Reconnecting With the Animal Kingdom

Talented photographer Frans Lanting's creature keynote explores how we can use creative methods, like photography, to reconnect with our animal counterparts. Throughout his speech Lanting shares a powerful cave metaphor that illustrates how humans and animals are one and the same underneath their skins.

Lanting is a famous nature photographer that takes stunning still shots and close-ups of cougars, lions, frogs and crocodiles. Throughout his journeys Lanting encountered a tribal elder near Vancouver that told him a tale about the animal kingdom coming together to shed their skins in a nearby cave. Lanting expands on this metaphor of dropping one's skin to show how humans can reconnect with the animals around them. "As a photographer," he says, "I try to reach beyond the differences beyond our genetic makeup to appreciate all we have in common with every other living thing."