“The photography is what grounds me,” says Xtina Parks. “If I was just a conservationist, it would crush me.” Sensitive to the animals she photographs, Parks doesn’t creep up to them but talks to them. “If they choose to stay, then that’s when I capture the best moments.” For this image, Parks was parked on a hill in Ndutu, Tanzania, gateway to the protected Serengeti region. It was sunset and dusty from the Safari jeeps that had driven through earlier in the day. “It was a surreal moment with the silhouettes of the animals and those beautiful big flat top acacias, their main food source,” recalls Parks, who owns ROAM Gallery in Williamstown. Her interest in photography began after a serious horse accident in 2009. At the time, she was working in the film industry. While Parks was convalescing at home in New Mexico, her mother suggested that she take a photography class to get out of the house. Recognizing her talent, her teachers invited Parks on a trip to Africa with other photographers. “That trip changed everything for me,” says Parks. “I felt a deep connection with the Great Rift Valley, to humanity, and to the animals. When I got home, I quit my job in L.A.” Originally from Springfield, Parks now spends a lot of time in the safari lodge she built in Botswana—taking photographs, connecting with Africa’s people and cultures, and finding artists and skilled craftspeople whose work she features in ROAM, an African Fair-Trade gallery that supports ecotourism. Her first book of photography, ROAM, published in August, combines her wildlife images with her enthusiastic and humorous commentary.
-Laura Mars
Holiday 23
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