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Carleton Watkins and the Yosemite Valley
Carleton Watkins traveled to Yosemite Valley in 1861 where he used stereo and mammoth plate cameras to make photos of the area. Watkins shared the wondrous beauty of Yosemite with the nation. He took this photo of the Merced River at Yosemite. His pictures made the Valley known countrywide, and they very likely played a hand in their conservation. John Conness, initiator of the Yosemite Bill of 1864, which eventually became the protective Yosemite Valley Act, owned several Watkins prints. -
The First Published Photographs of Yellowstone
William Henry Jackson took this stereograph image in the Yellowstone area on the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, one of the many western expeditions he documented during his career. His images are said to have played an important role in persuading Congress to name Yellowstone as
the first national park in the US in 1872. Today Jackson is considered a father of conservation photography. -
Ansel Adams and the Sierra Nevada: The Beginning of Career in Conservation Photography
In Ansel Adams' first project with the Sierra Club, he photographed the Kings River Region of the Sierra Nevada to lobby for a park in the area. It was finally approved and established by the US Congress in 1940. This photo by Adams is of the Kearsage Pinnacles in Kings Canyon of the Sierra Nevada sometime in the 1930's. Adams continued using photography to support environmental activism until his death in 1984. -
Jacques Cousteau's The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure
Cousteau spent most of his career cultivating a portrait of marine life for the public, using both underwater still photography and underwater roll film. "The Silent World," a collaborative effort by Cousteau and his photographers, chronicles the difficulties Cousteau encountered with making the flash work underwater. Cousteau describes “the first color work in appreciable depth” for photography. Here photographer Frédéric Dumas stretches his hand to meet the tip of the tail of a stingray. -
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
One baby and five adult oil-covered sea otters lie dead on Green Island Beach nine days after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. When the oil tanker
hit a coral reef on March 24, 1989, 11 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the pristine waters of Prince William Sound in the Gulf of Alaska. The fragility of the 1,300 miles of affected shoreline and severe impact on wildlife made it one of the worst environmental catastrophes of all time. (Chris Wilkins/AFP/Getty Images) -
Poaching of Endangered Species in East Africa
"I had to photograph a dead rhino with its horn cut off. I wanted it to be a shocking photograph to people. Of course they didn't run it in the magazine...[But] I have used it in programs since because I do want to shock. Sometimes you have to." Photographer Boyd Norton of ILCP reflects on an assignment to document the poaching of problem in East Africa. His determination to shock viewers reflects conservation photography's deepening ties to advocacy during this time. -
MegaTransect: National Geographic Uses Photography to Preserve
Conservationist Mike Ray surveys the hillside descending into the Minkébé Forest of Gabon. Nat Geo photographer Mike Nichols published Ray's 2000 mile walk from Congo to the coast of Gabon in a series of articles in an effort to captivate the hearts and consciences of readers, to gain support for protection of the area, the world’s last untouched forest. They won a historic response from the Gabonese government. Shortly after, Gabon commissioned 13 national parks covering 11,000 sq. miles. -
International League of Conservation Photographers
The International Leauge of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) was formed during the 8th World Wilderness Congress in Anchorage, Alaska. It is a charitable organization with the goal of enlisting the skills of professional photographers to advance conservation efforts around the world. Today the ILCP is the leading organization of environmental photographers. Witness: Defining Conservation Photography Feature -
Vanishing Act: Vanishing Act: Endangered Animals and Disappearing Environments
A night monkey peers out of its cavity in Islas Bocas del Toro, Panama. This image is part of renowned conservation photographer Art Wolfe's book "Vanishing Act." Wolfe has been one of the most influential conservation photographers of the past four decades and has taken over 1 million photos on all 7 continents. Vanishing Act showcases stunning camouflage abilities of animals with an underlying narrative of permanent vanishing acts due to habitat loss and human encroachment. -
Extreme Ice Survey
The Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) founded in 2007 by nature photographer James Balog uses time-lapse photography to document the effects of global warming on glaciers across the globe. There are currently 28 cameras deployed at 13 glaciers in Greenland, Iceland, the Nepalese Himalayas, Alaska and the Rocky Mountains making it the largest glacier study ever conducted using real-time photography. -
Photo Ark
"The nature of photograph shows a butterfly on a pretty flower. The conservation photograph shows the same thing, but with a bulldozer coming at it in the background."- Joel Sartore A baby chimpanzee poses at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo for Joel Sartore's Photo Ark project. Sartore has been a contributing photographer to National Geographic for over 20 years. In 2008 he founded Photo Ark, a project to document the world's species. as studio portraits in order to halt global loss of biodiversity. -
Global Vision Award
The Global Vision Award category was added to the 65th annual Pictures of the Year international Competetion in 2008. The Global Vision Award, now called the Enviornmental Vision Award, is a premiere category that recognizes a photographer's long-term story that explores issues related to
the environment, natural history or science. Since the first year of this category it has grown to include stories ranging from endangered species, poaching to oil spills. -
BP Oil Spill
Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Carolyn Cole photographed this duck for the LA Times during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The spill is regarded as one of the worst in US history, and this picture was taken almost two months after the initial April 20, 2010 incident. Cole won the Pulitzer for her work in Gaza, but this picture profoundly represents the vast scope of the spill's contamination.
