LIVE AMA with Cristina Mittermeier

[libro]

What separates a nature photograph from a conservation photograph? How do you make an impact with images?

[Cristina Mittermeier]

What separates a nature photograph from a conservation photograph? How do you make an impact with images?

This is my favorite question. A nature photographer is merely documenting nature and wildlife. A conservation photographer takes those images and makes sure they are put in front of the people who make decisions, change policy, and have influence.

[Cristina Mittermeier]

What separates a nature photograph from a conservation photograph? How do you make an impact with images?

The conservation photographer is an artist and an activist.

[Cristina Mittermeier]

What separates a nature photograph from a conservation photograph? How do you make an impact with images?

Also, the conservation photographer studies the levers that affect the issue he or she is photographing and uses those levers to shed additional light on the story.

[Cristina Mittermeier]

Quote

What separates a nature photograph from a conservation photograph? How do you make an impact with images?

Levers can be anything and often include issues around poverty, war, greed, ignorance.....it almost always is a mix of these, but the real art of the conservation photographer is thinking through the story and imagining how to change the outcome. And then, of course, finding allies, becoming a diplomat, a translator, an advocate.