As a teenager in the mid-70s , photographerMarc Schlossmanvolunteered at theField Museumin Chicago labeling mink skull in the mammals department . 10 later , he returned to the museum in lookup of stirring for a photobook to document “ Earth ’s 6th mass extinction ” through photos of the museum ’s collection .
His recent passing , Extinction , aims to polish a light on what is happening to the environment during an eld when human body process is dominating the natural world . We caught up with Schlossman to determine out more about his way of life into picture taking , and how onetime hangout can become worthful resources when trying to communicate messages about science and the environment .
How did this project descend about ?
The population trend of the critically endangered ivory-billed woodpecker is listed as “unknown” on theIUCN red list. Image courtesy of Marc Schlossman
The whole thing was sprout at the Field Museum in Chicago , all 82 specimen . My connexion to the museum started in my teens in the mid-70s when I volunteer for a few summers at the museum . I was labelling stacks of specimens and jump to pull in the enormity of these heavy collections , and how authoritative they are in damage of inquiry , Education Department , and conservation .
I later make an undergraduate degree in wildlife biology at the University of Maine , and then establish photography instantly after that . At that point , I forget behind the musical theme of doing a job in wildlife or fisheries , but I never lost my interest group in bionomics and environmental issue .
Photographically , I started out in news and editorial , mostly magazine and newspaper oeuvre , so I was always tell stories with simulacrum . I ’d been doing that in London for 34 years , but in 2008 , I went back to the museum with my boys , and we did this behind - the - scenes go in the bird department .
It’s not known how many cinnamon screech-owls are in existence but the IUCN has assessed their population asdecreasing. Image courtesy of Marc Schlossman
And there at the end of the tour there ’s a drawer with nonextant mintage . This is the taradiddle I tell all the clock time , it ’s like you pluck up an ivory - billed peckerwood knowing you ca n’t see the species anymore . It ’s not out there . It ’s not in its aboriginal habitat , this is the only blank space left where you may see the species . So , at that point , I made a marriage proposal [ for the photobook ] to one of the conservator .
What was the idea behind it ?
I wanted to capture each species with the kind of simplicity of a mug shot . So , I had the opportunity to go through the collections , go into the drawer and try and figure out a means to make them visually interesting . I get to take any context by from them , so you ’re just face with this affair .
The population of thecritically endangeredEgyptian tortoise is decreasing. Image courtesy of Marc Schlossman
And then in the Scripture , I always intended each metal money to have a story where you perplex to see what the various drivers of biodiversity loss were . So , the stories are interesting in and of themselves . But you also get to see how , first and foremost , habitat destruction is the biggest driver of all biodiversity loss . And then come after that : climate change , pollution , and disease , which is also affected by climate variety .
So , really it ’s less about the 82 species and more about developing a bigger picture of our relationship with the natural world and with all other species . And to enliven people to marvel how we can do better .
Do you have a favorite species featured in the book ?
There ’s actually a class of the IUCN Red List I ’m really interested in : if you go away from the out metal money and instead count at the not assess and data insufficient species . For example , the cinnamon screech - owl . It ’s a modest animal that lives at sure altitudes in the Peruvian Andes , and we just do n’t have sex enough about it to do it how many there are , how big its batch sizes are , whether its population is increase or decreasing . The one affair we do know is that its habitat is being destroyed , and so the cinnamon screech - owl is probably disappearing with it .
I ’m fascinated by what we do n’t know about life on earth . I ’m just spell-bound by what we do n’t know already , and by what we do n’t even realize we do n’t cognize yet .
What would you say to photographers nifty to work on a interchangeable project ?
What I always say to educatee is you need to have a personal project . If you ’re going to assay and make money from photography , if you want to be a commercial lensman , you ’re going to need something to rally around that has nothing to do with commercial-grade pressures . When I started this , I wanted to do it on my own at my own tread because I did n’t want the commercial pressures of like , oh , we need this amount of images now . It really helped me to not have to be agitate by deadlines .
I retrieve something that I discovered in my adolescent , so working in the museum form of close up together with my photography career , and that became a really fulfill thing . So , every time I go to the museum , I ’m shooting something I love and that I ’m really enthusiastic about because I ’m really into specimen and the museum ’s mission now .
I suppose it help that I volunteer at the museum year ago . I ’m 61 now , and back then I think I was 14 or 15 . When I came back years later , the conservator allege , " Well , you screw , that ’s really cool that you volunteer your direction back then because you ’re family now . It take huge routine of people to keep these piazza run . We ca n’t do it with full - time paid faculty . We need lots of volunteers . It ’s corking that you ’ve follow back , and you ’re doing this task here because you ’re like family . "
I did n’t eff what I was doing at the fourth dimension , but I had kind of incidentally arranged to have that access code by being part of the museum ’s activities from a youthful years . Developing those relationships pays off because sometimes your picture taking can end up reflecting the connections you built .
Extinctionby Marc Schlossman is available to purchase in North America from September .
