Elliot Connor

Elliot Connor is the founder of Human Nature Projects, a charity aiming to reconnect people to the planet, creating a conservation community which is both accessible and empowering to those involved. He is one of the 2019 Youth Ambassadors to CoalitionWILD, Regional Ambassador for Tunza Eco-Generation, the GARN Youth Circle and HundrED, Assistant Country Director for Global Peace Chain, Australian Country Mobiliser for the Youth for Our Planet movement, Ambassador to the Laurence Anthony Earth Organization and a recent addition to the Jane Goodall Institute Australia’s National Youth Leadership Council. 

Following a philosophy of taking every opportunity available, Elliot has spent countless hours volunteering on conservation initiatives in his local community and worldwide. Those organizations he has assisted include WWF, The Nature Conservation Council, The Wilderness Society, Birdlife International, Taronga Conservation Society, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Greater Sydney Landcare, Zoological Lighting Institute, In Focus Conservation, Project Drawdown and Save the Frogs amongst others. He also established and continues to run the only field naturalists group in the Sydney area. 

Throughout all of his work, Elliot seeks to act as a voice for biodiversity, for the environment- all of those downtrodden, unrepresented lifeforms which suffer at the hands of mankind’s advancement. He believes passionately that society as a whole must soon recognize its ties with the natural world and act on these if we are ever to achieve the prosperous future we all aspire towards. 

3 words to describe Nature?

Vital. Dynamic. Ubiquitous

3 things Nature taught you?

There’s no such thing as a free lunch

Everything is connected

Big things come in small packages

3 most treasured Nature spots?

My own back garden (practically a jungle)

Kruger NP, South Africa (a classic)

The infernal Aussie bush (it’s a love-hate relationship)

When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?,

A chill of mixed fear and anticipation. I’m mostly a land-lubber myself.

When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?

Alive, awake, alert to the many small pleasures of life

When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?

Angry. They really are very misunderstood.

When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?

Restless. Like I should be out there at these times when nature is most active.

When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?

Small. A few people could do with that more often!

When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?

Sprightly. There’s little enough in terms of real weather Down Under that anything new is welcome.

Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?

Definitely a forest person. Believe it or not, Australia is not all desert!

On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?

11. Perhaps it sounds slightly clichéd, but nature’s never followed any rules.

Share with us a childhood nature memory?

Well, I’m still a child in many ways, but I do have a good story or two. 5 or 6 years ago, my family was camped in a remote national park in the North of Botswana. I was making the long trek back from the toilet block when for whatever reason I turned around. There, bare metres behind me, was a leopard crouched low to the ground. Spooked by the torch beam, it moved off, but kept on circling our little clearing for hours afterwards. Parents weren’t too keen on these creatures after that, I’m still a leopard fan.

 


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.