June 15 is Nature Photography Day and Project Coyote is taking the opportunity to celebrate the power of nature photography to inspire appreciation for, and protection of, our wild neighbors.
We believe that art has the power to evoke empathy and inspire our imaginations, which can shift cultural ideologies, perceptions, and human behavior toward compassion for all members of our multispecies communities. That is why we started our Artists for Wild Nature program, as well as our #CaptureCoexistence Campaign that unites nature photographers and videographers to join our efforts to End Wildlife Killing Contests.
In this blog, we feature beautiful images of wild carnivores from some of our amazing Capture Coexistence Contributors.
Wildlife killing contests are egregious events in which participants compete to kill the greatest number, the largest, or even the youngest of the target species for prizes and entertainment. These contests exploit the lack of killing limits and restrictions for many of these species and are often billed by contest organizers as a “management” tool, offering prizes such as cash, belt-buckles, and high-powered guns.
Ethical wildlife photography presents a humane, non-consumptive form of wildlife recreation that values individual wild lives and their habitats, provides economic benefits to communities through ecotourism, and contravenes unscientific, consumptive wildlife recreation such as killing contests. Campaign contributors capture the essence of coexistence—humans and nonhuman animals living in beautiful multispecies communities—and inspire appreciation for wild nature by highlighting what we lose during each killing contest.
For Melissa Groo, a Project Coyote #CaptureCoexistence Ambassador, photography is both a career and a passion. “The main reason I engage in nature photography,” she says, “ is my deep reverence and empathy for wildlife, and my fervent wish to effect conservation of wild creatures and habitat. I seek to both move and educate viewers and lead them to positive action with conservation impact.” Melissa is an Associate Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers, as well as an advisor to the National Audubon Society on photography content and ethics.
Project Coyote collaborates with artists, creatives, and educators to inspire diverse new audiences to appreciate their wild neighbors, raise awareness about the importance of wild carnivores to thriving ecosystems, and encourage communities to choose coexistence with wildlife. #CaptureCoexistence amplifies the collective voices of the nature photography industry through social media, sign-on letters, and other digital campaigns in defense of wildlife policy that protects rather than harms wildlife and showcases the beauty of wild lives to inspire new audiences, such as policymakers, who may not have the opportunity to spend time in nature.
“A photograph or video of a wild animal provides such a direct emotional connection to the species, and often insight into animal behavior that people otherwise would never see,” says nature photographer and Project Coyote’s Keeping It Wild Youth Education Program Coordinator, Sarah Killingsworth. “That emotional reaction is what motivates people to get involved, to work for conservation.”
Through mediums such as music, film, painting, drawing and illustration, poetry, and prose, Project Coyote is working with artists to collectively shift attitudes, evoke emotions, engage the senses, and deepen our human connection to Wild Nature. Project Coyote empowers artists to use their talents to amplify the voices of wild carnivores, contribute to ongoing education and outreach efforts, fundraise for advocacy campaigns through art, and inspire new audiences to join the movement of compassionate conservation.
Want to get involved? If you are a nature photographer or videographer, learn how to join our #CaptureCoexistence Campaign. Or, if you are an artist working in another medium, stay tuned, as we are in the process of re-launching our Artists for Wild Nature program. And for the teachers out there, we are excited to soon be releasing a new K-8 wild carnivore curriculum through our Keeping It Wild program to provide the tools you need to teach about North America’s wild carnivores in your classroom.
Don’t forget to join our E-Team to stay current on all our latest programs, campaigns, and opportunities for involvement!
