Joel Sartore's crusade to immortalize the world's captive species through his camera lens has captured nearly 18,000 animals, with ambitions to eventually photograph 25,000. Through the Photo Ark initiative, backed by National Geographic, Sartore is making strides to showcase the striking diversity of animal life, as first reported by 12news.com. Not content to merely record the already iconic, Sartore labors to throw the spotlight on lesser-known creatures. He believes that "Photo Ark is for the smaller things that people will have never really heard of before," such as the Banner Tail Kangaroo Rat captured during a previous visit to the Valley's Wildlife World Zoo.
According to a piece by CNN, Sartore's mission has an urgent conservation message beneath its surface. "The Photo Ark is my desperate, last-ditch attempt to try to get the public to pay attention," Sartore told CNN. By photographing animals against nondescript black or white backdrops, Sartore's technique is crafted to elicit a visceral connection between the viewer and the animal subject, captured most notably in portraits like that of the critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper, which marked the 13,000th species Sartore has documented.
His striking images are not just meant to be a record of what might soon be lost; they are a call to action. It's reported that part of the proceeds from his Photo Ark books are to directly fund conservation and education efforts. Gary Ward, curator of birds at ZSL London Zoo, highlighted the significance of Sartore's work by stating, "Seeing is the first step to caring, and caring is the first step to conservation action." Ward praised Sartore's approach in lifting all species, big and small, into the public eye to help foster support for on-the-ground conservation efforts.
The quest of the Photo Ark extends well beyond cataloging the majestic and goes to great lengths to equally enshrine the minuscule and often ignored. Sartore's portfolio is replete with a diversity that spans the animal kingdom, from the giants of the savannahs to insects and amphibians that escape our day-to-day notice. "Most endangered species are not some big charismatic megafauna," Sartore pointed out. "They are mice, they are mussels, they are minnows."
One of the most poignant moments of his career was photographing the last known surviving Rabb's fringe-limbed tree frog, an image that now stands as a legacy to a species that has since slipped into extinction. It is this emotional impetus that drives Sartore to keep going. "It makes me sad, but it also makes me extremely irritated," Sartore said, "I'm not spreading the word fast enough."
