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.

Big Picture: Natural World
A Photography Competition

The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco will launch its inaugural Big Picture: Natural World Photography Competition in October 2013. This International photo competition will spotlight conservation with an esteemed panel of judges and significant prizes to be awarded. Spotlighting the work of conservation photographers from around the world, the competition will focus a visual lens on the Academy’s mission to explore, explain and sustain life, raising one simple yet profound call to action: What on Earth have you photographed?

Chaired by award-winning photographer and Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers Suzi Eszterhas, the competition welcomes professional-level, high-caliber nature, wildlife and conservation images and is open to all photographers who aim to capture the beauty and fragility of the natural world through an artistic lens.

Launching October 1, 2013 the Big Picture competition entry period will run through March 31, 2014 and paid image submissions will be accepted online at BigPictureCompetition.org. Please note that website content will go live in July 2013. The competition seeks submissions in the following categories:

1. Land Mammals
2. Birds
3. Insects, Reptiles, Marine Mammals, Fish and Amphibians
4. Waterscapes, Landscapes and Plant Life
5. Conservation Imagery

Big Picture also aims to inspire the next generation of conservationists in its two unique youth-oriented categories, giving young people the opportunity to enter photos that capture their interpretations of the natural world.

The Grand Prize and Category winners and their work will be honored at an awards ceremony, currently slated for May 29, 2014 at the Academy, and they will receive significant cash and camera prizes. A panel of esteemed judges, comprised of renowned international photographers, photo editors and conservationists, will include: Daniel Beltrá (Madrid, Spain), Klausse Nigge (Luenen, Germany), Thomas Peschack (Cape Town, South Africa), David Liittschwager (San Francisco, California), Clay Bolte (Easley, South Carolina), Tui De Roy (South Island, New Zealand), Ian Shive (Los Angeles, California), Kathy Moran (Washington D.C.), and Jury Chair Suzi Eszterhas (San Francisco, California).

The Academy curates an ongoing suite of conservation photography workshops and lectures featuring prominent photographers, scientists, naturalists and conservationists, offering visitors the opportunity to engage in thoughtful discussions around the nature of life and the science and sustainability of our planet. Big Picture encourages photographers from around the world to contribute their work to this competition that will both celebrate and illustrate the rich diversity of life on Earth and inspire action to protect and conserve it.

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.