The following feature on international conservation photographer Kevin Schafer is the second in a series highlighting the work of the members of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP). The ICCF would like to thank the ILCP and its members for their generous support. Click on any photo below to see a larger version. To view previous conservation updates, please click here.

For more than twenty years, photographer Kevin Schafer has worked on location all over the world, documenting wildlife and wild places. His work has appeared in all of the most important nature and science magazines worldwide, including the Smithsonian, Natural History, National Geographic and BBC Wildlife. He is the author of ten books, including Penguin Planet, which received the 2000 National Outdoor Book Award, and Living Light, which received a 2007 Independent Publisher medal. Committed to putting his images to work for conservation, Kevin spent two years documenting threatened eco-regions around the world for the World Wildlife Fund, and has worked closely with conservation NGOs on three continents.

Kevin was named the 2007 Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year by the NANPA (North American Nature Photographers Association) and received the 1997 Gerald Durrell Award for photography of Endangered Species from the BBC. He lives in Seattle with his wife, artist Martha Hill.

ICCF staff sat down with Mr. Schafer recently to talk about his career and his plans for the future.

Q: Can you tell us about some of the challenges you face as a natural history photographer?

A: The challenges that come with my work are two-fold. First there is the inevitable pressure to make a living in an ever-changing and hugely competitive field. (Frankly, I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to be getting started in the field today.) But more importantly, I feel a keen responsibility to put my images to work. I have always made it a priority to make my work available to local conservation groups, for whom having professional quality photography is beyond their means, but absolutely essential.

Q: What was your first and/or most memorable experience with the wild? On location?

A: Early in the 1980s I took a job at the US station in Antarctica. While there, I had the opportunity to spend some time with a group of wild emperor penguins on a slab of sea ice. The pictures I took that day, of those extraordinary animals – my first ever of a wild animal -- changed the direction of my career. From then on, I wanted to be a wildlife photographer.

Since then I have been fortunate to spend time in the company of many other species around the world: lemurs in Madagascar, beluga whales in the arctic, albatrosses in the southern ocean and many more. My favorites? Being with Mountain Gorillas in the cloud forests of Rwanda, and slipping into the water alongside a Humpback Whale and its calf in the South Pacific. I feel very fortunate to do what I do.

Q: You are a founding member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP)? How did you get involved with ILCP?

A: Before the ILCP was formed, I had been working to create an organization that could bring photographers together with small NGOs around the world that were desperately in need of images to support their work. When the ILCP was created in Anchorage I saw this as the perfect complement to what I already had in mind, harnessing the talents of some of the world’s most talented photographers to advance a conservation agenda.

One of the ILCP initiatives I helped create since then has been what we call RAVEs – or Rapid Assessment Visual Expeditions – which put teams of photographers on the ground in places around the world that need both publicity and protection. Already there have been three RAVES in the field and we hope to be able to send out several more each year.

Q: One of the questions we most like to ask our photographers is: How did you get started in natural history photography? Who do you see as your main influences? Why wild places and wild people as a medium?

A: I started off as a photo-journalist during the Vietnam war, when I worked as staff photographer for several anti-war projects in Texas and Tennessee, and published in alternative papers around the country. That experience taught me that I had a skill that I could put to work in advancing a political agenda. This notion has guided me ever since, especially as I gradually moved to natural history photography: the idea that photography could be a powerful tool for advocacy, capable of shaping public sentiment and influencing policy. Pictures can change minds.

My early heroes were humanist photographers such as W. Eugene Smith and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Later, when I turned towards natural history, I was influenced by landscape photographers like Philip Hyde, with whom I spent a glorious week in the Yosemite backcountry many years ago. He was inspiring, generous – and absolutely committed to using his ability to promote conservation, as he and others did so eloquently in the Sierra Club books of the 1960’s and 70’s.

Since then I have continued to be inspired by photographers such as Frans Lanting and Nick Nichols, both of whom have pushed the creative limits of traditional nature and outdoor photography to give them greater power and immediacy. Their pictures have also been influential in the conservation of the wildlife and wild places they document.

Q: You were voted recently the North American Nature Photographer Association's (NANPA) 2007 Outstanding Photographer of the Year. Can you talk about what that means, and more specifically, about your current work? For example, what are you trying to accomplish with your new book, Living Light?

A: Obviously, receiving the award from NANPA was an enormous honor, implying that my colleagues recognized and respected what I did. I had always worked independently, and often alone – so it came as a bit of a shock, to be frank, when I realized that my peers had even been paying attention!

In my acceptance speech at NANPA I tried to stress the documentary power of photography and encouraged photographers to use their talent as a tool for environmental advocacy.

Meanwhile, I am continuing my work with endangered species, including a upcoming story for National Geographic on Amazon River Dolphins. I am also continuing to shoot for World Wildlife Fund, with whom I have worked for many years, documenting threatened ecosystems in places such as Madagascar, the Andes and the Bering Sea.

Q: Are you optimistic about the future of international conservation?

A: To be honest, I waver between optimism and gloomy pessimism. I see hopeful signs in some parts of the world: from a new commitment to land preservation in Madagascar, to progress on island restoration in places like New Zealand. But you also don’t have to look far to see negative news out there: tigers are nearly extinct despite decades of dedicated conservation efforts, and most recently the Yangtze River dolphin has been declared extinct.

Ultimately, I worry that the pressures of a growing human population and the concurrent demand for resources may overwhelm even the most positive efforts. And, of course, Global Warming may alter everything… and make the challenges conservationists face even more profound.

Q: Why is it important for Americans to support conservation, both domestically and internationally?

A: The United States wields tremendous influence around the world, both politically and financially, and can therefore make an enormous difference in protecting the environment and the lives of people around the globe. At times, of course, that influence has not been positive – but we must remain engaged, and whenever possible try to shape the debate in a positive way. We are all in this together.

Q: In the places that you work, there must surely be an interface between human and natural communities? Can you describe your experience with the human footprint? Also, do you see a connection between long-term support for international conservation and economic development? How can we live better with and in nature?

A: The issues that confront people and the environment are largely inseparable. We cannot hold out any hope for wild places without tackling the problems that affect the people that inhabit or influence them. In my view, the most successful conservation programs will be those that find a way to link human aspirations with the needs of wildlife and wilderness. Without this balance, the environment will inevitably come up short. In my view, the alternatives are pretty clear: we will have to set limits to growth, or develop market-based strategies for sustainable development.

Links
Kevin Schafer's Website
Kevin Schafer Gallery from Outdoor Photographer Magazine
Kevin Schafer in Nature's Best Magazine (PDF)
View and Order Kevin Schafer's Books
International League of Conservation Photographers
 

	All Photos Courtesy of the International League of Conservation Photographers and copyright Kevin Schafer