Special Commentary: How wildlife photography helps the environment

By Hope Rogers

In wildlife photography, one final photo is worth a thousand minutes — or even hours — of waiting. Idaho-based wildlife photographer Ken Archer spends extensive time at a particular site, often with a specific animal, to find out what it’s like to live their lives, a practice that involves persistence and patience.

Archer said that he might station himself near a pond planning to photograph loons, but instead see “ducks interacting and then a muskox walking up to drink” long before any loon appears in the right light.

“I know when somebody just sees a picture on the page, they see one slice, a few milliseconds, of time,” Archer said. In reality, however, much more happens behind the scenes that leads to the intimate photos of wildlife that end up on the pages of books and magazines. Why then, one might ask, do nature photographers spend days or even weeks waiting for the right lighting and positioning for one moment to be documented? According to Archer, this meticulous process makes it “all the more powerful” when it is published.

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