Hasta La Ideas

Of all the rousing successes we’ve seen on Kickstarter, and we’ve seen quite a few, this one has taken us most by surprise. It’s no multi-tool, no techno-object, no magical transportation device; instead it’s a striking and all-natural visual feast by Moreno Monti and Matteo Tranchellini, two photographers who hail from Italy.

It’s a coffee table book that consists entirely of photographs of extremely photogenic chickens.

In 2013 Tranchellini, who has been entranced with birds since childhood, wanted to purchase a chicken as a pet to keep in the garden of his studio. A farmer subsequently invited him to an aviary exhibition, which then inspired the project.

The CHICken series was photographed in Italy at the Milano aviary exhibition. Many of the breeders were worried that the birds were not posed according to the breed standard. Instead, what they didn’t understand was just how well the birds had done their homework, they were natural born posers.

All of the chickens and roosters in this book are exemplary show birds. The photographic collection consists of more than 200 photos of 100 diverse types of chickens.

The photographers wanted to capture them in their natural state of being with all [their] elegance.

At press time CHICKen, “The Most Stunning High Quality Chicken Book Photos Ever Made,” had racked up $120,240 on a paltry (I almost went for it) $9,810 goal. And there were still 23 days left to pledge.