© Lance & Belinda Peck

For the past decade Elyssa Kellerman has traveled to five continents photographing wildlife. Her work focuses on conservation landscapes managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society. She has worked from the Congo to the Arctic, in Asia, Africa, and North and South America. In the process she has won the admiration of conservationists around the world.

The conditions under which Elyssa works are often daunting: she hoists herself 90 feet into the forest canopy to photograph an endangered eagle. She treks for miles through the tropical rain forest to photograph a troop of lowland gorillas. She spends days in a blind to photograph butterflies landing on basking river turtles. Elyssa does not view such circumstances as a hardship. Being up close to wildlife in its natural environment is what she loves. Along with her three children, her images and the possibility of inspiring people to care about wildlife and conservation are what matter to her most.

Elyssa's passion for wildlife is life-long. Phi Beta Kappa at Barnard College (BS, Biology), and Columbia Law School (magna cum laude), she originally planned to help protect wildlife through the law. However, on her first trip to Tanzania, she realized that photography might have a greater impact in persuading people to care about wildlife's struggle to survive in a world where they are under constant siege. Born in New York City, she now lives on Long Island. But Elyssa has become a citizen of the world - the natural world.

Elyssa's images display a graceful aesthetic. They capture an array of relationships in the animal world: moments of tenderness between mothers and babies, the playfulness of juveniles, and predation in gory detail, but with an eye to its magnificent and timeless choreography. Her images often concentrate on the individual animal. She gets close, very close - focusing on eyes and interaction. (It is no accident that her first book will be titled Witnesses to Conservation.) She captures each animal's beauty and spirit. Her work makes a powerful statement in defense of her subjects and the world in which they live. Sadly, if conservation does not prevail, many of the wild animals Elyssa has captured will individually and collectively disappear forever.

Elyssa is a trustee of the Wildlife Conservation Society and when she is not in the field photographing, she works with WCS to fight for wildlife. She hopes that the images on this site will inspire people to join WCS' conservation mission to save wildlife and wild lands.

The images on this site are available as prints. All profits will be donated to the Wildlife Conservation Society. For more information, see Prints

The Wildlife Conservation Society is proud to be associated with Elyssa's photography. Supporting her work is a vote for a sustainable Earth populated by wildlife.

Steven Sanderson
President and CEO
Wildlife Conservation Society