Photographer aims to save animals

Think your job is bad?

Try punching the clock when you must endure filth, flesh-eating parasites and sometimes fatal conditions to finish an assignment.

But that's what Joel Sartore does. And he loves it.

Sartore is one of about 70 core photographers for National Geographic. His specialty is in photographing vanishing animal species, and sometimes it requires extreme work environments.

He was in Salt Lake City recently to speak about his job and how he maintains his motivation and passion for work. It's a career where you can't give up or clock out early, Sartore said during a telephone interview prior to his speech.

"If you're not playing your 'A' game all the time, you don't belong," Sartore said. "You have to produce great work all the time. It keeps you up at night sometimes."

When Sartore called, he was sitting in a Chicago airport, waiting for his flight to arrive. It had been delayed five hours and he had a head cold and had received little sleep the night before.

In general, his workday begins well before dawn and ends after dusk. It's an exhausting schedule, and sometimes the conditions are extreme. He's spent days living with grizzly bears, or nights drenched in sweat, trying to sleep under mosquito netting.

One trip to Bolivia earned him a flesh-eating parasite. It infected his leg and created a hole the size of a silver dollar.

Sartore acknowledges the risks and demands of his job. But he said he's motivated by the fact his work could "save a species" or bring greater awareness to issues affecting the Earth.

One example is a photograph he took of a mated pair of red and green macaws in flight over Bolivia's Madidi National Park. The image was on the cover of the March 2000 issue of National Geographic magazine, and as result of the image, the Bolivian government halted a project for a hydroelectric dam.

The dam would have put much of the park underwater, according to Sartore's assistant, Katie Joseph, who provided a copy of the image for publication.

Sartore said: "You wouldn't risk your life unless it's for a really good cause. I really care about bringing social and environmental issues and the spirit of life to our readership."

He encourages people, no matter their job, to listen and always treat others with respect.

"I want people to be glad I was there," Sartore said. "I always want to leave a place better than where I found it."

For more information about Sartore, log on to: www.joelsartore.com. One of his most recent shoots for National Geographic was in January of this year. The article was titled, "Countdown to Extinction."

Sartore was in Utah to speak as part of the American Express Weldon J. Taylor Executive Lecture Series at Westminster College.

E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com