“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.”
Photography With Purpose
The above quote, by author, professor, and pioneering ecologist Aldo Leopold, and has been a guiding light in my life since I first read it nearly 50 years ago in John Ross’ class on environmental ethics at Indiana University. I’ve worked endlessly trying to be one of the doctors and to teach others that the divide between humans and the other animals on our planet is entirely an artificial human construct, and that work includes making wildlife portraits. We are all Earthlings, how different can we be?
Being allowed to make wildlife portraits is a tremendous privilege. The places where our wild cousins 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 other wild creatures and the places they call home.
My parents loved nature and passed that love down to their children. They impressed upon us that our wild cousins are not just breathtakingly beautiful and inspiring, but free individuals worthy of our respect regardless of their utility to humans. I make wildlife portraits to share their beauty the beauty of the wild places where they make their homes and livings and, hopefully, to encourage respect for all life on our planet and to help inform public sentiment and policy.
I make wildlife photographs to share their world with others. 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.”
Wildlife Portraits That Tell A Story
In all of my wildlife portraits I try for more than a picture of the subject. My aim is to capture the behaviors, emotions, moods and locations that made this particular encounter special to me at the instant when all the elements came together to reveal the essence of the drama unfolding in real time in front of me. In all of these photographs, whether they are intimate close-ups showing the delicate curl of an eyebrow or environmental compositions that show an animal going about their daily life, the decision for that particular composition was made with a purpose in mind. To tell a story and give us a glimpse into the spirit of a fellow wild being.
Enjoy browsing this Wildlife Gallery, and remember that there are many different types of fine art prints available.
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.
