Story and photos courtesy of the Pawnee Republican

PERU - Joel Sartore, an award winning photographer, spoke at Peru State College Thursday, September 4. Sartore worked for 25 years as a photographer for National Geographic before turning to his passion project, the Photo Ark.

The Photo Ark is Sartore’s project to photograph every species on the planet. He said the idea for this project came to him while his wife was battling breast cancer. Sartore said he had spent most of his time away from home and it was putting a strain on his marriage.

 

When his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, he gave up traveling to stay close to home with her and their three children. During this time he began to think about doing something closer to home.

He added that he wanted to do something with staying power. During his time with National Geographic, he has taken many iconic photographs. However, he said these photographs are often tossed away once the next issue comes out, and the story they were intended to tell is forgotten.

Sartore told of several “extinction photographs” from history. These are pictures or short video clips of animals that are now extinct.

 

The practice began in the late 19th century when photography and videography began to gain traction. Sartore largely credits John James Audubon, a French American ornithologist.

Audubon studied bird species and over his life began to notice a number of these species going extinct. In an effort to memorialize these species, he began to paint stunning pictures of the birds.

 

However, Sartore said even during this time, many animals went extinct before their likeness could ever be captured. Sartore is now on a mission to ensure no more animals’ likenesses are lost to extinction.

As a conservationist, Sartore hopes to bring awareness to the problem of extinction across the globe. To achieve this, he photographs the animals on plain black or white backgrounds. He calls these backgrounds “the great equalizer.” These backgrounds do not distract the viewer from the animals as well as bringing all animals, large and small, to the same level.

He also tries to capture animals when they make facial expressions. He said this helps the viewer to connect with the animal, and that connection has staying power.

“I want to get people to care while there’s still time- and there is still time,” he said.

Sartore entertained his audience with several stories about photographing the animals, including the time he waited over two hours for a tiger to step onto his backdrop. Like a typical cat, the tiger laid in every part of the room- except the backdrop. She rolled on her back and batted at the cage Sartore sat in with his equipment, she bathed herself, and even hesitated to walk in the room at all.

 

Finally, zoo staff used Prada perfume to coax the tiger onto the backdrop. Intrigued by the scent, the tiger followed her nose to the scent’s source and contentedly laid down to lap it up.

Another time when he attempted to photograph a tiger in China, he spent several months trying to convince the Chinese government to allow him to paint a wall in the enclosure black so that he could photograph the tiger in front of it.

Sartore also admitted he has yet to get good pictures of chimpanzees. He said these animals are so mean and ornery that he has failed pretty much every time he has tried.

One time, while in Indonesia, his black bag containing his wallet and the drive full of the pictures he had taken in the country was stolen from right under his nose. Sartore said he was less upset about losing his passport and wallet and more upset about losing the hundreds of pictures he’d taken. “I grieved for months,” he said.

Finally, to cope with the loss, Sartore started a list of all the animals that had been photographed on the stolen drive. Over the years he has managed to photograph these animals again, one by one. He has now made it through 70% of this list.

“I want to get people to care while there’s still time- and there is still time"

Sartore

 

Sartore got his start with National Geographic by taking pictures at state fairs. He said most photojournalists tend to be “serious and artsy.” But he always preferred to take silly pictures.

“I became the silly guy,” he said. He spent his beginning years traveling all over the country to get humorous pictures at various state fairs. From there, he moved to taking silly pictures of people in their daily lives- including his own family, once documenting the various places his son threw public fits.

Finally, he began to take pictures of animals in the wild. These often caused him to put himself in precarious and dangerous positions to get a good shot. In one of these encounters, he used a flash bulb a little too close to a bison. The angry bison then trapped Sartore beneath a truck, but Sartore managed to photograph even this.

He said people often ask him if he’s ever almost died taking a photo. He said while the bison incident was a close call, the most dangerous shoot had involved bats.

During this shoot, he got some bat excrement in his eye. He said this was just as severe as a bite. After an extended hospital stay and lots of medical attention, his life was saved.

This time photographing animals in their natural habitats is what led to Sartore’s love for animals and passion for conservation.

The Photo Ark photos are used in several campaigns to spread awareness about conservation efforts. They can be viewed on his website Joelsartore.com.