As the year winds down, it’s important to remember the beauty in the world, right? So we wanted to open your eyes to an incredible photographer with a unique way of seeing the world and how humans are shaping the species we share the planet with.

Tim Flach’s work has a distinct style that focuses on animals and is directly informed by the influences – bad and good – that humans have had on those animals. On his website, he gives an example of a chicken whose naturally occurring recessive mutation, which makes it featherless, has led to its exploitation by big farming breeding programs, and the symbolism that reveres the dove but labels the city-dwelling pigeon “flying vermin.”

Here’s a small sampling of work from his book, More Than Human, which was published in 2012.

Most would agree that humans have had a profound effect on the planet and all the creatures who exist here. When we came across Flach’s photography in a New York Times profile earlier this year, those effects came roaring to the front of the narrative. The way that Flach captures the beauty of the animal but also the unique sense of story each animal tells the camera with a look — or, as in the case of Jambo, the chimpanzee, the attitude and lack of a look — is mesmerizing.

Tim Flach has published four books since 2008 titled Equus (’08), Dog Gods (’10), More Than Human (’12), and Evolution (’13), and his work has been featured in National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, The Sunday Times, the New York Times, and New Scientist. You can also see a selection of his work on his website, which has the coolest landing page we’ve ever seen, and be as inspired as we have been.

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IMAGES: All images have been used with the explicit permission of the artist.