. And we secure jobs.