Night Wild: Photograms of Animals Made in the Wild | I create one-of-a-kind, life-sized photograms of wild animals directly onto light-sensitive photographic paper at night. A photogram is a photographic print made without a camera or negative. These works are not digital prints and never manipulated; each exists as a singular, unrepeatable object.

Working patiently on moonless nights, I lay out large sheets of silver gelatin photographic paper. Once the paper is in position, I sit alone in the dark a few feet away and wait for an animal to pass by. I wait all night. Night after night. I do not use a hide and I am fully visible to the animals. This takes tremendous trust, awareness, openness and stillness.

When an animal appears, I make a quick exposure with a small handheld flash, minimal enough to go unnoticed. After the animal disappears into the forest, I collect the paper, store it in a lightproof box, and later develop the print in my darkroom. Only then does the image reveal itself. The animal leaves a ‘white shadow’ where the paper remains unexposed. Exposed areas turn black or shades of gray depending on the light exposure. Plants, rocks, insects and even raindrops are recorded in unpredictable ways. Occasionally an animal will leave footprints or even chew the paper.

The result is a one-of-a-kind photographic artwork, a direct life-sized impression of a wild animal onto photographic paper. Each piece is a ghostly gift which reflects the fragility and majesty of the natural world.

While I am on nature’s time, I feel urgency to communicate my vision of the natural world as I watch species after species rapidly disappear from the planet by human hand. When wild animals reveal themselves in moments of grace, that revelation moves from life to paper, from paper to viewer. Unlike digital photography of wildlife, often made with zoom lenses from far away, the viewer feels the presence of the animal on the paper. The effect is visceral and profound.

Every choice I make is meant to honor my extraordinary experience with animals in the wild and to encourage a world in which all creatures and their habitats are revered, respected, and protected.

Zana Briski is an Academy Award-winning director and photographic artist who is enraptured by the Earth and her creatures. She spent 10 years on her project in the brothels of Kolkata where she photographed, filmed and taught photography to the children of prostitutes. Her film BORN INTO BROTHELS, won an Academy Award, an Emmy and 33 other awards. She received fellowships from the Open Society Institute, the Alicia Patterson Foundation, a World Press Photo Foundation First Prize, the Howard Chapnick Grant and the Lucie Humanitarian Award. Zana founded Kids with Cameras, a non-profit teaching photography to marginalized children around the world.

All Images © Zana Briski