The Photo Ark
One Man's Quest to Document the World's Animals
By Joel Sartore
National Geographic, March, 2020
You may have first encountered National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore on 60 Minutes when the CBS news program highlighted his work with the Photo Ark, his project to document animals that scientists believe may be extinct by the end of this century.
Sartore travels the world visiting zoos and photographs creatures, over 11,000 so far, many never before pictured, and captures "what you look for in any great photograph." Emotion.
The Photo Ark, his book documenting the project, is a beautiful blend of poignancy, pathos and a social message that deserves to be read by all concerned with nature conservancy.
A massive book, the Ark is first and foremost a great display of photographic artwork and Sartore intersperses his images with explanations of how he works. But, as Harrison Ford explains in his forward, “The importance of work like Joel’s is that it reminds us to care about those individual threads [in nature’s tapestry]” and is why the book belongs on everyone’s shelf.
As you turn the pages you’re greeted with images of creatures that may or may not be the cuddly zoo animals you expect, but all are presented in a way you’ve likely not experienced before and on a purely technical basis the book is a pleasure to browse. We’re used to seeing everything on digital screens and even though your laptop or phone screen allows you the fleeting view of many of these images, nothing compares to the permanence of a printed photograph to overcome that transience experienced digitally.
Perhaps this is a key to what makes the Photo Ark project so important – the attempt to permanently record in the manner of a fine art print. In my photography I recently printed a few images that I’d made digitally and was struck by how rich the printed version looked compared to that digital photo. I’d gotten used to looking at digital images and had forgotten how much is lost from not having that physical print.
If you’re conservation-minded you don’t need to be encouraged to help in some way and you may do so by following this project. Sartore started working on the Photo Ark about fifteen years ago after many years of conservation-related photography projects for the National Geographic. He felt he wasn’t doing enough to stop “the extinction crisis” and so began photographing animals in a way that could best channel that pathos.
It works. Just as our family photos call to us by staring us in the eye, we feel the connection to these subjects. The images you encounter throughout the book are amusing, strange, beautiful and in all cases inspiring. Whether you are looking at the desert horned viper (not cute at all) or a macaque, you are able to enjoy their uniqueness and understand that the world would be a lesser place in their absence.
Reviewed by Greg Smela, who takes pictures, keeps bees, and writes in Brandon, Vermont.
