Tales by Light (2015) s01e04 Episode Script

1
Every powerful photograph
has a powerful story behind it.
Celebrated wildlife
photographer Art Wolfe,
sets out to Alaska
to freeze the action
of the magnificent Brown Bears.
When they confuse the salmon,
they likely will
catch the salmon.
Now watch!
He then travels across the world
to use new photographic
techniques
with the wildlife
in East Africa.
Who would have ever
thought that the cubs
would come and just
play with this thing.
Amazing!
Wide angle, right from
a ground perspective.
Art then battles
the impenetrable
forest in Uganda
searching for the elusive
Mountain Gorillas.
This is really difficult,
on a steep slope
they keep moving fast.
I'm just getting
little glimpses.
Alaska represents
wild life and true wilderness.
I love seeing animals in
their natural environment.
Nothing is better for me.
And on this occasion
I really want to go up
and photograph the
great brown bear,
the largest of the grizzlies,
where they catch
beautiful coho salmon
in a startling backdrop
of mountains and glaciers.
Our coastal grizzlies in Alaska
are also called Brown Bears.
They're the largest
brown bear on the planet.
They'll range anywhere
from 100 kilos to 800 kilos,
so they can be huge bears.
They are magnificent animals.
20 years ago,
I'd have been happy with
a bear standing in the water,
just looking like
a cow in a field.
As long as it was
well exposed and sharp
that was good enough,
but not today.
In recent years,
with the modern technology
of high ISO cameras,
fast shutter speeds,
that means I can
freeze the motion
far better than I ever could
have, just a few years ago.
I would love to get
a shot of a bear
just flying through the air,
straight towards the camera,
you hardly even see
that with your naked eye
but with these cameras,
in a thousandth of a second
that bear is flying,
frozen in time.
If I can get that shot
I'm a happy camper.
So we went up to
the Alaska Peninsula
at the perfect time of the year
when the bears are
following the creeks
and they feed on the salmon.
The only downside of
walking through willows,
like this, this is where bears
like to sleep during the day,
hidden away from other bears
so they can get a sound sleep.
That's why it's
always good to be talking.
Let the bears know
you're coming.
Ah, little bit of bear fur!
Smells clean.
That's really good wool.
Virtually every one of these
branches has bear fur.
What do we have here?
This is likely, the
jaw bone of a baby bear
and this also speaks
volumes for the fact
that mothers with cubs
are in great danger
moving through this landscape
because there is a lot of
boar bears moving around
and they're likely to kill a cub
just so that the female
will come into oestrus
and they can breed with her
and then pass their
stronger genes on.
This is the way wolves are,
lions and bears.
Now last year I was here,
and there was nothing
less than 11 bears
right in the river behind me.
And this year,
not a single bear.
Am I discouraged?
A little bit,
but there's signs that
there are bears around.
I can see gulls hovering around,
now gulls hover over the water
when bears are catching fish,
they're eating the
residue of a kill.
I'm thinking, up this creek,
is where the bears are.
Yeah, beautiful bear,
right in front of the gull,
casually walking up,
very nonchalant,
very relaxed, all about salmon.
In summer the rivers run red
with salmon returning
from the ocean
in huge numbers to spawn.
Some believe that it is the
Salmon's acute sense of smell
that leads them back
to the very stream
that was their birthplace.
Bears are not a social animal
as a rule,
other than a sow with her
cubs, they're solitary.
But they put up with the other
bears in close proximity
because there is
such a food source
and they've gotten used to
getting the food source
and putting up with
both people and bears.
These two bears
are working in unison.
And when they confuse the salmon
they're likely to
catch the salmon.
Now watch!
Nice!
Good catch!
Alright in this particular case,
only one got the salmon
Hey, better luck next time!
Ahhh, that's really nice.
That mother has so much work,
keeping those cubs
out of harm's way
and keeping them fed
in the middle of
a bunch of boar bears.
A male bear intrudes
on a sow and her cubs' territory
only focused on
the scattering salmon.
A mother will aggressively
defend her cubs,
putting herself at
great risk in doing so.
On this occasion the male
leaves the confrontation
and continues to chase
salmon into the shallows.
Wow!
That was fantastic!
This mother was
chasing a big boar
who's only interested
in catching salmon,
it comes out and it smacks him,
but the bear is so
interested in the salmon
that it was on point,
it actually got
the salmon, as did she.
Amazing behavior.
You know, we live in a time
where virtually millions of
photos are taken everyday.
And so, my goal is to
provide new perspectives,
new angles of view,
and I really wanted to try
these different techniques
in East Africa.
Africa is home
to an incredible diversity
of environments and
living creatures.
The open plains
of the Masai Mara
provide perfect
conditions for Art
to get closer to the action
than ever before.
So this is
my 38th trip to the Mara
and the first time I've been
able to get above the land.
East Africa in late August
and now in the month
of September,
it's all about the migration.
The great wildebeest populations
of East Africa
perform a spectacular
annual migration.
An endless quest
for the fresh rains
and the new pastures
that follow.
While having the
appearance of a frenzy,
research has shown a herd
of wildebeest possesses
what is known as
"swarm intelligence",
whereby the animals
systematically
explore and overcome
obstacles as one.
For me it's not so much
the biology of the migration,
but it's the graphic nature,
it's the patterns.
It renders the scene into
something much more,
ah, like a painting in my mind.
So when you have
a subject, and light,
and atmospheric conditions
like a herd of wildebeests,
it just comes alive
in terms of
the graphic nature of it
and that's really the first
thing I ever want to shoot -
is the art of a subject.
Predators
that feed on wildebeest
include lion, cheetah
and crocodile.
Wildebeests can
defend themselves,
even against lions
but this one is not so lucky.
Art is keen to photograph
these amazing predators
in a completely new way.
I never really want to replicate
my successes of my past,
I always want to see
and photograph subjects
in a new way.
So, we've brought
a little vehicle
that we can attach a camera to.
So, it's almost like you're
laying there on the ground
right in and amongst
your subjects,
seeing it, as your eye would.
And to be able to
shoot with a wide angle
where you're conveying
a broader scale,
it sets the animal
in its environment
and that you don't
get with a telephoto.
Who would have
thought the cubs-
and I had no idea
there were so many cubs-
would come and just
play with this thing,
they love this as a toy.
The camera has been chewed,
it's covered in saliva,
there's puncture
teeth punctures,
I can't even move
the lens hood on it.
This is completely trashed,
it's completely trashed.
This is a camera you'll wanna
save for your, ah, old age.
This has been mauled
by a pride of lions.
Just before sunset,
a pride of lionesses
with their cubs
show up out of nowhere.
And the shooting
starts all over again.
You know what's amazing,
I came to Africa
to shoot the same subjects
but in a different
way and I got it!
I mean, amazing, wide angle
right from
a ground perspective
that's incredible.
East Africa is an
amazing land of contrast,
on one hand you have
the open plains of
Kenya and Tanzania,
and then suddenly
you're heading north
into the tropical
forests of Uganda.
When I came to Uganda
in the late 90's,
back then I was shooting film.
I would shoot 100 photos
and maybe get two or three
where they were actually
acceptably sharp.
Today, with the high end
cameras that I have,
I can not only get sharp shots
but get personality.
The individualism of
these mountain gorillas,
they're all different,
and so on this trip
I wanted to capture that.
Biwindi's Impenetrable Forest
is the most appropriately
named forest I've ever seen.
And it's just this myriad
of vines and plants, ferns
and it's so easy to
see how these gorillas
are difficult to find.
This is our second band of
gorillas and these are movers.
On a steep slope
they keep moving fast,
I'm just getting
little glimpses.
A lot of back sides
walking away.
Right now I've got a
an adult just sitting here
And he's now moving,
as expected.
I've had better days.
But that's part of the game,
because tomorrow
they could be all around me
in an open forest,
babies and mothers,
that's what I think
when I'm dealing with this,
there's always a better day.
Failing to capture
the powerful gorilla
images he wanted,
Art and his crew
set out the next day
for another attempt.
With the help of some
additional local trackers
and Ugandan military escorts,
spirits are high
that a great encounter
will just be over
the next ridgeline.
Having a large team
is not without its risks.
Gorillas can be unpredictable.
Jen
Despite their dark color,
the thick undergrowth can
render them unnoticeable.
I didn't see her,
I literally
didn't see her there.
I was just
photographing this baby
through a group of branches
and suddenly a hand came out
and grabbed the lens
and then I realized
the mother was like
two feet above me
I didn't even see it
because it was right
behind some ferns.
It's a very thick
environment in other words.
The team finally discover
an open clearing
in the forest
giving Art a photographic
breakthrough.
This is a magnificent sight,
there is at least
eight or nine gorillas
within sight of me,
this troop has around 19
including 2 silverbacks,
one of which is right
here 15 feet away.
It doesn't get much
better than that.
There's something about
mountain gorillas,
of all the primates
I've ever photographed
that is unique.
You know if you look at
their arms and their hands
there's such a connection
with human form.
And they actually
have expressions
and body postures
very much like a human.
They're very inviting,
they're very engaging and
the eye contact is constant.
I want my audience to
be there right with me.
If I feel it when
I'm taking the picture,
I want that connection
passed on to my audience.
I'm high in the Simien Mountains
and I'm all bundled up in
long johns and warm clothing,
it's hardly the experience
people think of
when they're in East Africa,
but up here, at altitude,
rare animals exist.
These mountains are home to
another endemic primate,
the Gelada Baboon.
A distant relative
of the gorilla,
the Gelada are an
old world monkey
who graze the grassy edges
of the Simien escarpment.
I once did a book,
primates of the world.
I spent a lot of time
in the rainforests
but never up in
the mountains like this.
And look it,
unlike the mountain gorillas
there's a sea of these guys.
This is such an
extraordinary environment,
and in fact these
gelada baboons are so unique
in the sense that
they live above 10,000 feet,
so they have a really
interesting snout on them,
they have inordinately long fur,
which makes them almost
look like a male lion.
This is a nice scene right now,
these junipers up at
this high elevation
almost look like olive trees
so they're beautiful trees
and when they're surrounded
by all of these gelada baboons
it makes a beautiful habitat.
It's like Sunday in the park.
As Art is
about to end his journey
and return home,
he discovers that
a rare bird of prey
that frequents
the Simien Mountains
and has been spotted nearby.
An elusive bearded vulture
known as the lammergeyer.
I really wanted a great shot
of a lammergeyer for years,
I spent two full days in
the Gobi Desert in a blind
being bitten by spiders
trying to photograph
a lammergeyer
and I got one but it was
so far away I never was happy.
I'm intending to get
a great shot today.
Wow..
At 10,000 feet
holding your breath,
trying to get a good shot,
it takes everything,
every skill I got plus
the latest technology.
Follow focusing,
going in and out of cliffs.
It's a little bit
of a challenge.
These guys are built to fly,
I want them in the air,
not sitting on the cliff,
not standing like a chicken
but flying with their
magnificent wings
that's what I'm after.
These birds are giving me
plenty of opportunity,
now it's up to me to fulfil it.
Oh, right there, right there.
I know I got him that time.
That was a perfect pass,
let's get one more.
Yes.
I know I nailed it right there.
We live in a great
time to be photographers.
Technology is coming so fast
that it's hard to keep up.
And yet that new
technology equips me
with the enthusiasm to move
onto the next subject,
over the next horizon,
surely there's a new subject
that I haven't done but
I'm going to embrace.
And that keeps me moving forward
and has kept me moving forward
for the last forty years.