Saving the National Parks one photo at a time: Ian Shive

In case you missed Wild Exposure with Ian Shrive, a documentary of his experiences photographing the National Parks for "Photos Across America" on Current, All is not lost. Current Green caught up with Ian between signings (Literally. I think he was driving).

Current Green: How did you get into photography?

Ian Shive: It started as an attempt to share new experiences and places with friends and family when I first moved to Montana for college after growing up in New Jersey. Montana was so radically different that I had to find ways to send photos back home to “prove” to friends what I was seeing out west. Most of my friends back then had not seen the American West and once you see it – it never leaves you. I remember one experience in particular where I had photographed a scene in the Crazy Mountains of Montana and when I got the film back – the photos were so disappointing. I had failed to accurately capture what I was hoping for and so began an inadvertent journey of teaching myself photography. Still, photography wasn’t an obvious career choice for me, despite the fact that my father is a photographer specializing in architecture. I simply saw it as a means of sharing and that continues to this day.

Current Green: What came first? Love of wilderness or love of photography?

Ian Shive: My first experience of wilderness outdoors was in New Jersey, and so that’s pretty much where I spent all of my time. Most people don’t think of New Jersey as a place with great outdoors but it is and was amazing. We had wildlife refuges and parks that for a 5-year old up until my teen years, were more than enough to spark my interests. When I was 14 years-old, my parents took me on my first trip to a major National Park – the Grand Canyon. That trip left an indelible mark and opened my eyes to the immensity of the west and especially the magic of the national parks. When I returned to Montana for college, I was never in class because Bozeman was so close to Yellowstone National Park (only 90 miles north), so photography and the parks and the love of wilderness all started in earnest. About six years later, I was completely obsessed and engrossed in the outdoors and photography.

Current Green: You have said that there is a difference between nature photography and conservation photography. Can you explain the difference?

Ian Shive: Nature photography and conservation photography frequently appear the same. It could be a bird in the backyard feeder, a beautiful landscape of a national park or a great wildlife shot. The place where the two diverge is that nature photography takes no action – the image is for yourself or for a magazine. Conservation photography takes the process a step further by taking that same image and using it for advocacy, education and to bring awareness or aid to the subject or ecosystem depicted in the image. It’s sort of like giving back to the landscape that you’ve borrowed from as a photographer.

Catch the full article, more pictures, and the videos on the blog post:
http://blogs.current.com/green/2009/09/30/saving-the-national-parks-one-photo-at...