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Kathy West

Travel for work and pleasure has provided me with incredible opportunities to discover and observe wildlife and create images in Alaska, British Colombia, the Pacific Northwest, Tanzania, Uganda, Madagascar, Panama, Ecuadorian Amazon and cloud forests, Suriname, Galapagos Islands, Cambodia, Sumatra, Europe, and many states around the US.

• November 2022–Golden State Art’s Artist Spotlight
• March 2023–Anniversary Winner and Featured Photographer for Bevisgear

As a wildlife and conservation photographer and primatologist, I am troubled by the loss of biodiversity worldwide. In 2016 I founded a conservation program, Photography Inspiring Children in Conservation (PhotographyInspiringConservation.org). PICC is empowering people in habitat critical communities to support local ecosystem conservation, and inspiring children to become conservation leaders within their communities by providing them with skills, knowledge and a passion for conservation through the arts of photography, illustration and storytelling.

By creating and freely sharing my images of threatened and endangered species, I am dedicated to bringing a greater understanding and appreciation of the natural world to further conservation awareness and solutions, especially in the primate extinction crisis.

BS Zoology / Animal Behavior, 1978 University of California, Davis

MS Primate Ecology and Behavior, 1981, University of California, Davis; Field research (Sumatra) on siamang ape (Hylobates syndactylus) ecology, behavior and communication

I am a member of the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA); International Primatological Society; American Society of Primatologists; and Guild of Natural Science Illustrators.

For details, please see my CV here.

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Awards and Recognition

Recipient of 2019 “Kyes Award for Excellence in Outreach” for significant contributions to primatology outreach, American Society of Primatologists

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Honored Images in 2020, 2021 and 2022 Top 250 and

2023 Top 100 North American Nature Photography Association

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Semifinalist in 2017 and 2020 Nature’s Best Photography International Awards

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Semifinalist in 2021 Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards, Nature’s Best Photography

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Unique Set of Experience and Skills

With my education and long career as an illustrator, photographer and communications specialist for University of California, Davis, and as a freelance conservation photographer and illustrator, I have created images of a broad range of subjects from mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians to insects, plants and fungi.

• Extensive experience photographing a broad range of animal and plant species in North, South and Central America, SE Asia, Africa, and Madagascar

• Developed a new conservation program, Photography Inspiring Children in Conservation (PICC)

• Developed and managed PICC children’s conservation programs in 2020 – 2022, building capacity in Malagasy staff and communities, within restrictions due to the worldwide pandemic.

• Conducted PICC children’s conservation programs in 2022 in Azuero, Panama (endangered monkeys) and Uganda (mountain gorillas)

• Developed and led novel and successful education and public outreach communication strategies for University of California, Davis research programs and a national outreach consortium for 13 years

• Over 43 years providing accurate and engaging scientific illustrations for a broad range of research and conservation projects

• Donated photography field services to UC Davis’ One Health project, PREDICT, Phase II, in rural Cambodia

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