News from the INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION PHOTOGRAPHERS

ILCPNEWS March 2008

ILCP AWARDS
AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

ILCP fellow Michelle Westmorland's book Ocean Duets was named a finalist in the USA Book News "Best Books of 2007." Duets,a product of six years of research, explores the incredible diversity and beauty of the world's oceans. For more information click on the above photo.

Images of the Grand Canyon

Jack Dykinga takes a look at the Grand Canyon and surrounding landscapes in his new book scheduled for release in April.
Images tours the biological and geographical diversity of this incredible landscape, from the Grand Canyon's viewpoints at the national park's North and South Rims to the less familiar places in the Kaibab
National Forest, the Havasupai and Haulapai American Indian Reservations as well as the Parashant National Monument and Glen Canyon Recreational Areas.

El Pais Features
ILCP Fellow

Spanish publication El Pais featured an interview with Daniel Beltra in February. The article highlighted conservation photography and Beltra's work as a longtime image collaborater with Greenpeace and other conservation organizations.

Russia's Wild East in Nature's Best

ILCP Fellow Igor Shpilenok's work in the wilds of Kamchatka, Russia is featured as the cover story in the winter issue of Nature's Best magazine. Shpilenok photographs extensively in the country's vast and relatively unknown protected areas. Russia's network of conservation lands provides habitat critical to imperiled species like the Siberian tiger, saiga antelope and black stork.

Photo Memoir Tells the Story of ILCP Fellow

Annie Griffiths Belt's new book "A Camera, Two Kids and a Camel" tells the story of her experiences as a National Geographic photographer and mom of two. The book will be available in bookstores March 18.

Book on Mexico's Baja Earns Praise for Young IlCP Photographer

Emerging league photographer Miguel �ngel de la Cueva's book Oasis of Stone has received several accolades over the past year, including being named a Geotimes Magazine "Pick of the Year' and a Planeta.com and Foreword Magazine "Book of the Year". Oasis of Stone, written by Bruce Berger, tells the story of Mexico's Baja through photography and description of the region's geology, plant and animal life, and early human habitation.
To find out more click on the above photo .

Smart Photography Features ILCP Fellow

The January issue
of India's Smart Photography featured ILCP Associate Balan Madhavan and his work in conservation photography.

ILCP Contributes to Turtle Report

ILCP photographers Michele Westmorland, Steve Winter, Brian Skerry, David Doubilet, and Luciano Candisani were featured in the State of the World's Sea Turtle's Report. The report also carried a short paragraph acknowledging the involvement of the ILCP.

Cheetah Conservation in Smithsonian

The March cover story of Smithsonian magazine features the work of ILCP photographer Suzi Eszterhas. The story focuses on the plight of the Namibia's cheetah and the work the Cheetah Conservation Fund.

Dear ILCP community,

Our annual meeting last week proved to be an inspiring gathering filled with tough discussions on ethics and incredible presentations showcasing the potential of conservation photography. This newsletter will summarize a few of the highlights of our meeting, and give you some further insight into the great work being done by our members. Please remember to send your news ideas to news@ilcp.com, so we can continue to inspire and collaborate throughout the year the way we were able to last week in Florida.

Cheers!

NEWS

	ILCP Members Honored at NANPA Conference
For the third year, the NANPA conference hosted our annual membership meeting, a time for us to get reconnected, energized and engaged in the work of conservation photography. This year's summit, held in Destin, Florida, opened with a presentation by Robert Glenn Ketchum on the history of nature photography and the United States National Park system. The presentation was both inspiring--outlining the potential for conservation gains through imagery--and sobering as Glenn Ketchum finished his presentation with a somber reminder of how short-sighted energy development continues to threaten pristine landscapes in place like the Bristol Bay and Southwest Alaska. During the course of the Summit the ILCP participated in a variety of breakout events, including one on the ethics of nature photography. Michele Westmorland represented the ILCP in this discussion, in which it become clear that we have a lot of work ahead of us to continue bringing ethical issues to light. (see Ethics story below). (c)Michael Nichols On Thursday night we hosted a reception for all the ILCP members being recognized by NANPA for their work, including James Balog, Amy Gulick, Florian Schulz, Kathy Moran and Mark Lukes. The reception provided a great opportunity for us to honor the work of our members and get reacquainted with each other. Friday began with Michael "Nick" Nichols' riveting keynote address about his work using camera traps to capture natural images of elusive species like the tiger. Nichol's photography has helped effect some inspiring conservation gains for sensitive species, and provided everyone in attendance an idea of just how crucial a player photography can be in the struggle for a greater conservation ethic worldwide. Later in the evening, Nichols, Cristina Mittermeier and Brian Skerry, along with Tom Carlisle, chair of NANPA"s Environment Committee, hosted a special evening focused on the work (c)BrianSkerry of the ILCP and its photographers. Mittermeier presented an ILCP slideshow and talked about the impressive successes of ILCP's RAVEs. And Skerry gave a slideshow presentation of his work on the state of the world's oceans and ocean species. The evening was enthusiastically received and we even had an offer for corporate sponsorship! On Saturday the Executive Committee met to discuss the ILCP business plan, the status of our 2007 goals and objectives, and to plan our objectives for 2008. The committee also decided that after a year of dedicated participation, 10 Associate members would be invited to join as full Fellows. Please join me in welcoming our new Fellows: Beverly Joubert, Frans Lanting, Steve Winters, Klaus Nigge, Norbert Rosing, Suzi Eszterhas, Tim Laman, Luciano Candisani, Paul Nicklen and Wendy Shattil. Also on Saturday, ILCP photographers Amy Gulick and Carlton Ward presented their work in the NANPA Environment Committee Meeting. And the NANPA summit culminated in the annual awards dinner and keynote address by Photographer of the Year, James Balog. Balog showed an array of his work, ending in his groundbreaking project Extreme Ice Survey. Seeing Balog's progress on this endeavor, which presents an irrefutable and sobering case for what climate change is doing to the world's glaciers, offered us all some hopeful insight into just how powerful conservation photography can be.

On Ethics in Conservation Photography

SUBJECT WELFARE IN WILDLIFE IMAGERY The ILCP annual membership meeting last week sparked numerous discussions on the state of ethics in wildlife photography, particularly as it relates to the use of game farms. Game farms are particularly problematic because these places keep animals captive solely for the purpose of the nature photography and film industries, and often the method of captivity is far less than humane. The ILCP code of ethics is against game farm photography, and we are going to be working to make this policy more clear. Lions by Joubert

Navigating this issue can be complicated for photo buyers. Because photos are often not labled adequately, photo buyers, many of which represent wildlife conservation magazines, often have a hard time telling where the images have come from. And because game farm photos are often less expensive than those captured through more ethical means, NGOs with tight budgets sometimes struggle to find more appropriate images for their magazines and direct mail pieces. (c)Beverly Joubert
Recent discussions have brought about some good ideas as to how the ILCP can help photo buyers connect to more ethically responsible images. One idea, which we will be pursuing over the next few months, is to create a searchable stocklist of wild or ethically captured images from ILCP photographers that we can make available to photo buyers. The stocklist would simply list a species, location of photograph, and photographers name. We will also be clarifying the language on our website so that editors will have a clearer set of guidelines to present to their organizations. And finally we hope to be having more frequent meetings among our affiliates in the Washington DC area, to continue this discussion and come up with more concrete measures to help photo buyers make the transition into more ethical nature photography.

nature's best cover

FAKE PHOTO SPARKS GLOBAL ATTENTION FOR ETHICS Photograph ethics broke into international news last month when an image depicting Tibetan antelopes roaming under a bridge on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was revealed as a fake. The editor of the newspaper that ran the image resigned and the photographer faced widespread rebuke for photoshopping the antelope into the image of the train.

ILCP Partners with Rowell Award

The ILCP is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Rowell Award. This award celebrates the accomplishments of famed adventurers and photographers Galen and Barbara Rowell, who died in a plane crash in 2002. The Rowell Award honors an adventurer whose artistic passion illuminates the wild places of the world, and whose accomplishments significantly benefit both the environment and the people who inhabit these lands and regions.

2007 Rowell Award to James Balog We would like to congratulate Fellow James Balog, who has been selected as the recipient of the 2007 Rowell Award for the Art of Adventure by the Rowell Award Judging Panel. The award will be presented on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in San Francisco at the Hotel Nikko.

	Whale Quest Kapalua a Huge Success
The 2008 Whale Quest last month in Maui featured world renowned writers, photographers and researchers all coming together to shine a spotlight on the humpback whale. Several ILCP members were proud to be a part of the event, including David Doubilet, Paul Nicklen, Cristina Mittermeier and Flip Nicklin. We hope to be involved in this great event for years to come!

ILCP Participates in International Festival for Nature Photography

Last month, ILCP members Staffan Widstrand, Kathy Moran, Cristina Mittermeier, Tui de Roy and Norbert Rosing presented at the 4th annual NVN nature photography festival held at the Burgers Zoo in Arnhem, Netherlands. The event gave ILCP a chance to present on recent Raves, talk about conservation photography and ethics, and to be a part of the Holland Declaration, which states: "As a community of nature photographers committed to conservation, we pledge to take personal responsibility over the way our photographs are created, and provide full disclosure in captioning."
A special thanks to NVN President Eric Bergmeester, who is also a new ILCP Affiliate, for inviting us to be a part of this.

	POYi Awards to ILCP Members
ILCP members earned a number of prestigious Picture of the Year awards in various categories. Our congratulations goes out to Kathy Moran, Christian Ziegler, Michael "Nick" Nichols, Paul Nicklen, Brian Skerry, Daniel Beltra and Frans Lanting. For more information visit the POYi Website.

Conservation Alerts

AIRSTRIP ON THE SERENGETI The owner of a private game reserve called Grumeti, on the border of Serengeti National Park, has petitioned and perhaps convinced President Kikwete that there should be a new international airport built near the western edge of the park. ILCP fellow Boyd Norton is trying to track down more
information on the situation, which would have enormous impacts on wildlife and on the whole Serengeti experience for visitors.

ALASKAN WOLVES Dorothy and Leo Keeler are continuing the work on behalf of the wild wolves of Alaska. In addition to producing several videos highlighting the precarious position of this wolf population, the Keelers are asking people to contact US lawmakers in support of the PAW Act, which would make it illegal to kill wolves using aerial gunning. For more information on how to help, go to http://alaskawolfkill.com/.

Upcoming ILCP Events

May 17-23 -- ILCP Meeting and Conservation Workshop in Jackson, WY

     ILCP has partnered with Rich Clarkson to create a very special version of Clarkson's esteemed Photography at the Summit. This spring, Clarkson's workshop will focus on conservation photography, and the workshop faculty and speakers will include some of the most respected and talented names in the field.
     On the current faculty roster are Chris Johns, Kathy Moran, Tom Mangelsen, Jack Dykinga, Michael "Nick" Nichols, David Schonauer and many more.
     The Conservation Summit will take place from May 18-23 in Jackson, Wyoming, immediately following our second annual meeting there on May 17-18.

For more information visit the Summit website.

	Thanks for your support!

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