Give a Voice to the Wildlife in Your Community

What is it about human nature that makes us continually seek out the new and unfamiliar? As a species, a common trait that we all seem to share is a longing for the emotional high that comes with a 'puppy-love' of people, places and things. However, as anyone can tell you, the inevitable conclusion to this roller-coaster of passion is a sudden dulling of the senses, when that object of our desire suddenly doesn't look as shiny anymore, and new things must be sought to sustain the level of euphoria that we crave. Our relationship with the natural world is no exception: How often do we find ourselves flitting from one flower of intrigue to another, without ever really tasting the sweet nectar of a deeper relationship built through careful observation and respect?

In his book Photography and the Art of Seeing, photographer Freeman Patterson recounts the story of a friend in South Africa who desperately attempted to grow a patch of dandelions in her garden, all the while trying to subdue the beautiful African daises, which could do nothing but thrive. And yet, here in the U.S. I know of gardeners who treasure these beautiful flowers because they are exotic and different from the local norm. This irony has not been lost on me: I didn't truly appreciate the beauty of my own state of South Carolina until after I returned from my first trip to Western Australia in 2001.

With the smell of eucalyptus and the laughter of kookaburras still ringing fresh in my mind, I recall looking out of my kitchen window at the autumn leaves which seemed so incredibly vibrant after visually digesting weeks of blue grey bush land. At that moment, a fiery male cardinal landed on a nearby shrub and I immediately recognized that its beauty was every bit as striking -if not more so- than the crimson rosellas that I had been drooling over for days during my time in Oz. I began to wonder what other amazing things I might have overlooked as a casualty of a mindset that had led me along in a high-speed pursuit for "bigger and better" things.

It didn't take long for me to recognize that there was a great deal which had in fact I had been missing. As I began to work with local conservation organizations, biologists, and naturalists, the deep diversity of the Southern Appalachians and surrounding landscape generously fed my growing curiosity both day and night. Whether I was in my backyard or out on a remote trail, I always found something that I hadn't seen before, which in-turn led to something else, and something else again. As I began to share what I had learned with others, another realization also began to materialize: virtually no one that I came in contact with had any knowledge of what was in their own backyards as well. I began to wonder, is this a trend that exists in other parts of the U.S.A., or even the world as a whole?

In attempt to answer this question, and change the perception of the value of close-to-home nature, Meet Your Neighbours was born. It is a concept that I have developed with a long-standing advocate of local wildlife, iLCP Founding Fellow and accomplished conservation photographer Niall Benvie.

Meet Your Neighbours is, in its essence, an environmental education program, which uses beautiful imagery as a vehicle to spread the message that common, local species are amazingly beautiful, are all around you, are in danger of becoming the endangered creatures of tomorrow if they are not recognized and protected today. It is our mission at MYN to offer participants a platform where they can create a dialogue within their own neighborhoods about these wild things and encourage people to get out and see them for themselves. Perhaps more importantly, we hope to press upon viewers that our children need to see and experience nature first-hand so that they might be future champions for conservation.

So photographers, how about it? Are you willing to take a stand for the wildlife in your neck of the woods? Niall and I surely hope so, because your wild neighbors need you to step up and give them a voice. If you are a conservation-minded photographer why not drop us a line at clay@meetyourneighbours.org or visit our website at http://www.meetyourneighbours.org/for more information.

We are accepting applicants for the first round of submissions until April 30th, 2010.

Clay Bolt is an award-winning natural history photographer whose work has been featured by organizations and publications such as The Nature Conservancy, The National Wildlife Federation, Outdoor Photographer Magazine, Partnership for the Blue Ridge and Wildlife in North Carolina Magazine. His work focuses on environmental issues facing the Southeastern, United States and its amazing diversity of native flora and fauna. He is an Affiliate Council Member of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

Voices Behind the Camera - ILCP Photographer Florian Schulz

This week's Voice Behind the Camera is Florian Shulz

Born in Germany, Florian Schulz (32) is a professional nature and wildlife photographer with a vision of broad horizons. Through skillfull and artistic photography, he is in the constant search for breathtaking images that inspire individuals to take action in the protection of large endangered ecosystems.

Schulz has dedicated years of his life to documenting the drama and beauty of North America’s most critical wildlife corridor: “Yellowstone to Yukon”. Sponsored by the Blue Earth Alliance, his first book —Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam (2005) received an Independent Book Publisher Award as one of the “Outstanding Books of the Year” singled out as “Most Likely to Save the Planet.”

Images carefully selected from his book, produced a traveling exhibit by the Burke Museum in Seattle. Schulz’s photography has also been displayed in important museums like the American Museum of Natural History, and in 2009 The Field Museum (Chicago) will be hosting Y2Y-Freedom to Roam. Exploring the concept of wildlife corridors and the need for ecosystem connectivity, Yellowstone to Yukon-Freedom to Roam is a beautiful and unique tribute to the North American wild.

As the youngest founding member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP), Florian uses his photography to instill in viewers a greater interest in both the natural and cultural diversity of the planet.

Together with four international renown photographers, Schulz took part in “El Triunfo” RAVE (Rapid Visual Assessment Expedition in Chiapas, Mex) organized to document in depth, a very rich and severely threatened ecosystem in the Clouded Forest of Sierra de Chiapas. The images were used in the media to strongly promote this Biosphere Reserve and were fundamental elements to help raise funds in order to ensure it’s protection.

Twice, the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) has awarded Schulz for his dedicated work on conservation. In 2006 he received the Philip Hyde Environmental Grant and in 2008 he was announced as the first recipient of the 2008 NANPA Vision Award.

Recognized as an outstanding speaker, Schulz has devoted months to promote the idea of creating wildlife corridors. Since the publication of Yellowstone to Yukon, Florian has been featured internationally as a speaker in many prestigious venues from universities, book and film festivals to National Geographic and Microsoft.

Florian’s work has been published by internationally recognized magazines including Nature’s Best, Outdoor Photographer, The Nature Conservancy, The New York Times, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Natur & Kosmos, Airone and TERRA. His photographs have won awards in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, the Nature’s Best International Photography Awards, the Banff International Mountain Photography Competition and the European Nature Photographer of the Year competition.

As part of his continuous conservation work, Florian has committed to a second photography conservation project, which will be part of the series “Freedom to Roam”. It will follow the same line as the past project: connecting wildlife corridors for sustainable wilderness. The new project, under the title “The Wild Edge, from Baja to Beaufort” will lead Florian from the warm waters of Mexico all the way up to Alaska, along the Pacific Northwest coast line.

“… The vision of Y2Y is a gift that future generations will be able to cherish forever. Through my work, I hope to fuel the new conservation movement of connectivity and perhaps, sharing my photography will move people’s heart to get involved in saving North America’s greatest treasure.” -FS

Now, let's listen to the voice behind the camera of Florian Schulz ...

To find out more about Florian visit his website http://www.visionsofthewild.com/