Chapter Ten
NEWS ARTICLES
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Another Glimpse of NATURE
Photog brings works to town
VICTORIA ALDRICH
The Daytona Beach News-Journal Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH — If you think watching a wild macaw in flight sounds exhilarating, imagine clambering high above the Peruvian rainforest to photograph it.
Courtesy of SMP |
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| One of more than 40 photographs from the book “Jungles” by Frans Lanting (pictured at right) for an exhibition opening today at the Southeast Museum of Photography at Daytona Beach Community College. |
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“Sitting on a scaffold at 90 feet in the air gives you a different perspective on what the monkeys and the birds see from up there. You get a totally different perspective than what you would see walking on the forest floor,” wildlife photographer Frans Lanting said.
His images of exotic creatures and plants fill “Jungles,” an exhibit of 40 photographs from his 2000 book of the same name that opens today at the Southeast Museum of Photography at Daytona Beach Community College, 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd.
A reception will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the museum, followed by an illustrated lecture at 7 p.m. in Goddard Theater, Building 230.
Among the most frequently published wildlife photographers in the world, Lanting’s work has been featured in books and periodicals including National Geographic and Outdoor Photographer, for which he is a columnist.
In a telephone interview from Washington, D.C., he explained that he and his wife, Christine Eckstrom, an editor, filmmaker and former National Geographic writer, planned the exhibit as a retrospective of his photographing work of rainforests in Hawaii, Africa and Asia.
“We conceived the book and exhibit not just as a greatest hits approach, but to give people a sense of what it feels like in the rainforest,” Lanting said. “The images we chose, and they way we display them, have some of the wonder and mystery I feel when I’m out exploring with the camera.”
In 1977, he earned a master’s degree in environmental economics from Erasmus College in his native Holland. He later attended the University of California at Santa Cruz, which recently established environmental research graduate fellowships in both his and Eckstrom’s honor.
He said his background helps him to understand the context of mankinds’ relationship with the environment and its effects on animal life. An innate understanding of animal behavior helps to guide his shots, though he said he often creates studio-like settings in the wild using infrared lighting and other devices to film insects and other animals moving at high speed.
“Every situation is different. I like to put myself in an animal’s position to anticipate what they’ll do,” he said. “Working in a jungle is one of the hardest environments to photograph. There is a huge discrepancy between what you think you see and what the camera records.
“When you live in an urban setting you’re not as attuned to sounds and smells. It takes me a while to slow down,” he said. “I don’t grab a camera and go to work the first day, I walk around, sit and study things, tune in my senses before I go to work.”
Sometimes, those observations also are a lesson in human behavior. While photographing bonobos, an endangered Congo Basin ape related to the chimpanzee, he said he quickly learned that the quickest way to earn their trust was to work in the open. Lanting describes the apes, which share 98 percent of their genetic code with people, as very human-like.
“Every project, every animal is different,” he said. “It was very interesting because you can’t fool bonobos, they are aware of your intentions and so I decided after a while that hiding myself made no sense.”
In 1985, Lanting was commissioned by National Geographic to document environmental and social problems on Madagascar, the first photographer in decades to do so. The resulting article not only spawned an environmental preservation movement on the island, it also helped to create an ecotourism economy for the impoverished nation.
“It’s like a treasure house, because it’s related not only to Africa, but also to Southeast Asia. Just about every plant and animal there is so different, it’s bizarre. I almost felt like an explorer, seeing things that hadn’t been seen before or documented. It opened the eyes of quite a few people” he said.
“I’m very proud of that. To me, your images are a wonderful way of reaching the hearts of people. I believe that a really well crafted photograph has a chance to reach people and leave an impression in their hearts.”
During his career, Lanting has won numerous awards including World Press Club accolades and Photographer of the Year honors in 1991 from the British Broadcasting Corp.
He’s also proud to have been knighted in Holland in 2001 as a member of the Royal Order of the Golden Ark for his conservation work, bringing full circle a career that he said began by photographing a park near his home.
“I still believe the best way to learn to take pictures is not to go to Africa or Borneo, but to find a place close to home that you are passionate about. If you can’t take pictures at home, you can’t succeed abroad,” Lanting said.
To view more of Lanting’s work, visit www.lanting.com