“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 create fine art prints of my wildlife portraits to highlight our connection to wild things we share this planet with.
I believe that being able to make wildlife portraits is a tremendous privilege. The places where wild animals live are 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 the places they call home.
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.
