Karim Iliya

When I was a kid, I took photographs purely for art, aesthetics, and beauty. As I started to see the impact we were having on the natural world, I felt a deep urge to help protect wild spaces. Out of the thousands of images I took, only a tiny drop of them would ever be seen. The rest sat on hard drives, collecting dust. Meanwhile, there were activists, non-profits, explorers, artists, and biologists asking me for photos and videos to use for conservation. These were the people with boots on the ground, rescuing entangled sea lions, teaching elementary school children, tying themselves to whaling ships, and changing government policies. Over time, I founded a non-profit called Kogia and built a free library of photos and videos (first with my own photography, and later included others) to bridge the gap between science, conservation and the public.

In my photography work, I try to show people the hidden worlds, and give a voice to the little animals and plants that don’t have one. I want to show people the beauty of our planet, and to explore our own backyards.

I have been heavily influenced by the natural world, plants, animals, and people who thrive within it. The more I see of this planet, the more I realize how interconnected we all are. In our modern lives, we can conjure fire, water, and electricity with the press of a button. Yet we often forget how we are still a part of nature. When I meet people who can navigate by the stars, find their way through foggy mountains passes, climb frozen waterfalls, kayak down rivers, or forage for food and medicine in the jungle, I am in awe. My work and world view is also influenced and inspired by animals that are specialized to survive in the harshest of environments, like birds who fly through ocean storms for thousands of kilometers, never once landing, or polar bears that hunt in the cold dark winters of Svalbard, seeds that float through the air like helicopters, sperm whales that dive into the depths to hunt giant squid with their powerful sonars, and spiders that bungee jump across the trees, spinning invisible nets to catch prey many times their size.

I try to document the lives of these characters, to help tell their stories, and show the beauty of this planet, and that every plant, animal, and person deserves the chance to thrive. When I look around the world, I see all of the amazing people who are in tune with nature, doing incredible work saving lives, empowering others, fighting for ecosystems, and building a better world. They all inspire me to keep doing my part.