JHWFF
On Thursday I leave for the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. This is perhaps the premiere film festival for nature documentaries of all types, and I will be outclassed by virtually everyone around me. I will be there as a volunteer, as I don't have any projects worthy of any sort of competition right now. I've been on the straight-and-narrow track toward a doctorate for so long, that switching gears has been a major and jarring transition. The fact remains that the naturalist within me, who has been motivating my desire to be a research scientist all these years, had found a more satisfying outlet in still photography up until now, and in videography and filmmaking as these resources have become available to me. I remain a better photographer than videographer at the moment, but my skills are improving and the opportunity to capture the behaviors of my subjects (usually of the insect variety) as well as their structure, color, and environment is very exciting for me.
I have always had a love of movies, both as a geeky fan of genre and as an enthusiast of technical artistry. Although I read many books about natural history and exotic travels as a boy, I cannot pretend that nature documentaries did not heavily influence my early decision to be a field biologist (I wrote about wanting to explore the Amazon when I was six... I don't remember it, but I saw the note that my mother had saved). I still love these films, and when I watch a project that truly walks the line between scientific inquiry and public discourse, it brings a smile to my lips. I have seen how easy it is to lose touch with the public while in academia, where research is designed to be communicated among scientific peers, and where the opportunities to "tell the world" of one's results are few and far between. There are such great research projects being conducted all over the world, and it can be a major task to ensure that the people who need to hear the results are educated about them. I'm not saying that nature documentaries are the penultimate solution that will sow the seeds of conservation and understanding of the natural world in the minds of all peoples. But perhaps they can help. I'd like to be a part of that.
I have always had a love of movies, both as a geeky fan of genre and as an enthusiast of technical artistry. Although I read many books about natural history and exotic travels as a boy, I cannot pretend that nature documentaries did not heavily influence my early decision to be a field biologist (I wrote about wanting to explore the Amazon when I was six... I don't remember it, but I saw the note that my mother had saved). I still love these films, and when I watch a project that truly walks the line between scientific inquiry and public discourse, it brings a smile to my lips. I have seen how easy it is to lose touch with the public while in academia, where research is designed to be communicated among scientific peers, and where the opportunities to "tell the world" of one's results are few and far between. There are such great research projects being conducted all over the world, and it can be a major task to ensure that the people who need to hear the results are educated about them. I'm not saying that nature documentaries are the penultimate solution that will sow the seeds of conservation and understanding of the natural world in the minds of all peoples. But perhaps they can help. I'd like to be a part of that.