Carrie Seltzer works at National Geographic as manager of the Great Nature Project. She has a Ph.D. in ecology and is fascinated by biodiversity. She loves seeing the amazing photos submitted to the Great Nature Project and sharing her own observations of biodiversity wherever she is.
This community is overflowing with amazing photographs of biodiversity, but your photos of biodiversity aren’t just stunning. Each photo of a plant, animal, or fungus is an important record of that organism, in that moment, in that place.
Have you ever wondered what kind of organism you photographed, or if your photo might be scientifically useful? National Geographic’s Great Nature Project allows you to share your photos of biodiversity in a way that can be used by scientists and also crowdsources species identifications so that you can learn how to identify what you saw. Your Shot is the best place for your most striking photos of biodiversity, but the Great Nature Project is a place to share your imperfectly composed photos that still provide clear documentation of wild plants and animals. There’s no limit to the number of photos you can share with the Great Nature Project.
Many of you have been sharing photos on Your Shot with the #greatnature hashtag. When you do, your photo also shows up in the photo stream for National Geographic’s Great Nature Project on greatnatureproject.org. You should still use Your Shot and the #greatnature hashtag for your best shots of biodiversity, but upload your not-so-perfect shots on greatnatureproject.org to be a citizen scientist and get help identifying what you see.
Some members of the Your Shot community are already doing this. Adedotun Ajibade from Nigeria is a self-described naturalist, amateur entomologist, and butterfly enthusiast. He shares his best shots on Your Shot like the photo above, and shares some of his photos of biodiversity with the Great Nature Project, too. His photograph of an unremarkable looking brown butterfly sparked a conversation with a butterfly specialist.
Dave Spier, a retired naturalist from upstate New York, captured the uncommon sight of a Virginia opossum out during the day. He shared his best photo with Your Shot and a different photo with the Great Nature Project, where it has become a research-grade observation thanks to independent confirmation of the species identification based on the photo.
From May 15 to 25, 2015 especially, we want your help to create a global snapshot of biodiversity for the Great Nature Project. Share your photos taken during those dates. You can read more about the worldwide event here.
Your Shot wants your best shots of biodiversity and the Great Nature Project wants your seconds. Who knows what fascinating secrets might be unlocked when you get your photos in front of professional and amateur expert naturalists?
Kirb and I shot a featured collection for National Geographic's Great Nature Project! It's a pretty cool initiative that encourages people to document the nature around them through photography and identification. No lie, they replaced Joe Jonas's collection with ours. Best thing ever. Here's our collection description:
Charlie and Kirby are filmmakers, extreme tree climbers, not professional skateboarders, and the most bomb-tastic pair of siblings you’ve ever met in your entire life. In September 2014, Charlie’s expedition proposal won National Geographic’s inaugural Expedition Granted contest. Now, they are on a mission to produce a new style of educational nature film series that is going to blow your socks off. In creating this collection, they decided to interact with nature in the best way possible, in costume! Obviously. Kirby and Charlie are passionate about getting people enthusiastic about the environment and showing the world just how fun in can be to take a step outside and look around.
