Getting a Glimpse at Joel Sartore

It is safe to say that anyone in photojournalism with an interest in conservation and wildlife knows the work of Joel Sartore - to be honest I usually assume that most people have seen what I always describe to them as “the beautifully lit studio-type wildlife portraits on black of white backgrounds.” Like every year the honor medal awards brought us a great opportunity to talk with a leader in our field and so Joel’s presentation fit right in. 

To me the part that stood out the most was his clear and unwavering mission of conservation and protection of our planet that remained through the talk. Whenever people get awards, I go into talks wondering whether they will fully express their honest opinions, or whether it will be toned back for the sake of winning an award and therefore not offending anyone. I appreciated that Joel never once seemed to stray from what he honestly felt for the sake of a presentation - it felt very honest in that way. Obviously I could talk about the photos forever, like we all could, but I will say I really enjoyed his way of using the photos to getting at bigger messages. Regardless of whether you agree with his opinions or ideas for how to help save the planet, he uses beautiful, powerful imagery as a way to get people’s attention and gain their interest in what he has to say - and that to me is the power that photography and photojournalism has in making people think.