Clash of the titans filmed at last - and we owe one man

Long before I took my first flight overseas, created that first truly memorable image, saw my first extraordinarily rare creature, or live with some forgotten culture, I watched an amazing exuberant British chap with child-like zeal and curiosity climb breathlessly over mountain tops to reveal fossils, dangle from treetops in the Amazon, and lie nose-to-nose with army ants on the march. That Brit was David Attenborough (not yet a Knighted) and he gave me hope - hope that I too could remain connected to my child-like curiosity and love for the things that go bump in the night, wriggle through a swamp, and soar beyond the clouds. He continues to do so - and I am deeply indebted to him for that gift.

The BBC wildlife film crews have long been know for pushing the envelope to discover, record and share the most amazing events in nature. Much of that must be credited to Sir David Attenborough. While to many he is now just the voice of these great visual works, the fact of the matter is they would quite possibly never found there way to the little screen - or web - had he not years ago doggedly persevered to bring this work to the masses in such groundbreaking works the 1979 TV series Life on Earth: A Natural History by David Attenborough and followed five years later by The Living Planet.

In each of the series then and now teams have fanned out around the planet, often craft methods, tools and techniques never before tried. The results have been breath-taking at the least, and simply jaw-dropping at other times. This sequence of clashing titans from the newest series Life is one such example - as described in the BBC web article (linked via the title below):

"During the first complete sequence of this behaviour ever captured, the male humpbacks swim at high speed behind the female, violently jostling for access.

The collisions between the males can be violent enough to kill.

The footage was recorded for the BBC natural history series Life."

Epic humpback whale battle filmed and scroll down the article for another clip on how they filmed it.

Wild Orphans specific website and blog

A few months ago I started this blog with a posting about my original Wild Orphans baby African elephant project. In that and subsequent blog postings I mentioned that I was exploring a return to Kenya and renew the Wild Orphans journey. The first steps in that journey are now a reality with the launch of a Wild Orphans specific website and a Wild Orphans specific blog. From this point on I will be posting most of the details, plans, thoughts and travels, along with photos and video relating to the Wild Orphans on those sites - please follow me there as well.

WildPhotos - A chance to see beyond your borders

If the UK is on your travel schedule in the coming weeks or you are simply wealthy and free enough to drop what you are doing, tell the world to take a hike and go (assuming you don't live there), then something well worth considering is the WildPhoto 2-day seminar/program in London. Great opportunity to see some inspiring imagery and connected with a international collection of photographers that are focused on seeing the world a bit differently.

From their site: "WildPhotos 2009 offers a wealth of award-winning photographers, including a keynote presentation from Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols, [see my post 'When a Picture becomes a Project'] the world-renowned National Geographic photographer."

When a Picture becomes a Project

This NPR story (Biggest, Tallest Tree Photo Ever) caught my ear for a couple reasons, first, it connects directly to a post I have been working on for this blog called Pictures vs Projects, and second, it sends a wonderful message out there to young photographers (of any age) that the world is still full of things to create great projects around; and if so inclined, involve all kinds of whiz-bang gadgetry and software.

So the deal is longtime Nat Geo photog Nick Nichols (pictured above) set out to take a photograph of a full redwood tree as part of a full story on Pacific Coast redwoods. Here’s the catch, these redwoods are over 300 feet tall and unless one is standing in the middle of a recent clear-cut chances are it's going to be damn difficult to see the whole thing much less back up far enough to photograph it. So the challenge - how to create a "single image" from close enough range to capture the detail of these extraordinary leafy leviathans? Nick's solution: Build a custom gyro-stabilized camera rig to take multiple shots and stitch them together for a composite photo. (See Redwood Photo - At least 1,500 years old, a 300-foot titan in California's Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park has the most complex crown scientists have mapped. This photo, taken by Michael Nichols, is a mosaic composed of 84 images.)

Nichols, with the NG staff, created a system to holding a trio of Canon cameras focused to the left, middle, and right of the tree. The frame includes a gyroscope to keep the cameras steady. By lowering the cameras from the top to the bottom of the redwood they were able to capture 84 pictures to assemble the final shot. The result is featured in the October edition of National Geographic magazine. I’ve included the final picture (via link above) and embedded a video of the rig in action (below).

I'll go into it further in the Picture vs Project post soon, but the bottom line is interesting and unique visions of our world and interactions are all over the place; even more so with new technologies and software like the stitching option employed on the Redwood photos. (More on stitching check out All Things Photography and Luminous Landscape)

100 Photographs for Press Freedom

Over the weekend I received a copy of the latest edition of the Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres), or RSF, annual fund-raising publication, Nature: 100 Photographs for Press Freedom. Based in France the non-profit RSF creates a publication each year to help generate revenues to support is global journalistic efforts; this year the focus was nature photojournalism. It's a project that I am extremely proud to have my photographs contribute to supporting.

This is one of those rare publications and projects that speaks to the heart of why I became a photographer. Not about the money (none of us received a dime for our contribution), and not always pretty images, it reflects the passion and commitment behind the lens. I am extremely proud to share this space with fellow photojournalists like Mitsuaki Iwago, Jim Brandenburg, Mark Moffet, and others.

Through my photo agency, Minden Pictures, my photographs contributed 8% of the 100 images that speak to the diversity and struggle of life on our planet, and support the environmental journalists, photographers and film-makers that often times risk personal safety to sound the alarm regarding the ever changing fate of our environment. From Nature, "They go to places few have ever heard of, where even fewer would like to go. Some never come back: nature photojournalists share with war reporters the highest rate of casualties of their profession. Fueled by a singular vision, they return time and time again with glimpses of our planet that challenge and shape our perspective of a fast changing world."

With the approaching 2010 designated by the UN as the International Year of Biodiversity the booklet, Nature: 100 Photographs for Press Freedom may provide a small additional glimpse at the course we are on and the need for rethinking our impact.

My great appreciation to Larry Minden and the staff of Minden Pictures for inclusion of my work in this project. Also a huge thanks to our partner agent in France Joel Halioua for his role in bring my work to RSF and sharing it on these pages with the world.

Below is a slide show of the eight images that support the 2009 edition Nature: 100 Photographs for Press Freedom.

Stepping out of the monocular rut

The Ernst Haas quote I posted a few days ago, "I am not interested in shooting new things - I am interested to see things new.", popped up again today when a friend sent a link to this short film "Kudan". It's a nine minute animated voyage through a different world. Voyages should be like that - journeys, perambulations in lands unfamiliar. I guess that's why I have always been passionate about exploring nature - a different world full of surprise that always awaits. Nature inevitably forces me to step out of my monocular rut. Other artists and art forms can do that as well, and I'm always delighted when I find an artist or work, in any medium, that pricks my perspective.

A quote I use in the early moments of a live presentation I do called, Wanderings on a Wild Planet, reads, "Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." I am unapologetically selfishness about those take my breath away moments every day - I'm addicted. Yes, a life on Earth junkie. I can't imagine a more amazing place than this, Earth. Every several hours light spills upon it, magically, miraculously turning everything about me into something new and full of discovery - how frigg'n cool is that! Then, so our eyes don't become dulled, impassive to the magic, the light fades and goes out; left are but the faintest fireflies twinkling in the dimensionless firmament, reminders that the light will return.

Photography is very tricky - it's about seeing, with two eyes, a richly influenced multi-dimensional world, framing it, refining it through a single viewfinder and lens (using just one eye), then creating an image to be viewed once again in multi-dimensions. When done exceptionally well, truly an heroic feat! Mostly we are awash with thoughtless, poorly executed, mountains of mediocrity - which does dull our eyes and makes us impassive to the magic. So it vital to voyage through a different world, to prick our perspective.

The film below, Kudan, is wonderful because it is not what I would have imagined - until now there were no people-headed cows or word tubes in my world. There are fractal clouds, but not imagined in the same way. So, today, Kudan, became part of a Friday afternoon's wonderful voyage.

"I am not interested in shooting new things - I am interested to see things new."
--Ernst Haas