Back in December and January, my brother and I completed a 10 day photography safari here in Costa Rica. We captured some beautiful images thanks mostly to my brother's experience and skill, and a lot of dumb luck. But in my journal those days, I wrote the following. "A pair of scarlet macaws glided across the sky. A trio followed. Another pair. They were streaks of red, yellow, and blue in the morning glow. We hoped to capture such a moment with a battery of photography equipment. But a crisp photo was elusive. Maybe capturing such a wild thing makes it less wild?"
A blog titled "Too many lenses, too few eyes" in today's New York Times digs into this question.
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/essay-18/
In the juxtaposition of the two photos above and below, I think one can see this tension.
I would write more on what unfolded that morning at the Sirena station. "Called the most beautiful bird in the world by some, Lapa Roja symbolizes the exotic beauty and wildness of the tropics. One day, a pair unexpectedly flew directly towards our porch. As one bird flew over the building, the other looped back and perched on the roof above us. Then, like a leaf, the Macaw fluttered onto the railing right in front of us. I was face to face with the bird the Park Rangers called Lapa Poncho.
This was a bird connected on the one hand to the wilderness and his or her mate in the trees. But Lapa Poncho also remained connected to the station and its rangers who had rescued it after falling out of the nest as a young macaw. This bird has one wing in our world and the other in the tropical wilderness surrounding Sirena Station. That bird also could symbolize the challenges we face in conserving biodiversity.
Costa Rica is one of the world’s leaders in the share of land protected from human disturbances. But their reserves are islands surrounded by development and managing species like the Scarlet Macaw no longer occurs just inside the parks. Conservation is managing people as much as it’s about managing wildlife and their habitats. This is one of the many lessons I bring students to Costa Rica to learn."
We de-wild when we disturb. All of our activities have an effect--even activities as benign as photography.
ReplyDeleteAs difficult and frustrating as it is, we should always strive to leave no trace when we enter wild places.
The macaw was saved by humans when he was injured and who could fault that? But we have also rendered him vulnerable to those of us who are not so well-intentioned by virtue of his contact with us.
If I were smarter, perhaps I would have a nice clean and tidy answer for this delimma. But I'm not, so I don't.