A Snapshot of a Harsh Reality

The grand winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award, a British amateur photographer, Nima Sarikhani, has managed to capture the stark reality of climate change in a single frame. His iconic image titled ‘Ice Bed’, which depicts a young polar bear carving a makeshift bed on an iceberg, is not just a beautiful wildlife photograph, but also a chilling reminder of the adverse effects of climate change. The image, which received a record-breaking 75,000 votes from the public, will be on display at the Natural History Museum, London, until 30 June.

Behind the Winning Shot

Sarikhani’s journey to the win was not an easy one. He spent three days navigating through the freezing waters of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago before he encountered a pair of polar bears. The young male bear, clearly tired, managed to create a bed on a small iceberg and drifted off to sleep. This common behavior, captured in the ‘Ice Bed’, is a stark reminder of the integral bond between an animal and its habitat, highlighting the harsh reality of climate warming and habitat loss.

The Arctic’s Silent Plea

While the image depicts a peaceful scene, it also subtly conveys a desperate plea from the Arctic. The impact of global warming on the Arctic is three times the global average, leading to a reduction in sea ice cover. This drastic change in the environment poses a significant threat to the survival of polar bears and other Arctic wildlife. The striking image is a visual representation of these detrimental impacts, stirring conversations about the climate crisis worldwide.

More Than Just a Photograph

Winning the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award is more than just an individual achievement for Sarikhani. He hopes his photograph will inspire hope and raise awareness about the impacts of climate change. The ‘Ice Bed’ is a potent reminder of how urgently we need to address global challenges like climate change and habitat loss. The image, while capturing the bond between animals and their habitat, also poses a critical question about their future.

Joining Hands for a Better Future

The People’s Choice Award serves as a platform to raise awareness about the plight of wildlife facing the brunt of climate change. The ‘Ice Bed’ has successfully served as a catalyst, sparking conversations and debates about the climate crisis. As we appreciate the visual appeal of these images, let’s also acknowledge the underlying message they convey. Every vote cast for Sarikhani’s photograph is a vote for the Arctic, a vote for the polar bears, and a step towards a better, more sustainable future. The time to act is now.

In the digital era, the power of a single image to captivate, inspire, and even incite action is undeniable. Yet, as a recent study reveals, this potency can also lead to unintended consequences, particularly in the realm of global health photography. On February 14, 2024, researchers Arsenii Alenichev and colleagues published their findings in PLOS Global Public Health, shedding light on the ethical dilemmas faced by photographers commissioned by NGOs and agencies.

The Dual Objectives: Photojournalism vs. Marketing

Photographers working in global health often find themselves caught between two competing objectives: to accurately represent local communities and to create compelling imagery that will garner donations and raise awareness. This tension can result in photos that are sanitized, sensationalized, or even staged, which can ultimately misrepresent the communities they aim to help.

The Unforeseen Consequences of Sharing Wildlife Images

One area where these ethical dilemmas are particularly pronounced is in wildlife photography, specifically in the context of conservation efforts. While sharing images of wild animals online can help raise awareness and foster a love for nature, it can also contribute to illegal animal trafficking and harmful human-wildlife interactions.

Wildlife professionals have a crucial role to play in promoting responsible social media use. By avoiding featuring themselves in pictures with animals and providing informative captions, they can help educate viewers about the potential harm caused by seeking out similar experiences or attempting to own these animals as pets.

The Need for Awareness and Education

Despite the best efforts of photographers and wildlife professionals, the study by Alenichev and colleagues found that even when detailed captions were provided, a significant portion of viewers still expressed a desire to seek out similar experiences with animals or own them as pets. This finding underscores the need for further awareness and education on the impact of such interactions.

As we continue to navigate the complex world of global health photography, it is essential that organizations prioritize a more photojournalistic approach, emphasizing ethical clarity over potential economic sacrifices. By doing so, we can ensure that the images we share not only captivate and inspire but also contribute to the well-being of the communities and wildlife they depict.

Keywords: Global health photography, ethical dilemmas, wildlife conservation, responsible social media use, photojournalism, marketing objectives, illegal animal trafficking, harmful human-wildlife interactions, awareness, education.

In conclusion, the ethical dilemmas surrounding global health photography serve as a reminder of the power and responsibility that comes with sharing images in today’s interconnected world. By prioritizing ethical clarity and promoting responsible social media use, we can harness the potency of visual storytelling to make a positive impact on the lives of people and wildlife around the globe.

Lexar’s new SL600 portable SSD promises speeds up to 2,000 MB/s and comes in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities.

The Lexar SL600 utilizes USB 3.2 gen 2×2 performance, promising up to 2,000 MB/s read and write speeds. While the footnotes on Lexar’s product page explain that actual performance may vary — as is always the case with storage devices — the company doesn’t disclose specs for minimum read/write speeds.

To achieve the best possible speeds and reach, or at least get near the 2,000 MB/s, users must have a computer or host device that is certified to support the 20 Gb/s USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 standard. If a device doesn’t have USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, and instead has USB 3.2 Gen 2, speeds will be effectively cut in half. This is especially relevant for Mac users, as Apple devices, even those with Thunderbolt and USB 4 support, don’t have USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 technology.

Lexar markets the drive for photographers, videographers, and content creators, citing the drive’s portability, design, performance, and ruggedness. The drive includes USB Type-C and Type-A cables and offers shock and vibration resistance. The SL600 includes a carabiner loop at one end so that users can easily attach it to their backpack.

The SL600 is 4.4 x 2.3 x 0.4 inches (112.6 x 59 x 10.6 millimeters) and weighs 64 grams (2.3 ounces). Like any practical portable SSD, the SL600 is USB-powered.

“We understand that many creative professionals need solutions that expedite their workflows and make their jobs easier. The Lexar Professional SL600 Portable SSD does just that by offering blazing fast read and write speeds that allow creatives to spend more time focusing on their craft rather than waiting for files to transfer,” says Joey Lopez, Lexar’s Director of Marketing.

The Lexar SL600 comes in three capacities. The 1TB and 2TB versions are available now from retailers for $90 and $140, respectively, although their list prices are actually $130 and $175. The 4TB version is not yet available but Lexar says it will start shipping next quarter, so sometime this spring. Pricing for the 4TB SL600 SSD has not yet been disclosed.

If PetaPixel has the chance to test the SL600, it may make its way into the “Best Portable SSDs in 2024” guide. The SL600’s price and performance are certainly compelling, and the company’s memory cards are well respected.

Image credits: Lexar

Global health photography is often caught between photojournalistic intentions of accurately reflecting local communities and marketing directives to create attention-grabbing imagery, according to a study published in PLOS Global Public Health by Arsenii Alenichev from Oxford Population Health, the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and colleagues.

Standing at such representational crossroads, photographers are forced to engage with numerous—and often unresolvable—ethical and practical dilemmas.

Photographers are often commissioned by non-governmental organizations and agencies to document the pain and empowerment of others, with a goal to yield donations and attract attention to issues in communities. While photojournalism is often framed as objective, simply by being present, photographers interfere with local communities and can face challenging ethical dilemmas.

To better understand how global health photographers operate and ethically obtain consent from subjects, the authors interviewed 29 photographers reflecting the demographic realities of the field about the moral and practical challenges they face on the job. The authors identified common themes across the anonymized interview transcripts to highlight major issues faced by global health photographers.

The authors found that in the current global health landscape, organizations often direct photographers to quickly create attention-grabbing marketing images to compete with mainstream ads. Photographers typically have to work with client-created ‘briefs’ detailing what images they need to take, and with limited time and resources.

In practice, it pushes photographers to increasingly sanitize, sensationalize, or stage scenes to produce the desired image—misrepresenting the realities of local communities, especially in the Global South, to which photographers react with resistance. Acquiring ethical consent from subjects is also complicated by power imbalances, language barriers and illiteracy, and misplaced fear and trust in both the photographer and the legal documents they are asked to sign.

Given these emergent themes, the authors argue that organizations should push for a more photojournalistic approach to the creation of global health images, weighing ethical clarity over potential economic sacrifice. While their sample of respondents may have been biased towards critical perspectives, the authors believe that this broad overview of tensions will equip other researchers to conduct future studies of more localized, nuanced experiences.

The authors add, “Decolonization of global health and its visual culture will prove impossible without taking the ethical experiences of photographers seriously, especially the local ones. Global health images should not be understood as neutral depictions of interventions—they are in fact political agents participating in the formulation of stereotypes about people and entire communities.”

Nikon Ambassador and internationally acclaimed photographer and videographer Kristi Odom joined the PetaPixel Podcast this week to discuss underwater photography. Alongside joining us to talk shop, Odom also separately selected and explained her top three images of 2023, one of which is, perhaps not coincidentally, an underwater photo.

Thanks to our podcast sponsor OM SYSTEM! OM SYSTEM unveiled its latest flagship camera on January 30th, the OM-1 Mark II, which builds upon the legacy of the original OM-1. With double the buffer size and impressive high-speed sequential shooting capabilities–up to 50fps with continuous autofocus — the new camera offers enhanced autofocus performance, accuracy, and reliability.
 
Anticipated to begin shipping in two weeks, insider information from OM SYSTEM revealed that they’ve extended their pre-order promotion, originally expected to conclude on February 26th, now extended until the end of March. Pre-order your OM-1 Mark II body or kit by March 31st and enjoy an additional complementary BLX-1 battery. Bundle your purchase with select lenses to save up to $300. Visit explore.omsystem.com/petapixel for more details!

The Ocean’s Great Migration

Odom’s favorite shot of 2023 is her image of two dolphins beneath a school of sardines. The brilliant underwater image tells a very powerful story and offers compelling shapes, tones, and texture. Like so many great underwater images, the photo feels otherworldly.

The image was shot “off the coast of South Africa during the sardine run,” Odom explains to PetaPixel. “Every year, the sardines and other little fish swim together in masses, often forming bait balls. This brings in the sharks, dolphins, birds, and whales. It is basically the great migration of the sea.”

Part of the image’s relative darkness is due to underwater just being darker, but much of it is due to Odom’s personal style and creative choices.

“A lot of my toning reflects my personal style,” she says. “My images tend to be a little on the dark side with highlights bringing your eyes to the subjects.”

“I use histograms throughout my whole process, from shooting to editing. I love that my Z9 lets me see them while shooting; Lightroom and Photoshop also show histograms. The majority of my images, when processed, have a very similar histogram.”

She also wants to note that she removed the back-scatter from the image to ensure a clean background. This clean background also showcases Odom’s expert use of negative space throughout her work.

“When underwater, I see the ocean and its vastness as part of the narrative. Which is why I decided to include it here,” the photographer says. “These dolphins and the bait ball that they were swimming towards were actually pretty small when amongst the large ocean.”

Bolivian Bees: Years in the Making

“This image took me three years and multiple trips to Bolivia to achieve,” Odom says. “It was super challenging.”

The image is part of a much larger story of rehabilitation from Amazon deforestation. This specific bee, a native Bolivian species called Tetragonisca angustula, known locally as “senorita,” is only four to five millimeters large.

Odom called on fellow Nikon expert Paul Van Allen, a NPS rep, for help. Her Z9’s excellent autofocus also helped.

“My autofocus settings were as follows: AF-C, Wide area AF with bird tracking, which worked like a charm on these little bees.”

To achieve the incredible dynamism in the image, Odom used multiple artificial lights, including a Nikon SB-5000 speedlight, a Nikon SB-910, and a Godox lighstick. She controlled her Nikon flashes using the WR-R11a Remote Controller. Odom also used a black cloth backdrop.

“I worked with a bee expert to make sure that putting up the black cloth didn’t interfere with the bees in any way,” she adds.

“I used the lighstick to show the path then by using the right flash duration, which I hit by setting the flashes at 1/8th power, I used the WR-R11a to trigger the SB-5000. The light from the SB-5000 triggered the SB-910.”

B&H Photo and Video was on-site with Odom recording her as part of an upcoming five-part wildlife video series, so the full process will be featured in one of the episodes. “Keep an eye out,” says Odom.

Cheetah Cubs Watching Mom

For a total change of pace, Odom’s third favorite photo of 2023 is from an early morning adventure in Tsavo East National Park in Kenya.

“They’re looking at their mom,” Odom says of the photogenic young cheetahs. “They were getting up to walk over to her, then they walked off together into the vast savannah.”

“I’m so drawn to how cheetah siblings work together, learn together, and play together. It is amazing to see.”

“In this case, they were all focused on the same spot, and got up together to walk towards her, but got up at different speeds — showing togetherness, yet that they are still individuals.”

“I was lucky that this one shot caught catchlight in all three eyes,” Odom explains.

While Odom could have gone for a wider field of view and maybe caught mom in the frame, she opted to leave her out because she was surrounded by very distracting elements and she didn’t fit the overall narrative.

“To me, the story is in her three cubs.”

The storytelling of seeing all three cubs looking out of the frame, and wondering what they’re staring at, is really compelling. An expert visual storyteller, Odom knows how to perfectly arrange everything in the frame to tell the best story, which often includes deciding what not to include in the image.

She also knows how important a good background is to an image.

“I definitely use a shallow depth of field a lot to make the backgrounds more textural and not so distracting. It is important to show a sense to place, but not to pull people’s eyes away too much from the main subjects.”

“It is important to look all around your frame before taking every photo,” she adds. “Everything inside that frame is a part of the narrative, and it all needs to work together.”

More from Kristi Odom

Kristi Odom is a photographer, educator, Nikon Ambassador, and Associate Fellow at the International League of Conservation Photographers.

PetaPixel recently spoke with Odom and a budding young photographer she’s mentoring, Devon Matthews, about the tarantula migration in La Junta, Colorado. Odom offers many great tips for photographers in the article.

Below are a few more of her underwater photos, and even more of her work is available on her website and on Instagram.

We use Riverside to record The PetaPixel Podcast in our online recording studio.
 
We hope you enjoy the podcast and we look forward to hearing what you think. If you like what you hear, please support us by subscribing, liking, commenting, and reviewing! Every week, the trio go over comments on YouTube and here on PetaPixel, but if you’d like to send a message for them to hear, you can do so through SpeakPipe.
 

In This Episode

Image credits: © Kristi Odom