The extraordinary wildlife photography of Alejandro Prieto

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Confluences is simply a publication you can’t perchance enactment down, erstwhile you commencement paging done it. Whether you travel crossed photos of prairie dogs oregon flamingos, bluish whales oregon blue-footed boobies, you cognize instantly that Guadalajara autochthonal Alejandro Prieto loves each the members of the carnal kingdom.

“My begetter would instrumentality america retired into nature, and that’s wherever I fell successful emotion with animals,” Prieto told Mexico News Daily. As a result, I studied veterinary medicine and zootechnology, but past on came a people successful photography successful the Colegio de Fotografía del Occidente. And I recovered my niche.”

Confluences is simply a hard-backed, large-format publication of 208 pages published by Artes de México, 2024. It has 65 colour photos, each taken by Alejandro Prieto, with 7 chapters of substance written by assorted naturalists.

Photographing jaguars successful the wild

Prieto’s bonzer accomplishment astatine taking photos some connected onshore and underwater brought him into projects that mightiness person discouraged galore different photographer.

One of these is the enactment helium carries retired for Alianza Jaguar, an enactment that needed prime photos of jaguars successful their earthy habitats, to beforehand their projects to support and guarantee them a aboriginal successful Mexico. To get those pictures, endless hours of effort and patience were the bid of the day. Later, erstwhile Prieto got progressive with photographing definite elusive taxon of the Mexican axolotl, which unrecorded successful the distant mountains of Michoacán, the occupation was surviving ice-cold temperatures underwater.

The roadrunner and the borderline wall

One of Prieto’s much caller projects, photographing animals whose situation has been chopped successful 2 by the borderline obstruction separating the USA from Mexico, brought a caller benignant of problem.

“It’s a unsafe place,” the lensman confided. “On 1 hand, you’ve got borderline patrols that volition drawback you and instrumentality you retired of there, and connected the other, you’ve got cause runners who volition bash thing adjacent worse if they drawback you… and connected apical of that, you person to enactment up with some utmost vigor and utmost cold.”

Nevertheless, from that hostile situation came Prieto’s unforgettable photograph of a roadrunner eyeballing an insurmountable partition wrapped successful large coils of razor wire: victor of the 2020 World Press Photo Award for Nature.

That’s conscionable 1 of 53 International awards that Alejandro Prieto has received truthful far, an assurance that Confluences is conscionable the benignant of publication you’ll privation to permission lying connected your java array accidentally.

Canyons, forests, deserts and swamps

Why is this publication entitled Confluences?

University of Wisconsin Professor Eduardo Santana makes this wide successful the archetypal chapter. West Mexico, helium says, “does not person a monolithic identity… What defines its essence is the confluence of dissimilarities.”

Santana is referring to the astounding assortment of earthy wonders lying successful hold for anyone who wanders astir West Mexico.

These see smoldering volcanoes, 500-meter-deep canyons, mangrove swamps, tropical jungles, grasslands, blistery springs, oak and coniferous forests, godforsaken scrub lands, and overmuch more. Each situation has its ain flora and fauna, not to notation the long-distance migrants: flying creatures of each sorts from hawks and pelicans to bats and butterflies. Put each these unneurotic successful a comparatively tiny space, and you person geodiversity and biodiversity successful abundance.

And, of course, wherever 2 oregon much systems travel together, you person confluences.

A jungle connected a upland top

Academic studies are not required to admit what happens successful the galore places wherever ecosystems merge. An fantabulous illustration was fixed to maine by different Santana named Aldo, a subordinate of the Cuzalapa radical surviving successful the bosom of the picturesque Manantlán Biosphere Reserve, located on the authorities enactment dividing Jalisco from Colima:

“The Sierra de Manantlán is unique!” exclaims Aldo Santana. “In it, you volition find things that are usually seen lone successful Chiapas, oregon you’ll find different things emblematic of Sonora. So, it is mega-diverse! It is arsenic if you were seeing each the ecosystems unneurotic successful 1 place. And if you are present during the rainy season, you volition find everything green, a jungle. It’s a tropical jungle connected a upland top!”

Underwater successful the Gulf of California

The photographs successful Confluences instrumentality america connected a circuit of West Mexico’s bonzer geo and biodiversity, whether connected land, successful the aerial or, underwater.

We are introduced to marine beingness successful the Sea of Cortés, location to an tremendous array of environments, from deep basins to immoderate of the largest tidal zones successful the world. Thanks to Prieto’s skills arsenic a diver and underwater photographer, we are introduced to silky sharks, dolphins, oversea lions, surgeon fish, needle fish… arsenic good arsenic the marine birds flying overhead.

Among the galore delightful creatures we find photographed successful this book, 3 fascinating taxon basal out: jaguars, axolotls, and “flying achromatic sheep,” different known arsenic American pelicans to those of america with little imaginativeness than the Mexicans surviving connected the shores of Lake Chapala.

Friends of the jaguars

An full section is dedicated to this emblematic feline. Award-winning writer Agustín del Castillo dives into the communicative of wherefore and however the Jaguar Alliance came into being, and what they are doing contiguous to alteration hostile ranchers into friends of the large cats. We besides travel Alex Prieto successful his quest to photograph these magnificent animals successful their earthy surroundings: nary casual task!

Flying sheep and walking fish

Del Castillo devotes 2 further chapters to axolotls and American pelicans.

Axolotls — incorrectly known arsenic “Mexican walking fish” — are among the strangest creatures connected the planet. These photogenic amphibians are famed for their quality to regenerate conscionable astir each portion of their bodies, including their brains and hearts. Once abundant successful Mexico, their numbers are present dwindling owed to the ever-increasing contamination of the country’s lakes, ponds, and rivers.

The American pelicans, connected the different hand, look to beryllium doing amended than ever. These immense birds unrecorded successful Canada and on the bluish US border. Every twelvemonth astir September, they statesman their 4000-kilometer migration to warmer climes, successful peculiar to Lake Chapala.

By chance, determination is simply a palmy fish-filleting cognition connected the tiny land of Petatán, Michoacán, astatine the southeast extremity of the lake, and present the pelicans stitchery by the thousands to bask the scraps. Among the galore visitors to Petatán — fascinated by the tract and dependable of 10 1000 “flying achromatic sheep” taking disconnected and landing — was lensman Alejandro Prieto, and acknowledgment to him, owners of Confluences tin vicariously bask the show.

To get your ain transcript of this bonzer publication — whether successful English oregon successful Spanish, you are asked to donate to the Jaguar Alliance. For afloat information, nonstop an email to [email protected].

John Pint has lived adjacent Guadalajara, Jalisco, for much than 30 years and is the writer of “A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area” and co-author of “Outdoors successful Western Mexico.” More of his penning tin beryllium recovered on his website.

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