Still Frozen: Erik Hijweege's Ambrotypes of Endangered Species

The slow yet constant deterioration of nature has prompted many nature-loving artists and photographers to make a statement through their artistry. Photographer and ambrotypist Erik Hijweege has attempted to save the wildlife through a series of beautiful yet haunting animal portraiture — on ice.

Read our interview with Erik below.

Hi Erik! We just want to say that we’re really excited and also awestruck with your series “Endangered, On Ice”. May we ask how did you get the idea of your series?

The whole idea of freezing the Endangered species is based on the recovery of the frozen Mammoth after 39,000 years in Siberia in 2013. It came out in an almost perfect condition. In 2014 there were more than 22,000 animal species on the IUCN Red List with a status ranging from vulnerable to critically endangered. A frozen condition of the endangered species could sadly enough be the only way to preserve them for the future.

We also learned you took your photos at the world’s largest inventory of biological species, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Was it easy to get the necessary permissions/requests from said institution?

During the whole process I had a strong cooperation with the Dutch Natural History Museum. The IUCN was very helpful in supporting with all the scientific data.
Mr. Craig Hilton-Taylor, Head of the IUCN Red List Unit very kindly wrote the introduction ‘ State of the world’s species’ for my Endangered book.

Upon the sight and photographing these species, what did you initially feel?

Shocked and in awe. I was shocked that so many well known animals are in such an endangered state. Their beauty is awesome.

We learned you used the wet plate collodion process, an alternative technique in photography. May we know what’s your reason behind this aesthetic?

The fragility of the glass Ambrotypes fitted well with the fragile status of the animals. The manual process of wet plate collodion also gives unpredicted little ‘presents’ by pouring the emulsion and developing it yourself.

The subjects frozen on ice meshed well with the wet plate process, creating a sort of mysterious, antiquated feel. With the photographs on hand, give us the best description you have in describing the images.

Quite a few photographed animals still seem to resist their frozen status and look, in a way, very much alive. The Asian Elephant and the Black Rhinoceros look like they want to break out of the ice. The Hippo is angry and the Hawksbill Turtle looks puzzled, like how did I end up here?

Which frozen animal stunned you the most when you were taking a photograph of it?

My favorite animal in this project was the Sumatran Tiger. As I photographed this powerful animal there was too much alcohol in my silver nitrate bath causing unintended stripes in the left corner of the plate. These stripes matched the skin pattern of the tiger quite well. A welcome accident of the process.

Personally, how do you think would photography help saving endangered species?

I think any effort to raise awareness for Endangered species is important. After completing the series and publication of the Endangered book I had an exhibition of the whole series at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, Holland. This resulted in an enormous Dutch press coverage. The whole exhibition is finished now and ready to travel. I would really like to gain a wider audience with international exhibits.

With the “Endangered, on Ice” series aside, may you share us your other works? Which photographic series of yours do you like most?

Currently I am working on a long term project called Sublime Nature. Based on romantic painters like William Turner and Caspar Friedrich this series is about the forces of nature and the insignificance of humans. Tornadoes, huge mothership storms over small cities as well as thundering waterfalls and strangling trees at Angkor Wat are part of this work in progress.

What’s the most challenging experience you’ve had in your life as a photographer? How did the experience affect your being as a photographer?

Ten years of tornado chasing resulted in quite a few challenging situations. For this I teamed up with renowned chasers like Roger Hill and Tim Marshall. Mother nature is quite unpredictable so more than once we had to make a run for it. Seeing a rotating supercell storm on the plains is awe inspiring, humbling and very addictive. For me it shows that nature is having it’s own way. With the global warming going on the storms seem to be more frequent and more severe every year.

Lastly, we also learned you’ve taken landscape photographs. As a photographer shooting with nature, what’s your insight about the industrial world and the environment?

I think we are in a very dire situation. Two years ago I made a short documentary film on Dr. Willie Smits who is devoting his live to save the Indonesian Rainforest and the Orangutan in particular. He took our team around in the Borneo Rainforest. The illegal burning/cutting of the forest to make way for palm oil plantations was beyond belief. Think this is just one example how we are destroying the planet in quite a rapid pace.

If you loved our interview with Erik, read our feature article or visit his website, Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates and more of his body of work. Images used are with permission from Erik Hijweege.

written by Ciel Hernandez on 2016-07-16 #people #silver-gelatin #ambrotype #alternative-photography #wildlife-photography #nature-photography #erik-hijweege