Picture of His Life –
A Movie Featuring Amos Nachoum

Many Undercurrent readers will know of Amos Nachoum, or even been lucky enough to go with him on one of his big animal expeditions. He’s known for his photography of some of the more impressive marine creatures, many of which we’d prefer to keep well clear of. These include salt-water crocodiles and killer whales, anacondas and great white sharks, with which he has a tendency to get up close and personal. The one animal subject that had eluded him was the polar bear, a formidable predator indeed!

He tried once and barely escaped with his life but after forty years pursuing other big and maybe dangerous fauna for his camera, he decided to give it one more go.

Yonatan Nir first met Amos Nachoum at the Antibes Underwater Film Festival in 2004. At that time, Antibes was the most important festival of its type in the world. Impressed by Nachoum’s pictures on display, Nir set about getting to know him.

Nachoum told him he believes that “If your picture is not good enough, it’s because you’re not close enough.” But, in Nachoum’s case there was another reason why he always photographed the biggest and most dangerous animals on the planet face to face and without protection: he believes that being close to these animals demonstrates to the world that you can live with them in harmony and hopefully succeed in changing the misconceptions that have developed over the years.

Together they enlisted the help of Adam Ravich, one of the world’s most famous wildlife photographers with special expertise in the polar region. He has filmed for Disney, Imax, National Geographic and others, and won the most important photography awards, including an Emmy Award, the television equivalent of the Oscars.

The resulting movie tells the story of what it took to get the dramatic pictures in an inhospitable arctic climate. Directed by fellow-Israelis Yonatan Nir and Dani Menkin, the award-winning Picture of His Life runs for 74 minutes, is to be released on June 19. You can now short-term rent or buy a copy of the movie outright by going here.