Protecting Wildlife Through Photography

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then conservation photographers are compiling volumes on endangered animals. Since 2002, Wild China Films (WCF) has been using photography to expand public awareness about the plight of endangered species in China. Using storage solutions from Seagate, WCF has been able to manage their data more efficiently and to train a new generation of conservation photographers.

Protecting Wildlife Through Photography

“Seagate's products help us store and back up our important images, which helps us spread our message widely to protect and conserve wildlife via photography.” – Xi Zhinong, WCF Founder

Photo Courtesy of Xi Zhinong, Wild China Film

Safeguarding the Irreplaceable

It takes uncommon patience and luck to capture an iconic photo of an endangered species. Losing that image due to human error or faulty storage is devastating to the photographer and, potentially, to the conservation effort. With stakes this high, WCF required storage solutions that they could count on.

WCF was also growing. Mr. Zhinong established a wildlife photography training camp in 2004 to educate advocacy organization staff and amateurs in the tools of conservation photography. As a result, the number of laptops and small-capacity storage devices that stored their precious photographs ballooned. Because of the explosion in size of their digital collection, certain irreplaceable photos were lost.

From the Forest to Your Conscience

As part of their commitment to conservation, Seagate has provided WCF with high-capacity, reliable storage solutions. WCF was able to consolidate storage from dozens of devices onto just a few, making indexing and searching much more effective. They were also able to bring their storage solutions into some of the most remote and inhospitable places in China, thereby reducing the risk of lost photos.

For conservation photography, digital storage is a critical link between the images and the public they influence. With help from Seagate, WCF is bringing the stories of endangered species out of the wilderness and into our homes.

From the Forest to Your Conscience Image

How We Did It


In the Field

In the Field

Teams used the LaCie Rugged RAID and Seagate Backup Plus Fast to offload and protect photos. They appreciated the fast transfer speeds, high capacity and reliability under harsh conditions.


In the Studio

In the Studio

Seagate outfitted WCF’s training camps with Seagate 16TB 4-Bay NAS Business Storage. Massive capacity gave them room to store multimedia, and the intuitive OS made accessing it more efficient.


In Training Camps

In Training Camps

Instructors and trainees used the Seagate Wireless to present their photos. With a 10-hour battery and the ability to work without Internet, the Wireless was the perfect way to critique their work.