Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure presents RARE: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species, by world-renowned National Geographic photographer, Joel Sartore, July 21 through October 28, 2012. RARE is organized by Smith Kramer Traveling Exhibitions in collaboration with the National Geographic Society.

Joel Sartore has spent two decades on a mission to document North American species facing extinction. Sixty-nine of these animals and plants are profiled in this exhibition.

784 Living Population
Santa Catalina Island Fox

RARE serves as a poignant roll call of North America’s most endangered wildlife and an urgent call to action. Photographed against plain black or white backgrounds, Sartore’s color portraits capture the essence of each creature, large or small. His pictures offer an intimate and up-close look into the eyes, or petals, of wildlife in jeopardy or teetering on the brink of extinction. The exhibition also serves to celebrate endangered species making a comeback including some that have rebounded from the verge of extinction.

Mr. Sartore will also be featured as part of the Taste of Adventure series, our on-going adult educational program, on July 29th. As a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, and a 20-year contributor to National Geographic magazine, Joel will discuss his work in the exhibit and his mission to document endangered species and landscapes in order to show a world worth saving.

155 Living Population
Mississippi Sandhill Crane

About the Artist:
Joel Sartore is a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, and a 20-year contributor to National Geographic magazine. His hallmarks are a sense of humor and a Midwestern work ethic.

Joel’s assignments have taken him to every continent and to the world’s most beautiful and challenging environments, from the High Arctic to the Antarctic. Simply put, Joel is on a mission to document endangered species and landscapes in order to show a world worth saving.

His interest in nature started in childhood, when he learned about the very last passenger pigeon from one of his mother’s Time-Life picture books. He has since been chased by a wide variety of species including wolves, grizzlies, musk oxen, lions, elephants and polar bears.

His first National Geographic assignments introduced him to nature photography, and also allowed him to see human impact on the environment first-hand. In his words, “It is folly to think that we can destroy one species and ecosystem after another and not affect humanity. When we save species, we’re actually saving ourselves.”

Joel has written several books including RARE: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species, Photographing Your Family, and Nebraska: Under a Big Red Sky. His most recent book is Let’s Be Reasonable, a collection of essays from the CBS Sunday Morning show. All of his books are available through his website or wherever books are sold.

In addition to the work he has done for National Geographic, Joel has contributed to Audubon Magazine, Geo, Time, Life, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated and numerous book projects. Joel and his work have been the subjects of several national broadcasts including National Geographic’s Explorer, the NBC Nightly News, NPR’s Weekend Edition and an hour-long PBS documentary, At Close Range. He is also a contributor on the CBS Sunday Morning Show with Charles Osgood.

Joel is always happy to return from his travels around the world to his home in Lincoln, Nebraska where he lives with his wife Kathy and their three children.