Michael Nichols

Michael Nichols has flown into the eye of a hurricane, trekked across the Canadian arctic to record the world's longest rappel down the sheer face of Mount Thor, the place the Eskimos call "the land that never melts," run the rapids below Victoria Falls, been pitched overboard into the Indus River in the Pakistani Himalayas, walked across Death Valley in summer, and photographed the giant prehistoric Komodo lizards in Indonesia. The French magazine "Photo "called him the "Indiana Jones of...See more

Michael Nichols has flown into the eye of a hurricane, trekked across the Canadian arctic to record the world's longest rappel down the sheer face of Mount Thor, the place the Eskimos call "the land that never melts," run the rapids below Victoria Falls, been pitched overboard into the Indus River in the Pakistani Himalayas, walked across Death Valley in summer, and photographed the giant prehistoric Komodo lizards in Indonesia. The French magazine "Photo "called him the "Indiana Jones of photography" and the Overseas Press Club gave him a prize for reporting above and beyond the call of duty, an award usually reserved for combat photographers. Born in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, first contact with photography came when he was a draftee in the army in the early 1970s, while assigned to the photographic unit. Later he studied photography at the University of North Alabama. There he met former "Life "magazine photographer Charles Moore, who introduced him to the Black Star agency. Black Star introduced him to "Geo, "where he was given an assignment on the spot. He has never stopped working since. In 1983 he joined Magnum Photos as a nominee, and was a member from 1988 until 1995. Today he is a contract photographer for "National Geographic "magazine. He is also the author of "The Great Apes: Between Two Worlds "(National Geographic Society), and "Keepers of the Kingdom "(Thomasson-Grant), a photographic book reflecting on the revolution in America's zoos. Nichols and his wife, a painter, and their two sons live in Virginia. George B. Schaller's interest in wildlife led him to take his B.S. degree in zoology and his B.A. in anthropology at the University of Alaska. He obtained hisMaster's and Doctoral degrees form the University of Wisconsin. From 1959 to 1960 he took part in the African Primate Expedition in the eastern Congo and western Uganda. It was during these two years that he made his study of the mountain gorilla, reported in his book, "The Mountain Gorilla: Ecology and Behavior. "Additional books by George B. Schaller include: "The year of the Gorilla, The Deer and The Tiger, The Serengeti Lion, Golden Shadow, Flying Hooves, Serengeti: A Kingdom of Predators, Mountain Monarchs, Stones of Silence, "p0and "The Giant Pandas of Oolong. "Since 1966 he has been with Wildlife Conversation International, a division of the New York Zoological Society, and is now a director for science. When not in the field, he and his wife live in Connecticut. See less