Lessons 7–8: Joel Sartore—Wildlife

Joel Sartore—Wildlife

Lessons 7–8

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any photographers focus on wildlife because they love nature,

but photographing wildlife is also a chance to make the world a

better place. Many species are on the decline; by some estimates,

we could lose up to half of all species by 2100. It’s tragic to lose any species

to extinction, and such losses can have serious repercussions for our own

survival. Photographs and photographic projects, such as the Photo Ark, can

help illuminate this problem and save many endangered animals on our planet.

Iconic Photographs

An iconic photograph is one that stands the test of time—perhaps even

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answer is: with thought and planning. You want to go beyond the obvious in

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for example. You want photographs that tell a story. And you can’t do that by

just getting off an airplane in some exotic location and looking for animals.

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the most of the time you have on site.

The three key elements of photography—light, composition, and moment—

must come together to make an iconic photograph. Look, too, for anything

that takes a scene beyond a simple, straightforward picture to something

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iconic photo is not necessarily about using gear but about using your mind.

Consider, for example, a series of shots of wolves. You can take a

straightforward picture of a wolf, a more interesting photo of a large wolf

pack, or an even more imaginative shot of feeding wolves taken with a

remote camera buried in a deer carcass. All these pictures speak about

wolves, but they’re all done in different ways, and they all require thought.

Many nature photography magazines and books are full of the same standard

pictures: tight shots taken with a long lens of, say, bears in the water. If those