Luciano Candisani

Biography:
The work of photographer Luciano Candisani shows the world’s vast wilderness areas throught images that seek to reveal the link between species – including humans – with the environment. The interruption of this link by the habitats’ destruction is one of the main threats for the biodiversity and indigenous cultures conservation.

His recent story for the National Geographic magazine, “The Comeback Croc” (July 2013 issue), is an good example of his creative motivation and style. It presents a fresh visual interpretation on the life of Pantanal Caiman, a species that strongly depend on the dynamics of the water in the world’s biggest wetland. One of the pictures on this feature has awarded him first place in one of the categories of the prestigious 2012 Wildlife Photographer of the year.

Candisani started his career as a photographer for scientific expeditions, while he was still a graduate student at the Biosciences Institution of São Paulo University. His first great professional opportunity was a three months expedition to Antarctic frozen seas to document the marine life under the ice in 1996. Since then, his assignments have taken him to some of the world’s most remote places, such as Antarctic, Patagonia, Amazon, Rocas Atoll, Darwin and Wof Islands, Falkland Islands, and Philippines Danajon Banks.

Nowadays, his is a contributing photographer for national Geographic and author of 7 photographic books, several exhibitions, workshops and stories featured in other key publications worldwide, such as Geo and BBC wildlife.

Luciano also had completed several assignments exclusively for the Brazilian edition of the National Geographic. One of these stories, the “hippie monkeys” (2002) won first prizes in four categories of the Abril Journalism Awards, including the top award of distinction in photography of the year. The great repercussion of his story brought real benefits to conservation efforts of this very endangered primate which is between the 25th world’s most endangered monkeys according to IUCN red list.

In 2005 Candisani was invited to join the ILCP- the international League of Conservation Photographers and has been working with this group to to use the art of high-quality photography to encourage people to take action in support of tangible and meaningful conservation measures.

Luciano was born in Brazil and lives with his family between the rainforest and the sea in “Ilhabela”, an island protected by a huge natural reserve in the southeastern Brazilian coast.

Exhibition: Jacare Caiman, life in the rhythm of waters
This is a essay about the life of the Pantanal Caiman as it migrates along the year following the the water dinamics in the world’s biggest wetland, where the river level dictates the rhythm of life. With the summer rains the main rivers overflow to the large expanses of lowlands around and change landscape abruptly, green fields of grasses transmutate into temporary rivers and colourful aquatic plants sprout from the ground originating aquatic gardens inhabited by myriads of fish, a feast to caimans.

Jacare Caiman (Caiman yacare) is a surviving species. Year after year during the 70s and the 80s, over a million of these reptiles have been killed in the South American vast wetlands with a shot right between the eyes, at night, with no chances of defense. In those days, hundreds of Caiman carcasses could be seen along the river banks as a silent testimonial of a massive hunt. Only the skin of the sides of the body was exported to an industry of cheap leather products, and extinction seemed to be a matter of time.

The species actually disappeared from many places, but small groups of more elusive individuals were able to find protection in remote swamps, thus escaping from extermination. From these secure points their population started to rise, thanks to an international convention that banned the trade of natural skins as of 1992.

Today, they add up to over 20 million, being one of the most common, abundant and photographed crocodilean on Pantanal, but prior to this coverage there existed almost no images showing the behavior of this predator in it’s underwater habitat, as it is a timid animal that is always moving according to water level in their habitat.

Despite the challenging conditions, the autor spent dozens of hours in the shallow waters of the Pantanal working in close proximity to these reptiles as this picture shows.

This coverage demonstrate the strong link between Jacare Caiman and the dynamics of the waters in the wetlands. The Pantanal is still a huge, safe home for the Caimans and many other species, but there are threats around. There are currently many projects for dams on the rivers that supply water to the flood plains and this can adversely affect the water balance in the entire wetland. There is also the increasing threat of deforestation for cattle production and for plantations.

“One of the most pressing problems for biodiversity conservation on the planet is this creeping habitat loss. My work with caimans and in general during my career has always sought to evoke the fundamental relationship between the animals and their environment a delicate balance that once destroyed can never be replaced.”

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