Interview
Wildlife SOS Remembering Wildlife was born six years ago. Since then, its five books have raised £836,000 for 54 conservation projects in 24 countries – and there’s more to come. With the latest,
Remembering African Wild Dogs, due for release this November, Photography News thought it was the perfect time to catch up with founder and driving force, professional wildlife photographer Margot Raggett
“Remembering AfricanWild Dogs smashed its £20,000 target within 20minutes of theKickstarter launching” pay out in the form of medical care or school supplies to villages that capture images of wildlife passing by untouched. There’s also Gorilla Doctors, the world’s only organisation providing hands-on medical care to wild gorillas, and a group called Saving the Survivors, which helped treat two rhinos that suffered horrific facial wounds as a result of horn poaching. We’ve also collared elephants to keep them away from hunters in Zimbabwe, secured Maasai bomas in Kenya to deter lion attacks, and funded supplies for rhino orphanages in South Africa. The last book, Remembering Cheetahs , has supported – among others – the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) founded in Namibia. Its livestock-guarding dog programme places Anatolian Shepherd pups with herds or flocks, with whom they bond. As they grow up, their size and loud bark helps scare predators away, thus preventing conflict and retaliation by farmers. A second donation to CCF went to support an anti cheetah-cub trafficking programme. Was it a challenge getting support frompro photographers? MR: That first year, it took us three months to assemble a list of 50, persuade them to put rivalry aside, and get involved in something that had never been done on such a scale. Seeing them come together
Remembering Rhinos in 2017, Remembering Great Apes in 2018, Remembering Lions in 2019 and Remembering Cheetahs in 2020. What is the process? How does it work from idea through to the final book? MR: First, I decide on the next subject, which isn’t an easy process, as there are so many deserving cases. To help my decision, I often speak to photographers who have donated images to previous books, as they are on the ground and in the know. We then ask photographers we’ve worked with previously if they would like to donate an image. Each book is crowdfunded, so we announce the launch of our Kickstarter campaign to raise money to cover production costs, which means all profits go straight to projects that protect wildlife. The forthcoming book, Remembering African Wild Dogs , smashed its £20,000 minimum target within 20 minutes of the Kickstarter launching. It’s due out on 6 November. We leave ten slots in the book open for a global competition, to give other photographers the chance to have their image featured. Then we start the difficult task of choosing winners. After that, we collate the essays and begin to plan the book, ready for launch in the autumn. We print in Italy each year, and the challenges of getting on press, both in 2020 and now in 2021, have been considerable due to the many travel restrictions – but I’m pleased to say both books still made it. The quality control aspect of passing the sheets cannot be underestimated, particularly as the high standards of our finished books are a big part of our success. Howmuch have you raised so far? MR: We’ve made over £836,000 in five years, which has been donated to 54 conservation projects in 24 countries. That’s money raised after all costs, out in the field. Projects we have supported include camera traps in Tanzania – which
What is Remembering Wildlife all about? Margot Raggett: Remembering Wildlife is a series of fundraising, coffee table photography books. The concept is simple: the world’s best wildlife photographers each donate an image towards production of the most beautiful book on a species ever made. Sales raise awareness of, and funds to fight, the plight the species is facing. It’s a coming together of brilliantly talented people, wanting to play a part in preserving the species for many generations to come – before it is too late. What was your inspiration? MR: In 2014, I came across a poached elephant in northern Kenya. The animal was just a teenager, and I was told he would have taken three or four days to die after being poisoned. The
poachers obviously lost track of him, as his tusks were still intact. I was so angry and decided that I had to do something. I set about asking wildlife photographers if they would donate an image to make a photography book, called Remembering Elephants – sales of which would go to conservation projects to protect them. The title was inspired by a comment from Sir David Attenborough, who asked: “Are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant, except in a picture book?” At the time, I thought Remembering Elephants would be a one-off, but that book started a series. Howmany books have you released so far? MR: Five have now been published – Remembering Elephants in 2016,
Issue 91 | Photography News 23
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