“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.”
The quote above is from pioneering ecologist Aldo Leopold, and has been a guiding light since I first read it nearly 50 years ago in John Ross’ class on environmental ethics at Indiana University. I have worked endlessly trying to be one of the doctors and to teach others that there isn’t any real divide between humans and the other animals on our planet. We are all Earthlings! How different can we be?
I believe that being able to do wildlife photography is a tremendous privilege. The places where wild animals live are coming under increased human pressure from every direction: road building, urban and suburban sprawl, habitat destruction, conflicts with domestic animals, timber harvesting, mineral exploration and extraction, global climate change, ever-increasing crowding in parks and preserves. Think for a minute of the myriad ways stress creeps into our lives and it isn’t hard to understand what life is like for Earth’s wild creatures and places.
In order to first do no harm, I am dedicated to conducting all of my work in a professional and ethical manner, including following the North American Nature Photography Association’s “Principles of Ethical Field Practices.”
My parents impressed upon me as a small child that our wild cousins are breathtakingly beautiful and inspiring. I make wildlife photographs to share their world with other people and, hopefully, to encourage respect for all life on our planet, and to help guide policy in dealing with the natural wold. I believe that E.O. Wilson’s Half-Earth Project, giving wild nature half of Earth’s land and water in order to thrive, is the right thing to do, and in humans’ best interest as well.
Leftovers Again! Wolf At Elk Carcass
I was driving home from Glacier National Park through Yellowstone on this dreary October afternoon when I spotted signs of wildlife, dozens of cars pulled off of the main road and large telephoto lenses all pointing in the same direction! Pulling over I saw this lone wolf scavenging for dinner at this picked-over elk carcass. I grabbed my kit, donned my foul weather gear and found a not too soggy spot to set up my tripod. I spent the next several hours sitting on the ground making photographs of this beautiful wolf. Others who had arrived before me explained that a pack of wolves had killed this elk in the morning and reduced it to leftover skin and bones in about 5 hours, before moving on. This wolf showed up later and I’m not sure if he is a low-ranking pack member or a lone young wolf looking for a home. I suspect the second given the way he kept nervously looking over his shoulder and walking off into the brush periodically to survey the area. As I said, it was a cold, nasty day of rain, sleet and snow. Conditions that meant this wolf needed to eat a bunch of calories to keep warm overnight. Photo made on October 9, 2021 on the Grand Loop Road, Yellowstone National Park, across from Firehole Lake Drive.