Interviews: Ask Rachel Sussman About Photography and the Oldest Living Things 35
samzenpus writes Rachel Sussman is a photographer whose work covers the junction of art, science, and philosophy. Perhaps her most famous work is the "Oldest Living Things in the World" project. Working with biologists, she traveled all over the world to find and photograph organisms that are 2,000 years old and older. Sussman gave a TED talk highlighting parts of the project including a clonal colony of quaking aspen 80,000-years-old and 2,000-year-old brain coral off Tobago's coast. Rachel has agreed to put down her camera and answer any questions you may have about photography or any of her projects. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one per post.
Unwanted attention (Score:5, Interesting)
Are you concerned that by photographing these rare organisms you may be drawing undesirable attention to them? That is, that someone might use your photos to locate them and steal or destroy them. Was there anything you did to mitigate such a risk?
Re: (Score:2)
Plant life is one area where CITES can often be counter-productive.
The problem is that many rare plants that are found smuggled and seized by customs just end up getting burnt under the principle that they want to avoid anyone using customs itself as a back door route for bringing stuff into the country - i.e. bring it in, let customs seize it, then buy it back through a third party.
Ideally these specimens would instead be sent to botanical institutes and nurseries to cultivate for commercial sales which wo
And so Where Is Mel Brooks? (Score:2)
Anything else in common? (Score:2)
The Junction of X, Y, and Z (Score:1)
How do you photograph philosophy?
How do we define old? (Score:3)
How do we define old? Do aspen groves count? If so, if I give birth to identical twins, are they one organism for the purpose of counting age, or must they be conjoined?
What about Turritopsis dohrnii? Or are pictures of tiny jellyfish uninteresting?
Any thoughts about the real ages of Adwaita, Henry, Tu'i Malila, Harriet,or Timothy? Do you think they have any thoughts about us? :)
Re: (Score:1)
Old implies something that lives beyond it's average life span. Do moss and trees that live on average thousands of years count? Or oaks that lasted hundreds of years beyond others?
Are there any precausions you must take? (Score:3)
Are there any precausions you must take to ensure you do not harm the organisms?
Photography is often thought of as a non-destuctive process. But as a nature photographer myself, I know that equipment like tripods, lighting units, and sometimes just being there can be harmful to wildlife.
Published vs Personal Best Photos (Score:4)
I am curious if your own best photos are different than your best published photos. I would think published photos would need to appeal to a larger audience while personal best photos only need to appeal to you. Have you ever had an editor say no to a photo that you thought was brilliant or amazing?
How does it make you feel? (Score:2)
How do you feel being around things that were living when our culture was just at it infancy?
Or knowing that the aspens may have been a shelter for early humans (just guessing).
Do you feel a spiritual connection or more of a scientific respect?
Your Thoughts and Use of Post Processing? (Score:4)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Your Thoughts and Use of Post Processing? (Score:1)
Fake? Please stop talking about someone else's work of which clearly you have no technical experience. These pink clouds are often seen in Australia in the late evening. .
I have photographed far more extreme pink rainbow clouds in Australia see blog https://mattlamb2001.wordpress... [wordpress.com]
Where we point our cameras has more affect on the image than any post processing or printing side effects
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Re: Your Thoughts and Use of Post Processing? (Score:1)
Scroll down just past the ants!
The really important question (Score:4, Informative)
So, Nikon or Canon?
Nature (Score:2)
Awesome work. Great images of nature just seem to hit somewhere very primal and deep. The age of these things just makes it that much more incredible.
Question: When did you decide to undertake this project and did the journey take as long as you thought it would?
Thoughts on the future? (Score:1)
Having spent time with living things whose lifespans reach so far back into the past, what thoughts do you now have about the future? Have these encounters changed your approach to environmentalism, sustainability, future planning, or your everyday sense of time?
a big one (Score:1)
Cheating (Score:2)
Saying that colonial organism like corals are tens of thousands years old is cheating IMO. The colony may be that old but the individual polyps are not.
You might as well say that the city of Rome is a 2500 year old "organism".