Beyond the urban environments where many of us live and work, the world’s great wilderness areas endure. These places of extraordinary beauty and biodiversity remind us all of nature’s ability to inspire – a kind of therapy for the human spirit.
To celebrate these wild landscapes and document their beauty for others, wildlife photographers and conservationists Angela and Jonathan Scott published their first book, Sacred Nature – Life’s Eternal Dance in 2016. Sacred Nature 2 – Reconnecting People to Our Planet is their latest contribution to this project and is due to be published in September 2021. Both volumes are part of a larger initiative: helping people to reconnect to the natural world.
Sacred Nature 2 highlights the beauty and fragility of Savannah landscapes, forests, deserts, mountains, oceans and ice worlds.
“We are all connected to the animals that we watch,” says Jonathan. "We want to inspire and educate and have people stand in awe of the beauty of nature.”
For over 40 years in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve and beyond, Jonathan and Angela Scott, aka “The Big Cat People,” have been documenting the lives of Africa’s big cats. Much has changed in East Africa during this time. The landscapes and charismatic animals who live there are increasingly under threat, changes that mirror those affecting the animals and wild places around the world due to climate change and biodiversity loss. Humans are the root cause of these changes and Jonathan and Angie’s work serves as a poignant reminder.
With so many people now living an urban existence it is all too easy to think we don’t need to stay connected to the environment. "We create technologies without being mindful of our impact,” says Jonathan. “We’ve taken control of the planet without a blueprint - meddling with an incredibly complex system.”
With a body of work spanning many decades and having travelled to many of the world’s great wilderness areas, the couple have a wealth of experience, perspective, and imagery to share about a planet of fragile beauty and splendor. In a rapidly changing world, one of the key challenges is the disconnected nature of people to the planet upon which they depend.
“We are suffering from a “nature deficit disorder,” says Jonathan. “We observe animals for our pleasure, but our ancestors were embedded in nature, which provided everything they needed."
The good news is that nature is all around us and its benefits to humanity are substantial, especially in times of crisis. We just have to open our eyes.
Profile
About Angela and Jonathan Scott
Angela and Jonathan Scott are passionate storytellers and photographers who help people to reconnect to nature and the world’s wild places. Their storytelling and photography, as featured in the long-running BBC documentary Big Cat Diary and, most recently, Big Cat Tales on Animal Planet, brought the drama of lions, cheetahs and leopards into millions of living rooms in Europe, the United States and beyond.
Swarovski Optik
our purpose
In line with our company purpose, SWAROVSKI OPTIK are pleased to support the couple’s 2nd book, Sacred Nature 2 – Reconnecting People to Our Planet, which is due to be published in September of 2021. You can learn more about their work by visiting https://www.bigcatpeople.com/