Stories of the Obscure

You may not have heard, but 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity.  That's why I am making a special effort this year to support the work of Arkive -  a group in the UK that is creating an online educational database of endangered species.  For several years, I have provided them pictures - at no charge -  of many rare and endangered species from my collection.  They are still looking hard to find pictures of many species that are not big and sexy enough - unlike, say,  tigers and polar bears - to attract photographers.  
To find out more, go to ARKIVE.
 Photographers have a significant role to play in the conservation of vanishing species, especially animals whose stories are rarely, if ever, told.  Case in point : this little shrimp -- confined to a single tidepool, on a single island in the mid-Atlantic -- had never been photographed before, and gave conservationists a vital tool in trying to protect it.   A simple picture but an important one, which gives me considerable satisfaction.  
This is a big subject , one that I will return to in future.  I simply want to encourage photographers to go beyond shooting the same handful of popular well-known animals - and start looking for animals whose stories are still untold.  There is almost certainly an endangered species in your neighborhood;  if you can get the best pictures ever taken of that animal - obscure or familiar - you could make a real impact in ensuring its survival.  That is photography's special power.