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Outdoors photographer to visit Rochester School for the Deaf | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle
Florian Schulz would sit in a camouflage blind for hours on end, listening to a bird call and waiting to squeeze the shutter button.
"You start to smell the landscape," he said.
The internationally acclaimed outdoors photographer, who once thought about being a teacher, will talk about following dreams when he presents "Freedom to Roam: A Photographer's Quest to Protect America's Wildlife" at the 18th annual Adventures in Education program Thursday evening at Rochester School for the Deaf.
The 34-year-old native of Germany was recommended to RSD by John Albertini, professor at National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology. Their ties date to 1987-88, when Albertini was on a Fulbright Research Fellowship to Germany and met Schulz's parents, who were teachers at one of the schools for the deaf he visited. In the early '90s, Albertini's family hosted Schulz when he came to Honeoye Falls as a senior exchange student and finished the year at Honeoye Falls-Lima.
The event has turned into a reunion as Schulz's parents have come to Rochester to visit the Albertinis, who now live in Brighton.
Harold Mowl, superintendent and chief executive officer of RSD, said that the visual nature of Schulz's work would appeal to the students. "Being deaf myself, I truly enjoy vivid images from photography and video, especially when interesting and compelling stories are connected to them," he wrote in an e-mail.
Albertini remembered the teenage Schulz as an avid bird watcher and accomplished photographer. One cold Sunday, Schulz took his host father on a hike in Lima to look for migrating owls. "It opened my eyes to the variety and richness of bird life in Rochester, even in winter," Albertini said. He also picked up the habit of taking a camera on his hikes.
Schulz remembered Rochester winters. "I loved the snowstorms. There were big blizzards. I would go out with the dog and spend hours tracking animals."
In the spring, he went looking for fox dens and built a camouflage blind. He photographed a pair of babies, and that portrait and two others hang in the upstairs hallway of Albertini's home. Schulz's photographs of landscapes, wilderness and wildlife have been honored by groups including the BBC.
Anthony Bannon is a member of the board of RSD and director of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. He said that Schulz's photos help people to understand the natural world. "They are wonderful pictures, and they work."
The museum does not own any of Schulz's work. "He's someone we're watching. This will be a wonderful opportunity to become more familiar with his work. We recognize him as being a significant photojournalist."
Schulz, who works with his 29-year-old wife, Emil, and sometimes his four siblings, mixes photography with conservation.
He said that people have pushed back nature and that he wants his photos to speak for the natural world.
He is working to protect the Arctic from offshore oil and gas development.
His Freedom to Roam project promotes the development of wildlife corridors in the North American west to link preserves and parks that will allow for survival of animal and plant species.
"I hope with my images I can give them a voice by letting them speak to people who look at the photographs," he said.
Schulz left Honeoye Falls without going to the senior prom so he could head west with his cameras.
When people told him he couldn't make a living as a nature photographer, he studied teaching, but not for long.
"Not to give something up, but to do something else 150 percent."
His message to students isn't in quitting their studies but in trusting themselves.
"If you really believe in something, follow it if your heart tells you that's something you want to do."
Florian Schulz would sit in a camouflage blind for hours on end, listening to a bird call and waiting to squeeze the shutter button.
"You start to smell the landscape," he said.
The internationally acclaimed outdoors photographer, who once thought about being a teacher, will talk about following dreams when he presents "Freedom to Roam: A Photographer's Quest to Protect America's Wildlife" at the 18th annual Adventures in Education program Thursday evening at Rochester School for the Deaf.
The 34-year-old native of Germany was recommended to RSD by John Albertini, professor at National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology. Their ties date to 1987-88, when Albertini was on a Fulbright Research Fellowship to Germany and met Schulz's parents, who were teachers at one of the schools for the deaf he visited. In the early '90s, Albertini's family hosted Schulz when he came to Honeoye Falls as a senior exchange student and finished the year at Honeoye Falls-Lima.
The event has turned into a reunion as Schulz's parents have come to Rochester to visit the Albertinis, who now live in Brighton.
Harold Mowl, superintendent and chief executive officer of RSD, said that the visual nature of Schulz's work would appeal to the students. "Being deaf myself, I truly enjoy vivid images from photography and video, especially when interesting and compelling stories are connected to them," he wrote in an e-mail.
Albertini remembered the teenage Schulz as an avid bird watcher and accomplished photographer. One cold Sunday, Schulz took his host father on a hike in Lima to look for migrating owls. "It opened my eyes to the variety and richness of bird life in Rochester, even in winter," Albertini said. He also picked up the habit of taking a camera on his hikes.
Schulz remembered Rochester winters. "I loved the snowstorms. There were big blizzards. I would go out with the dog and spend hours tracking animals."
In the spring, he went looking for fox dens and built a camouflage blind. He photographed a pair of babies, and that portrait and two others hang in the upstairs hallway of Albertini's home. Schulz's photographs of landscapes, wilderness and wildlife have been honored by groups including the BBC.
Anthony Bannon is a member of the board of RSD and director of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. He said that Schulz's photos help people to understand the natural world. "They are wonderful pictures, and they work."
The museum does not own any of Schulz's work. "He's someone we're watching. This will be a wonderful opportunity to become more familiar with his work. We recognize him as being a significant photojournalist."
Schulz, who works with his 29-year-old wife, Emil, and sometimes his four siblings, mixes photography with conservation.
He said that people have pushed back nature and that he wants his photos to speak for the natural world.
He is working to protect the Arctic from offshore oil and gas development.
His Freedom to Roam project promotes the development of wildlife corridors in the North American west to link preserves and parks that will allow for survival of animal and plant species.
"I hope with my images I can give them a voice by letting them speak to people who look at the photographs," he said.
Schulz left Honeoye Falls without going to the senior prom so he could head west with his cameras.
When people told him he couldn't make a living as a nature photographer, he studied teaching, but not for long.
"Not to give something up, but to do something else 150 percent."
His message to students isn't in quitting their studies but in trusting themselves.
"If you really believe in something, follow it if your heart tells you that's something you want to do."