A Focus On Nature, Advent Calendar, Now for Nature

13th December 2016

AFON

Simon Pierce to NowforNature – Danielle Connor

Welcome to our 2016 Advent Calendar series (#AFONAdvent)! This year, our theme is “The Gift of Inspiration”. For each day, one of our members has written a blog post about someone who has inspired them, and how that inspiration has lead to them being where they are today. Each member is a shining example of a young person who is acting Now for Nature. We hope that you enjoy the series and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I have a particular love for science and wildlife photography. And as a zoology student, it can be particularly daunting reading page after page of scientific literature, scanning through data, tables and figures and slowly losing all motivation for why you’re studying a scientific degree at university. To be frank, science can be boring or more so, tedious and perplex and not something the typical citizen will want to read about.

But there is one scientist who is my wildlife hero because he uses photography as a method of communicating scientific research with the potential to impact the public perception of science. His name is Simon J. Pierce and he is a marine conservation biologist. He does focus on one of the coolest, most magnificent species, the whale shark but also studies other marine life, from sharks to sea turtles.

Viko and the dinosaur (c) Simon Pierce

Through photography Simon is able to convey his enthusiasm for the natural world and engage people with his research. Photographs are visually stimulating and speak volumes in every language. But you might need to speak French to read a particular scientific publication. Simon inspires me because he animates intimidating science into exhilarating and breathtaking art.

Hammerheads in the Galapagos (c) Simon Pierce

Prior to my degree, I volunteered in the Peruvian Amazon and I had two main ambitions: take photos and take part in data collection for genuine scientific research. When I returned home from my weeks in the rainforest, I realised my photography could also help administrate science to the wider public. I contacted numerous newspapers and successfully had a little Squirrel monkey published in The Telegraph.

Squirrel monkey (c) Danielle Connor

If I was asked what I want to be when I grow up, my answer would be a little different to my five-year-old self who wanted to be a farmer and I would answer, like Simon. Well, a conservation biologist who implements photography into exposing critical conservation concerns and uncovering research to people who wouldn’t otherwise have an interest in the complexities and phenomenal interactions of the natural world.

Danielle Connor is a 21 year old wildlife photographer from London who is currently studying zoology at University of Exeter. Unlike many naturalists, she was not raised to love nature and as a child she didn’t have much of an interest. She was however, fascinated with animals and after pestering her parents for several years, they adopted a dog. It was walks and exploring local woodlands that sparked her interest in the natural world. Photography has led her to some pretty exciting places, meeting many great people, achieving a few awards and most recently creating the Young Wildlife Photographers UK project which aims to expose young wildlife photography talent. In the future she would like to pursue a career in conservation biology.