Art Talk Magazine - Michel Ghatan

Genesis 1:1 - Michel Ghatan by Carolina Conforti

January 2020. Tawi near Amboseli,  Kenya.

Mesmerizing creature. Gentle Giant. 

We saw Tim again on a rainy morning after spending 3 full days next to him.Uninterrupted. What a privilege this place is. keep telling myself: How majestic this elephant is. His slow movements, his facial expression while carrying those enormous tusks. His wisdom. His grace. It touches me even through the viewfinder of my camera. Between a photographer and his subject lies a secret language...a code...that not many people can fully comprehend. Yes, there is that dance; a dating process even, until this incredible tusker decides on his terms to pose for me with all with all his stature.

 His beauty commands respect. To be this close is an overwhelming experience. His long tusks touch the ground and his ears are wide open; eyes gunning straight down at me.

 I gently fall on my knees and take his portrait with a 35mm lens. It’s a defined moment in your life that gives you goosebumps like nothing else and I will always treasure this image.” - Michel Ghatan

Michel Ghatan’s passion for photography can only be described as touching poetry about life, wildlife and his philanthropic active awareness of endangered species. It all began in East Africa in 2010, with an extensive trip covering the southern part of Tanzania. Michel was trying to encapsulate those ‘tourist’ memories, in order to capture those longed magic moments back home. Little did Michel Ghatan know, that he would be back in Africa very soon; after another trip to Botswana the immense, remote and dangerous African wildlife parks, became his second home ... His camera is indeed his brush to portray the infinite beauty of this continent where “nothing is quite as it seems...where strange things happen everyday...” and where life is charmed by magical alliances .”(Owen Prumm)

This documentary, about Lion Battle Zone in Tanzania for National Geographic covering lion pride in Ruaha National Park, by Owen Prumm, was a turning point in Michel’s life. The spectacular video resumed in only one hour, three years of the true essence of African Wildlife. Michel was overwhelmed.. the whole shooting set rewinded several times in his mind ...as in one of the most adventurous movie ‘Out of Africa’ or book by Wilbur Smith ‘s Elephant Song. This was what he had searched for so long all his life..the smells, the colours, the sounds, the everlasting friendship and gratitude of this magic Continent Africa.

Between 2010 and 2014, Michel produces more than 10.000 pictures!

However, in 2014, after contacting the same guide, Pietro Luraschi, who guided the film director Owen Prumm, he ventures in a lifetime commitment spur by his biggest fan, his wife Jennifer who asked him the question which changed his path: what are going to do with all those pictures?!

Pietro Luraschi, is the Italian expert safari guide ‘with exceptional walking safari skills’ who will teach Michel how and when to approach the elephants or rhinos. These pachyderms seem to fascinate Michel the most in the African savana. Pietro guides Michel through the most remote parts of Tanzania, the Ruaha National park and the Serengeti National Park; in Kenya, Lewa Conservancy, Amboseli National Park through torrential rain, ‘unbearable’ dust and the terrible Tse Tse fly ... Adventure after adventure, Michel Ghatan experiences not only a self awareness of his vulnerability in comparison to these pachyderms, but also an awareness of their vulnerability in comparison to mankind’s development and their greedy and futile whim. 

The wonderful and delicate friendship that Michel establishes with these pachyderms after so many hours of waiting for the perfect moment is breathtaking... he can recognise through their movements, their respect for his long waited hours, their intelligent games of choosing when to be photographed by his camera, their moments of accepting him as part of their landscape.

“We saw this magnificent bull elephant for days. My patience with humans is rather thin but somehow with wild animals I can spend hours admiring them. He let us close and I had a feeling we could push the boundaries of intimacy for a bit. What you can’t see on the picture is the whole shooting set: them. He let us close and I had a feeling we could push the boundaries of intimacy for a bit. What you can’t see on the picture is the whole shooting set: A Masai tracker on my right shoulder, my guide on my left shoulder and the jeep behind us. My body is flat on the ground; down from the bank where he is standing tall looking at me; while eating breakfast. His eyes never left me for a second. I never felt so tiny and vulnerable in my life. As I was clicking the shutter, I already had the title of this picture in my head.” - Michel Ghatan

The Rhino and Elephant, these beautiful pachyderms belong to one of the oldest animal species, and are amongst the two most endangered mammals native to the African continent. They are both targeted by the evils of poaching, and by their habitat erosion. The East African animal population has declined by 90% in the last 75 years. Their existence is constantly struggling against mankind’s development as their spaces, and therefore their conservation, becomes increasingly more important. Michel’s photography seeks to witness the fragile African wilderness ecosystem in order to create an urgent awareness of animal exploitation. 

From 2014 till 2020, Michel has pushed new boundaries in photography by coming closer to animals using only short focal length lenses such as 35mm and 50mm.This is what makes Michel Ghatan’s photography overwhelmingly striking! His photos are taken on foot and not by telephoto lenses and remote controls - which would allow him to work from the comfort of a Jeep- he is as close as two meters from these gigantic and impetuous animals!

After the great success of his solo exhibition ‘Genesis 1:1’, in London, where he sold all his extraordinary pictures, Michel was asked to be represented by Alon Zakaim Fine Art gallery in London. His gentle giant, Tim where he encapsulated the very last moment of the most known worldwide Elephant, has been chosen to be auctioned for the first time at Bonhams New York in April 2021. This picture epitomises the overwhelming relationship with Michel as a photographer and as a man. Tim chose to be caught by Michel’s camera for the very last time(he died just a few hours later) to immortalise this bond with one of the greatest and purest artist of all times: Michel Ghatan. A man who through his enduring passion, extraordinary dedication and touching humbleness reaches with his lenses not only the human soul but more importantly the animal “soul”. His pictures enhance not only the beauty of the African world but also our shared commitment to protect it. His work illuminates conservation awareness through the unsung heroes, tribesmen including Maasai, Kikuyu and Samburu warriors, and communities working to protect our wildlife and find harmony in our natural world.