SUNDAY VIBES
IT was such a heart-wrenching sight. An iconic inhabitant of the Arctic, this hulking yet majestic furry creature is usually pictured roaming across stark snowy or icy terrain in search of sustenance, sometimes with an adorable cub in tow. As one of my favourite animals, polar bears never fail to captivate me, for their soft-like exterior appears huggable, their faraway existence seems surreal and their frozen homeland so poles apart from our tropics that images of them never fail to give me that magical Narnia feeling.
But here was harsh reality. By a blue sea with barely any ice left, a polar bear lay slumped over rocky ground, shockingly emaciated and lifeless. Its premature fate was most likely a consequence of climate change and the inability to survive in a fast-changing environment. That was the implication mentioned in the photo caption by the National Geographic photographer who’d captured and posted the photo online.
The image had squeezed my heart and overwhelmed me with such sadness that I recall tears welling up. We’re so accustomed to seeing pictures of living animals that exposure to dead ones are an unpleasant jolt, especially when it concerns a vulnerable species heading for extinction.
Such is the profound ability of wildlife photography to tell visual stories about the other inhabitants with whom we share this planet while highlighting important global issues. “Threats to wildlife and damage to landscape and ecosystems can feel very distant and remote, not our problem. Wildlife photography has the power to bring wildlife directly into people’s lives, and, hopefully to make them care,” believes Graeme Green, a British journalist and wildlife photographer who has contributed to international publications such as The Sunday Times (UK), The Guardian, National Geographic, BBC Travel Wanderlust.
For the past 15 years, Green, who hails from Northampton, England has travelled to some of the world’s greatest wildlife destinations, where he has photographed a diverse array of creatures in their natural habitat. From lions on the grasslands of Kenya to leopard seals on ice floes in Antarctica, he has seen firsthand incredible animals that most of us could only ever see in a documentary or on the Internet.
Thresher sharks have swum right over his head. A huge silverback mountain gorilla once ambled peacefully past him in the mountains of Uganda. Just a regular day for a wildlife photographer.
It’s easy to get hooked, says the Englishman who also loves photographing people, places, cultures, landscapes, and street photography. Through an email interview, he divulges that his passion for wildlife photography is about “being in some of the world’s most beautiful natural environments, spending time with some of the most remarkable creatures on the planet, and also exercising that creative, artistic side of yourself to take the best photos you can.” That combination, he adds, is simply hard to beat.
Asking him to name some of his favourite places in the world to photograph wildlife is like asking a Malaysian to pick their favourite local food. A long list is inevitable and the answer could continue for days, but among his highlights are the frozen wilderness of northern Japan where he has found red-crowned cranes, whitetailed sea eagles and foxes.