More About Marian
A few years ago, while living in St. Louis , Missouri , a man I met following one of my talks on stem-cell research contacted me to say that he was interested in writing a story for one of the St. Louis papers about my talks and the center I was heading at the time. After the phone interview, the reporter said that the paper wanted to send a photographer to take pictures of me at a laboratory. I arranged for the photographer to meet me at a bioincubator not far from my office where there was a variety of photogenic backdrops.
I walked into the lobby and saw a woman who looked like she was in her fifties. I noticed the big camera in her hand, so I approached her and asked if she was the photographer. She looked at me and said with a sense of surprise and amazement, “but you don't look like a scientist.” It was one of those comments that could be taken as a compliment…or not. I smiled and said that I was, indeed.
Since that day, Marian and I became and have remained good friends. Her infectious optimism and love of nature never ceases to engage and impress me. Her frankness, exhibited by that first statement upon meeting me, has made Marian a valuable sounding board when she has followed me to interviews and on trips.
A self-proclaimed “awesome older woman who has kept at my craft until I got really good”, Marian has been very busy over the last couple of years. A major accomplishment has been the publication in March 2009 of I'm Lucy , her book of spectacular and insightful photographs that seem to capture the identity of bonobos, an endangered great-ape species which, along with the common chimpanzee, is the closest extant relative of humans. The book, which showcases a special bonobo “kid”, is designed to appeal to children and young people and raises awareness of endangered species in general and global environmental issues. The book features amazing pictures that, according to one reader, “make you laugh out loud”, and another as her daughter's “favorite bedtime story.” All profits go to the Bonobo Conservation Initiative and the Roots and Shoots Program. Find out more at www.bonobokids.com.
A spin-off of this achievement is a slide/powerpoint show which Marian has put together and presented in schools in Missouri , Connecticut , New York and Washington , D.C.
The presentations prompt young students to ask questions and discuss possible answers, and that is what it's about, according to Marian, who says she's wired to “be part of making things better for more people than my immediate family”.
In addition to a recent gallery show in Kansas City of her “Water Lilies”, Marian is at work on a project to photograph dogs in groups, looking into the camera, tentatively titled What are They THINKING?
Check out her blog at http://mariansanimalpictures.blogspot.com/ for more about Marian.