The extraordinary wildlife images of Alejandro Prieto

Confluences is a e book you’ll be able to’t presumably put down, when you begin paging by means of it. Whether you come throughout photographs of prairie canine or flamingos, blue whales or blue-footed boobies, you recognize instantly that Guadalajara native Alejandro Prieto loves all of the members of the animal kingdom.

“My father would take us out into nature, and that’s where I fell in love with animals,” Prieto advised Mexico News Daily. As a consequence, I studied veterinary medication and zootechnology, however then alongside got here a course in images within the Colegio de Fotografía del Occidente. And I discovered my area of interest.”

Confluences is a hard-backed, large-format e book of 208 pages printed by Artes de México, 2024. It has 65 coloration photographs, all taken by Alejandro Prieto, with seven chapters of textual content written by varied naturalists.

Photographing jaguars within the wild

Prieto’s extraordinary talent at taking photographs each on land and underwater introduced him into tasks which may have discouraged many one other photographer.

One of these is the work he carries out for Alianza Jaguar, a company that wanted high quality photographs of jaguars of their pure habitats, to advertise their tasks to guard and guarantee them a future in Mexico. To get these photos, countless hours of effort and persistence have been the order of the day. Later, when Prieto obtained concerned with photographing sure elusive species of the Mexican axolotl, which reside within the distant mountains of Michoacán, the issue was surviving ice-cold temperatures underwater.

The roadrunner and the border wall

One of Prieto’s newer tasks, photographing animals whose habitat has been reduce in two by the border fence separating the USA from Mexico, introduced a brand new type of drawback.

“It’s a dangerous place,” the photographer confided. “On one hand, you’ve got border patrols that will grab you and take you out of there, and on the other, you’ve got drug runners who will do something even worse if they catch you… and on top of that, you have to put up with both extreme heat and extreme cold.”

Nevertheless, from that hostile surroundings got here Prieto’s unforgettable picture of a roadrunner eyeballing an insurmountable wall wrapped in nice coils of razor wire: winner of the 2020 World Press Photo Award for Nature.

That’s simply considered one of 53 International awards that Alejandro Prieto has obtained to date, an assurance that Confluences is simply the type of e book you’ll wish to depart mendacity in your espresso desk by chance.

Canyons, forests, deserts and swamps

Why is that this e book entitled Confluences?

University of Wisconsin Professor Eduardo Santana makes this clear within the first chapter. West Mexico, he says, “does not have a monolithic identity… What defines its essence is the confluence of dissimilarities.”

Santana is referring to the astounding number of pure wonders mendacity in look ahead to anybody who wanders about West Mexico.

These embody smoldering volcanoes, 500-meter-deep canyons, mangrove swamps, tropical jungles, grasslands, scorching springs, oak and coniferous forests, desert scrub lands, and far more.  Each surroundings has its personal natural world, to not point out the long-distance migrants: flying creatures of all kinds from hawks and pelicans to bats and butterflies. Put all these collectively in a comparatively small area, and you’ve got geodiversity and biodiversity in abundance.

And, after all, wherever two or extra methods come collectively, you will have confluences.

A jungle on a mountain prime

Academic research should not required to understand what occurs within the many locations the place ecosystems merge. An glorious instance was given to me by one other Santana named Aldo, a member of the Cuzalapa individuals residing within the coronary heart of the picturesque Manantlán Biosphere Reserve, positioned alongside the state line dividing Jalisco from Colima:

“The Sierra de Manantlán is unique!” exclaims Aldo Santana. “In it, you will find things that are normally seen only in Chiapas, or you’ll find other things typical of Sonora. So, it is mega-diverse! It is as if you were seeing all the ecosystems together in one place. And if you are here during the rainy season, you will find everything green, a jungle. It’s a tropical jungle on a mountain top!” 

Underwater within the Gulf of California

The pictures in Confluences take us on a tour of West Mexico’s extraordinary geo and biodiversity, whether or not on land, within the air or, underwater.

We are launched to marine life within the Sea of Cortés, dwelling to an infinite array of environments, from deep basins to a number of the largest tidal zones on this planet. Thanks to Prieto’s expertise as a diver and underwater photographer, we’re launched to silky sharks, dolphins, sea lions, surgeon fish, needle fish… in addition to the marine birds flying overhead.

Among the numerous pleasant creatures we discover photographed on this e book, three fascinating species stand out: jaguars, axolotls, and “flying white sheep,” in any other case often called American pelicans to these of us with much less creativeness than the Mexicans residing on the shores of Lake Chapala.

Friends of the jaguars

An whole chapter is devoted to this emblematic feline. Award-winning journalist Agustín del Castillo dives into the story of why and the way the Jaguar Alliance got here into being, and what they’re doing at the moment to remodel hostile ranchers into associates of the massive cats. We additionally comply with Alex Prieto in his quest to {photograph} these magnificent animals of their pure environment: no straightforward activity!

Flying sheep and strolling fish

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

Axolotls — incorrectly often called “Mexican walking fish” — are among the many strangest creatures on the planet. These photogenic amphibians are famed for his or her means to regenerate nearly each a part of their our bodies, together with their brains and hearts. Once plentiful in Mexico, their numbers are actually dwindling because of the ever-increasing air pollution of the nation’s lakes, ponds, and rivers.

The American pelicans, alternatively, appear to be doing higher than ever. These big birds reside in Canada and alongside the northern US border. Every 12 months round September, they start their 4000-kilometer migration to hotter climes, particularly to Lake Chapala.

By probability, there’s a profitable fish-filleting operation on the tiny island of Petatán, Michoacán, on the southeast finish of the lake, and right here the pelicans collect by the hundreds to benefit from the scraps. Among the numerous guests to Petatán — fascinated by the location and sound of ten thousand “flying white sheep”  taking off and touchdown — was photographer Alejandro Prieto, and because of him, homeowners of Confluences can vicariously benefit from the present. 

To get your personal copy of this extraordinary e book — whether or not in English or in Spanish, you’re requested to donate to the Jaguar Alliance. For full data, ship an electronic mail to alianzajaguar@gmail.com.

John Pint has lived close to Guadalajara, Jalisco, for greater than 30 years and is the creator of “A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area” and co-author of “Outdoors in Western Mexico.” More of his writing might be discovered on his website.