"I've been typecast as someone who does deserts. Deserts do it for me. There's a starkness and emptiness combined with vibrant life that can explode at any time, yet it's compressed into a narrow time frame. Animals may be active for just a couple of hours a day and there are plants that spring into life whenever it rains.
Advocacy is the driving force in my photography. I use large format as a hammer. Right now, I'm working to create a six-million acre Sonoran Desert biosphere reserve. The Sonoran Desert has a sparseness that makes it look like a monument, yet it's full of life - everything from whales along its shores to pronghorn antelope, in a unique ecosystem. There are two Mexican National Parks in the Sonoran Desert but protection on the U.S. side is lagging."
Jack's luminous images have been instrumental in establishing Mexico's Sierra Alamos National Park and United Nations Biosphere, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in the U.S. The Mexican World Wildlife Fund and Agrupacion Sierra Madre honored Jack with their conservation award. A Pulitzer Prize winner, he has produced six wilderness advocacy books and Large Format Nature Photography, which demystifies "intimidating, overly scary" large format.
