The National Wildlife Refuge System celebrates its 108th birthday on March 14. On this date in 1903, President Teddy Roosevelt established the first national wildlife refuge on Florida’s Pelican Island to protect wild birds from bounty hunters.
President Roosevelt would go on to protect 52 more areas as wildlife sanctuaries before leaving office. Today, the Refuge System’s 553 national wildlife refuges and 38 wetland management districts support at least 700 species of birds, 220 mammals, 250 reptiles and amphibians, more than 1,000 species of fish and countless invertebrates and plants.
Alan Sund traveled to Japan with Art Wolfe in February. Here are his thoughts on the experience as well as a few photos.
A wonderful experience! I’ve been a fan of Travels to the Edge for years – and this was great to finally go along with Art to see where and how so many wonderful images were taken, to experience it on a truly personal basis, to learn from the absolute best about how to improve my own wildlife, cultural, and landscape photography, and to practice each day from before dawn until after dusk. And add on top of that, each evening, Art’s excellent lectures and feedback on participants’ images. BTW… the behind the scenes planning was flawless (Art has a great crew). Best part of the trip??? I got to wear Art’s famous wool cap!!! The only way to top this would be to go on multiple tours with Art and Gavriel. Thanks guys!
Revolutions can only happen when people come together with a common sense of purpose. What we need today to preserve our planet’s biodiversity is nothing short of a grand revolution that includes everyone. We need those who dress in suits and ties and lobby for the rights of wildlife and wild places; we need those who throw wonderful parties to engage the philanthropic community; we definitely need those who spend countless hours in a lab or in the field collecting data that might help inform decisions…and we most certainly need those who speak with a righteous voice about the beauty and the magic of our planet’s natural wonders and speak for the loss with a sense of urgency, anger and frustration: journalists, poets, musicians, writers, film-makers, photographers…..
Yoga International’s* Spring 2011 issue has a wonderful personal account by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait on the Kumbha Mela. They have selected Art Wolfe’s images to accompany the story. Pick this up at the newstand now, or CLICK HERE for a PDF of the article.
If you care to see more of Art’s images of this remarkable human event, have a look at the slide show below.
*Yoga International is an award-winning, independent magazine that contemplates the deeper dimensions of spiritual life—exploring the power of yoga practice and philosophy to not only transform our bodies and minds, but inspire meaningful engagement in our society, environment, and the global community.
For those of you in Los Angeles, you are invited to a special slide show event at the Annenberg Space for Photography on the evening of Thursday, March 3rd, 2011. Slideshow Night is dedicated to the talents of photographers and photojournalists around the world & complement the current exhibit “Extreme Exposure”.
Have you ever wondered how to make your photographic life easier? Maybe you are not so sure of how to master an image on a global scale? Or on a targeted scale? Or what if you have 100, 1,000, or 10,000 images on you computer, but don’t know how to retrieve them in a matter of minutes when an editor calls? You need to start using Adobe’s Lightroom 3. One of the best image management/processing softwares available today. This May our workshop instructor Jay Goodrich is going to teach you how in a 2-day class that will answer all of the above questions and more.
The Lightroom 3 Workflow–This workshop is designed for all photographers who want to simplify their workflow and archiving processes. This class will focus on helping you use Lightroom to organize, optimize and output your images. Jay will guide you through the modules and show you ways to create workflows that streamline your image making process. He will share his own personal workflow and how he manages thousands of images. This is a class not to be missed. In addition, this course is being taught at the Art Wolfe Gallery in Downtown Seattle, Washington. Don’t delay this class has limited enrollment.
Dates : May14-15, 2011 Price : $395.00
Hokkaido- And then there are the Whooper Swans. These large birds look so beautiful as they fly or float together. We have had great weather. The warm air from the water provides a cloud of mist that adds to the mystery.
Lake Kussharo, Lake Akan – Home to these beautiful cranes. Grace, beauty, dancing, humor. These birds are just amazing.
As we continued to photograph, we started getting some visitors that were curious about what was going on. First an eagle, then a buzzard, then a fox and some crows.
Finally a portrait of this really great group. We are having lots of fun!
Here are some glimpses at what we are doing and seeing in Japan. Snow has been falling and contributing to the beauty of the landscape.
We concluded our visit to Yudanaka and the snow monkeys and began our trek to Kawaguchiko.
We arrived near Mt. Fuji with poor visibility, but awoke the next day with clear skies. This allowed beautiful blue skies by day and time-lapse shots showing star trails near evening.
Keep following.
