Yesterday was World Hippo day! Did you know that the hippopotamus and cetaceans (whales, dolphins, orcas etc.) share many unique characteristics that suggest they shared a common ancestor? Totally different dentists, however!
Hippos are the second-largest land animals on the planet – though they spend the majority of their time submerged in rivers and lakes, so you might not know it with all that hippo concealed under waters that are often murky from all the churn. They also produce their own sunblock in the form of an oily red substance that secrets from their skin.
They spend most of their time in herds of a dozen or more animals – safety in numbers, and in the huge jaws and the massive strength of the dominant maless that protect their groups.
I had the pleasure of photographing a few of these big boys and girls this past January in Kenya. Photograph your own hippos, Lions, Zebras and much more in Kenya, with me in 2025!
I recently joined Jack Graham and John Pederson on the We Talk Photo podcast to talk about wild lives and much more. We had such a great conversation that it needed to be turned into a two-parter. You can catch the first part here – bookmark the page for when part 2 drops!
Today is the official pub date of Wild Lives in Australia! The feedback for the books has been amazing and I’m glad it will be seeing release in another country. Order your copy on Amazon.AUS.
If you want a signed copy, you’ll have to order through my office, and the shipping costs can be steep. While I don’t have any trips to Australia on the calendar currently, I’ll be close in October when I visit New Zealand if you want to track me down for a signature! Better yet, nab one of the 3 remaining spaces and join us!
The Collector’s Edition will also be releasing this March – if you’ve been holding off on your purchase for the ultimate edition of Wild Lives, thats the one!
It’s time for Photo Close-up Friday, and today we are looking at the Komodo dragon. I last photographed these giant lizards back in 2020 – reptiles so unique and impressive that they have their own island! It and the few surrounding islands are also the only place in the world they are found naturally.
Photographing these beasts is not easy. They are obviously quite large, and very territorial. Unlike many lizards who will flee from humans, Komodo dragons have been known to attack aggressively. They will eat any kind of meat, from fellow reptiles and rodents to larger beasts such as water buffalo.
They are also low to the ground, and while I might be comfortable getting on my belly to photograph harbor seals, I’m not dumb enough to try that with these creatures! We created a special rig for my camera so I could get it down low, as if I were operating a vacuum cleaner – only instead of dirt, I was sucking up images!
The hoary marmot (Marmota caligata) is named for the frost white fur on its head and shoulders. The piercing warning whistle of this eight- to twenty-pound rodent is often heard in high mountain meadows and talus slopes from northern Alaska to Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Hoary marmots are inquisitive creatures, and it is not unusual to see them interacting with playful or curious mountain goat kids.
The animal finds refuge from its main enemy, eagles, and other predators in burrows beneath boulders. But grizzly bears sometimes roll the rocks aside and dig apart the underground tunnels to get at the marmot, especially when it is in hibernation. Hoary marmots go into their dens as early as September and enter a dormant state. Their respiration rate and heartbeat become extremely slow, and their body temperature falls to a point only a few degrees above freezing They don’t emerge until June, nine months later. Even then they may still have to tunnel upward through a lingering snowpack to reach the light. Perhaps as an adaptation to the demanding alpine environment, hoary marmots are more sociable, than other marmots such as their common eastern relative, the woodchuck or groundhog. They live in colonies with comparatively little aggression between adults, and the young are not driven out when they mature. Maturity takes two years to reach, a long time by rodent standards. Such slow development reflects the extended hibernation period required to survive in this animal’s high-country niche.*
Happy New Year! The highlight of this past year for me was of course the release of Wild Lives, a book years in the making and the end result of tens of thousands of miles of travel. It’s also available in the UK, in Italian, and an Australian version is set for release in February. In March, the gorgeous limited edition version will be available in a stylish and protective clamshell case and will include a signed print. It will make a fantastic accompaniment to the fine art editions of Earth Is My Witness and Trees: Between Earth and Heaven.
2023 started out in Thailand photographing the mesmerizing eruption of bats as they streamed out of their cave and into the sunset, and stops in Honshu and Hokkaido allowed for one more crack at Japan’s winter wildlife. I then found myself on the highest plateau of India, the Ladakh region, where I was able to capture the elusive snow leopard – just in time to get it in the book!
Workshops from Moab, Utah to the Appalachian Highlands of North Carolina came prior to the annual Katmai bear trip. We also fit in an incredible adventure in Glacier Bay where we were treated to plenty of breaching whales putting on a show as well as fantastic cuisine aboard the Alaskan Story yacht.
Fall began with my next book Act Of Faith top of mind, and I was fortunate to visit Benin and Chad and capture incredible shots of ceremonies unique to each region. The year came to a close with a few more U.S. workshops and another trip to India, this time with an amazing group of tour participants capturing the wildlife in Kanha and Kaziranga National Parks.
In November the first Wild Lives photo journey took us to Kanha and Kaziranga National Parks in India. Set on The Chhota Nagpur Plateau in Madhya Pradesh, Kanha provides breathtaking vistas of grassy plains and sal forests. It is the ideal habitat for both tigers and their prey, and we were able to see and photograph these magnificent cats, chital (axis deer), and langurs. Located to south of the great Brahmaputra River, Kaziranga National Park is home to the largest number of one-horned rhinoceros in the world. The swamps were purple with water hyacinths which made a painterly backdrop for wildlife photography.
I have several Wild Lives photo journeys on the calendar for 2024 and beyond. These immersive, small group tours focus on providing the best opportunities for capturing awe-inspiring moments of untamed beauty.
Wild Lives has arrived! December has been a whirlwind of events and activity with the release of my latest book, a compendium highlighting a lifetime photographing creatures around the world. Wild Lives shares the stories of survival and growth of animal species that have adapted to the impact of humans around the world.
Wild Lives is now available in the U.K., so if you live across the pond you can avoid those shipping fees – unless of course you’d like me to sign a copy, or inscribe it with a personal message. You’ll have to do that through my website, but we will ensure your book is well-packaged and ready for travel.
*Art will also be featured on Seattle’s Evening Magazine program tonight at 7:30 local time on King 5*
Wild Lives is published, books have been signed and are on their way out for the holidays! In an era where everything is going digital, there’s nothing quite like the process of working to create a book and seeing the images collected on the tangible printed page. This is always the case when creating a book, but never so apparent as this experience with Wild Lives.
I’ll be giving a presentation on Wild Lives in Seattle tomorrow, December 7th at 7 PM at the Center for Urban Horticulture. Very few spaces remain to come and hear many of the stories behind the photos. Books will be available for signatures!
If you’re closer to Portland, I’ll be headed there on Tuesday the 12th to give this presentation and signing books as well at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). There’s a little more space available in this one, but it’s still limited so grab your tickets now If you’d like to go – or you can’t make the Seattle presentation!
The link below will take you to the Wild Lives events page to purchase tickets. See you there!
It’s the final Wild Wednesday before Wild Lives is officially published next Tuesday! Today I’m taking you to Brazil, where I was fortunate enough to photograph a family of Harpy Eagles in their nest. This has been a trip I had anticipated for some time and it didn’t disappoint thanks to a fantastic guide and a blind platform that got us close to the eagles without disrupting their routine.
If you haven’t preordered your copy of the book yet, now is the time! All preorders will be signed and will come with access to five wildlife-focused episodes of my Pathways to Creativity video lecture series.
They spend most of their time in herds of a dozen or more animals – safety in numbers, and in the huge jaws and the massive strength of the dominant maless that protect their groups.
