Conservation Photography

Conservation photography is a vision of photography that has a long history with a new purpose. A conservation photographer's work begins once they click the shutter. It's what you do with these images that matters as it takes you into the active role of affecting conservation for the natural world.

Conservation Photography Workshop
Making Images with Intention
Gary Sharlow
Photographer & Education Manager

Sunday, May 12th 1:00-4:00 pm
In this classroom-based workshop, we will explore a variety of techniques for telling a story through the use of digital images. The beauty of the digital era of photography presents itself in the enormous opportunities for creativity in photographing the subject matter of your choice. As nature photographers, we are surrounded by the beauty of wildlife and colorful landscapes painted by the brush of the natural world. Join us in this workshop to take a look at some of the tools and techniques available today that can be used to express your vision of the natural world with your personal artistic spin. We’ll look at techniques and tools that cover such things as high dynamic range (HDR), double exposures, multiple exposures, time lapse, multimedia expression and unique perspectives in the field. We will also look at how you can tell your story through a short portfolio of images as well as look at various techniques for integrating still images into a multimedia format for a more visually dynamic delivery of the story you wish to tell. Images can be powerful tools for conservation of the natural world.

Please Note:We will meet at the Business Reception Desk at the backdoor of the Academy at 12:45pm.

Reservations: Members: $40, General: $50 Space is limited. To reserve a place today, buy a ticket online or over the phone at 1-877-227-1831

Pritzker Lecture:
To The Arctic
Florian Schulz
Award Winning Conservation Photographer

Wednesday, March 13th 7:00 PM in the Planetarium
After a year and half braving the bone chilling temperatures in the arctic, living among the polar bears and diving beneath icebergs, conservation photographer Florian Schulz came away with a stunning portfolio of images and a detailed look at arctic ecology that captures the imagination and reveals stories of a complex ecological environment rarely seen to this degree. Florian Schulz will take you on a tour of this his conservation work by being the first to ever use our full digital dome for a Pritzker member lecture while discussing how polar bears, walruses, and other marine species depend on the arctic ice for feeding, resting, and denning. Conservation photography is a powerful tool for digital storytelling and this presentation is sure to inform and inspire us all. We will get a glimpse into the complexity of life in this challenging climate as well as a better understanding of how life here is inevitably linked to life in the arctic. Florian Schulz is a fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) and one of the best nature photographers in the world. The images from this project and his personal accounts are chronicled in the IMAX 3D movie, “To The Arctic” and in a book by the same title. A book signing will follow the presentation.

Reservations: Members: free, General $12, Seniors $10. Seating is limited. To reserve a place today, buy a ticket online or over the phone at 1-877-227-1831

In Partnership With The San Francisco Public Library
Whales: Up Close and Personal
Bryant Austin
Conservation Photographer

Wednesday, May 22 at 6:00pm, SF Main Library
Conservation photographer Bryant Austin is the only photographer in the world producing high-resolution, life-size photography of whales. A chance encounter with a humpback calf and its mother helped Austin develop a technique to create detailed, intimate portraits of his subjects. Spending days at a time submerged with groups of whales, he remains motionless, allowing humpback, sperm, and minke whales that are sometimes forty-five feet in length and weigh as much as fifty tons to come within six feet. In this presentation, Austin will describe his fearless process and reveal images from his breathtaking new book, Beautiful Whale, which will be published in April 2013 by Abrams. Hear the story behind these impactful images that inspire people to take the future of whales-endangered throughout the oceans-into their hearts. Book signing to follow.

Reservations: This is a free event at the The San Francisco Main Library. in the Koret Auditorium on the ground floor. Seating is limited. Reservations will be available in mid February and are encouraged.

Photo Competition

The LoveLife photo competition is back! Submit your loveliest photos of the California Academy of Sciences and the natural world for judging by a team of Academy insiders. Vote to nominate your favorite photos online for the People’s Choice Award. Prizes include a $100 gift card, Academy Behind-the-Scenes tours and more! Visit the LoveLife photo exhibit in the Academy Children’s Gallery to see past winners.

Learn More

Our Real World Meetup Community

Consider this your invitation to join our virtual community that can serve as way for all of us to stay in touch as a photography community. If you who are new to Meetup, they describe their service as such: “Meetup.com helps groups of people with shared interests plan meetings and form offline clubs in local communities around the world.” We would love to have you join our group and spread the word to fellow photographers. We can use this platform to announce free real world gatherings to grow our community and plan times to get together with new friends that you may have made through the Academy photography workshops. Speaking of workshops, we’ll also announce upcoming Academy workshops through the service as well as on the Academy site. We hope you will join the group and spread the word so we can grow our community.

Please visit us online so we can make plans to get together in the real world!

Conservation Photography Flickr Pool

The second most requested thing from our workshop participants, beyond ways to continue to get together in person, has been for ways to post the images taken in our workshops to an online site where we could offer each other feedback on our images and technique. This can also be used to open up topics of conversation about anything photography related. We hope you will consider posting some of the images you took through our workshops, and we look forward to seeing more of your nature related photography through this group. A bonus of contributing to the flickr pool is that they joined forces with Getty images giving you a professional service from which to sell your images. If you’re good, they will find you!

Check Out & Join Our Flickr Pool

iNaturalist Identification Database

From the inventors of the inaturalist.org website: "From hikers to hunters, birders to beach-combers, the world is filled with naturalists, and many of us record what we find. What if all those observations could be shared online? You might discover someone who finds beautiful wildflowers at your favorite birding spot, or learn about the birds you see on the way to work. If enough people recorded their observations, it would be like a living record of life on Earth that scientists and land managers could use to monitor changes in biodiversity, and that anyone could use to learn more about nature. That's the vision behind iNaturalist.org. So if you like recording your findings from the outdoors, or if you just like learning about life, join us! "

Please visit our "project" page to join the effort to explore, explain and protect the natural world.