Andrew Zuckerman
Andrew Zuckerman is a photographer, filmmaker, creative director, and curator. In 2019 he co-founded The Slowdown, a media company focused on culture, nature, and the future. Much of his work is concerned with the intersection of nature and technology. His immersive investigation of the natural world has produced multiple books and exhibitions collected in three volumes Creature(2007), Bird(2009), and Flower(2012). A year-long curatorial residency at Chamber Gallery NY, spanning four exhibitions of design and art that bring nature into the living environment, and an installation for the windows of Barneys NY commissioned by Dries Van Noten are invitations to the public to consider nature in new ways. Most recently, he worked with the California Academy of Sciences as their 2016 Osher Fellow creating a body of work about the Twilight Zone, a relatively unexplored depth of the oceans.
Andrew’s precise and determined images create unique correlation points between the viewer and the subject. His works, often at life scale, have been exhibited and acquired by public institutions and private collections. Andrew’s ongoing portrait practice utilizes both photography and filmed interview formats to examine human perspectives. With the support of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, he released Wisdom in 2008 as a book, a feature-length documentary film, and a global traveling exhibition. Over 50 individuals from across disciplines participated in the project, including Nelson Mandela, Andrew Wyeth, Jane Goodall, and Madeline Albright. Following Wisdom, Zuckerman expanded this series to musicians including Iggy Pop, Ornette Coleman, Yoko Ono, and Herbie Hancock for the Music film and book. Andrew’s narrative film work includes directing High Falls, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded Best Short Film at the Woodstock Film Festival the same year as well as producing a feature documentary on the musician Bill Withers, Still Bill, which premiered at the 2009 SXSW film festival. Zuckerman’s books have been translated into numerous languages and published in 18 international editions.
Andrew has collaborated extensively for many brands as a photographer, filmmaker, interviewer, and creative director. Designed by Apple in California, a book released in 2016, was the result of a multiyear commission exploring 20 years of Apple design. From 2008-2017 Andrew served as Executive Creative Director of Creature Pictures, a boutique production company he founded, which worked on numerous media projects for Apple. In May 2019 Andrew co-founded The Slowdown, a multi-platform media company to explore culture, nature, and the future.
Andrew donates time and resources to a number of not-for-profits, having created media for One, the ACLU, Starving Artist, Red, and United Way. He currently serves on the board of the Children’s Museum of Arts in New York City. Andrew lives in New York City with his wife and three children.
3 words to describe Nature?
Living. Self. Interdependence.
3 things Nature taught you?
Humility
Rhythm
To slow down
3 most treasured Nature spots?
My body
The Hudson Valley
New York City
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Connected
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Protected
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Cautious
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Reset
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Anxious
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
Curious
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Forest
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I have vivid memories of long walks through the grassy fields, under the buzzing power lines in suburban Maryland, wondering what it was like before the houses were built and the foreboding steel structures were needed to keep them on life support. I’ve always been interested in that intersection of industry and nature.
Dana Romanoff
Dana Romanoff is an internationally acclaimed photojournalist and filmmaker dedicated to making a difference in the world. Whether she is sleeping on animal skins in Ethiopia, hunting with tribes in the jungles of West Papua, driving around with gang bangers in the U.S. or summiting 19,000 foot peaks with adaptive climbers, her work is intimate, layered and soulful and creates relationships and reveals inner lives. Her award-winning imagery, films and commercials foster understanding and create change.
She has received prestigious awards and recognition for tackling significant social issues including her recent film “Noah" which was featured on Upworthy, The Guardian, The Atlantic, RYOT and National Geographic Digital Showcase and won awards at the 2017 W3 Awards, Telly Awards and Communicator Awards and the 2017 Spirit of Activism Special Jury Award at the Crested Butte Film Festival. As co-Director and Director of Photography of National Park Experience, an independent film series celebrating diversity and youth in the National Parks, her documentaries have been broadcasted on PBS and Smithsonian Channel. “Confluence” a feature length doc released in 2018 is currently winning awards touring festivals and universities. Another short film, “Canyon Song” won the 2017 Director’s Choice Award at Flagstaff Mountain Festival, 2017 Award of Merit in the Best Shorts Competition and the 2017 Social Awareness Award at Wasatch Mountain Film Festival. Dana's work is syndicated with Getty Reportage and she is a Getty Global Assignments Photographer, Blue Earth Awarded Photographer and a Director working with Stept Studios and Blue Chalk Media. Her clients include National Geographic Magazine, New York Times, Esquire, Forbes, GQ, Men's Journal, National Geographic Traveler, The Sunday Times, USA Today, UNICEF, and many others.
In 2019, she directed a short film for Budweiser, “For The Fathers Who Stepped Up”, which has been viewed 3.3M times on the Budweiser YouTube channel only.
3 words to describe Nature?
Connected. Necessary. Healing
3 things Nature taught you?
Nature is one of the greatest teachers.
I’ve learned that nature doesn’t need us, but we need nature.
That all living things are connected.
That we should cooperate, not compete with nature.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
My family home on a tiny lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.
An incredible waterfall pouring from the jungles of West Papua, Indonesia into the Indian ocean.
A blooming field of wildflowers surrounded by the Rocky Mountain FlatIrons along the Mesa Trail in my backyard in Boulder, Colorado.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Humbled and inconsequential
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
A sense of security
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
I haven’t seen that many volcanos!
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Reflective and grateful
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Energized and on alert
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
Uneasy. Howling wind makes any situation more epic whether it be dodging shopping carts while walking through a parking lot or precariously balanced on a 14,000 ft ridge.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I would probably say Forrest. A person’s true nature emerges in the deep woods.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
A 10. On a high level, without a healthy earth and nature we are in big trouble. As an individual, my mental and physical health is very closely linked to my time spent in nature.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I remember my first backcountry camping experience near a lake in the Adirondack Mountains. I had heard the warnings about bears and was very aware of the food I was carrying in my backpack and needed to suspend in a bear bag from the towering pine trees. That night in my tent I was on high alert. Every branch that snapped I was sure was a bear. Feeding my anxiety was a deep growl that repeated for many hours. When I could not take the fear any longer I screamed out and awoke my friends, more experienced backpackers, in the next tent over. They listened cautiously until they deducted that it was most definitely a bullfrog.
Dorothy Grant
Dorothy Grant is an internationally renowned fashion designer and traditional Haida artist. In 1988, Grant became the first to merge Haida art and fashion utilizing her formal training at the Helen Lefeaux School of Fashion Design. She believes that her clothing embodies the Haida philosophy Yaangudang, meaning “self respect", stating that the driving force behind her designs is “empowerment, pride and feeling good about oneself.”
She is the recipient of the National Aboriginal Achievement Business Award, the Asper Business Institute – “Business Woman of the Year” award, the Royal Canadian Academy Prestigious Award for the Arts, the BC Achievement Award for Individual Lifetime Achievement Award in Business and in May 2015, Dorothy received the “Order of Canada” for her contributions to Canada’s fashion industry and for mentoring youth through her example as a designer and entrepreneur. She was voted as one of 100 Most Influential Women in British Columbia by Vancouver Sun Newspaper and was honored at Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.
Dorothy's work can be found in 15 museums world-wide, including the the Denver Fine Art museum, the Liverpool World Museum in the United Kingdom, the Natural History Museum in New York city, the Burke Museum in Seattle, the Seattle Art Museum, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the UBC Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, the Deyonge Museum in San Francisco, the Vancouver Museum and the Museum of Civilization in Hull.
He work has been commissioned for the Seattle Mayor's Office and former Canada Prime Minister Kim Campbell.
In February 2016 her “EAGLE RAVEN TUXEDO” was worn by actor, Duane E. Howard at the Oscars Red Carpet and in 2018, P. Diddy wore her RAVEN TEASING FROG KIMONO on his birthday.
3 words to describe Nature?
Balance. Power. Health
3 things Nature taught you?
Stillness
Awareness
Calm
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Hlk'yah G̱awG̱a (Windy Bay) - Gwaii Haanas National Park, Haida Gwaii
Lake Point, Point Roberts
Hiellen Haida Gwaii, Rose Spit
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
I live by the ocean and every day I see the tide come and go. The rhythm from the tide makes me appreciate and feel respectful about life’s rhythm. I also feel extremely aware that we need the ocean just like we need the air, or the land. We are all one.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Really calm and taken care of. I feel like trees have this tremendous power - every time I come back from Haida Gwaii, I feel revived and healed by them. I feel like I am one of their subjects, under their wisdom.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
In awe, from a long distance. To be honest though, I can’t really relate since I haven’t experience it.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Reflective on the timing of all things, the cycle of life
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
I reminds me of the Thunderbird, the Native American legendary creature, as it flaps it winds, ready for take off. It makes me feel like anything can happen.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Like nature is in control, a reminder that we have no control.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Ocean and Forest
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory.
As child, we lived in Ketchikan, Alaska and our house was next to a creek. That creek was our favorite playground. I knew every little nook and cranny, the places we could play like this swimming hole at the mountain’s edge, or others we had to stay away, like those giant rapids high up. I spent so much time, countless hours exploring that creek.
Wallace J Nichols
Dr. Wallace "J" Nichols - called a “Keeper of the Sea" by GQ Magazine, “a visionary" by Outside Magazine, a "water warrior" by AQUATICS International and a "friend of the sea" by Experience Life Magazine - is an innovative, silo-busting, entrepreneurial scientist, movement maker, renown marine biologist, voracious Earth and idea explorer, wild water advocate, bestselling author, sought after lecturer, and fun-loving Dad. He also likes turtles (a lot).
In 2010 Nichols delivered the commencement address at DePauw University where he also received an honorary doctorate in science. In 2011 he was inducted as a Fellow National member of the Explorers Club. In 2014 he received the University of Arizona's Global Achievement Award. And in 2017, he was presented by Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama the Champion of Change Award at the World Oceans Festival on Governor’s Island, New York.
Nichols has authored more than 200 scientific papers, technical reports, book chapters, and popular publications; lectured in more than 30 countries and nearly all 50 states; and appeared in hundreds of print, film, radio, and television media outlets including NPR, BBC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, National Geographic, Animal Planet, Time, Newsweek, GQ, Outside Magazine, USA Today, Elle, Vogue, Fast Company, Surfer Magazine, Scientific American, and New Scientist, among many others.
His book Blue Mind, published in summer 2014 by Little, Brown & Company, quickly became a national bestseller and has been translated to numerous languages and inspired a wave of media and practical application.
J. is currently Chief Evangelist for Water (CEH2O) at Bouy Labs, a Senior Fellow at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies' Center for the Blue Economy, a Research Associate at California Academy of Sciences and co-founder of Ocean Revolution, an international network of young ocean advocates, SEE the WILD, a conservation travel network, Grupo Tortuguero, an international sea turtle conservation network, and Blue Mind a global "movement of movements" sharing the new story of water.
He co-mentors a motivated group of international graduate students and serves as an advisor to numerous non-profit boards and committees as part of his commitment to building a more creative, stronger, more progressive, and connected environmental community.
J. lives with his partner Dana, two daughters and some cats, dogs, and chickens on California's Slow Coast, a rural stretch of coastal mountains overlooking the Monterey Bay where organic strawberries rule, mountain lions roam and their motto is "In Slow We Trust". The Nichols chose to settle down in this area after trekking the entire 1,800 kilometer coast from Oregon to Mexico.
3 words to describe Nature?
Primal. Creative. Home
3 things Nature taught you?
Humility
Solitude
Confidence
3 most treasured Nature spots?
50 miles offshore and 50 feet deep from Bahia Magdalena, BCS Mexico
The source of Mill Creek in the Santa Cruz Mountains
Greyhound Rock
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Optimistic
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Connected
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Awe
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Hopeful
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Warm
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Nostalgic
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Yes on all!
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
11
Share with us a childhood nature memory.
Backpacking to Deep Lake, in Wyoming, when I was 11 and feeling like I wanted to feel that way a lot more throughout my life. The origins of “blue mind” research, practice, philosophy and the growing global movement.