BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition February 2019

STEVE WINTER
LIFE THROUGH THE LENS OF A NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHER
RHYS MAHANNAH
Photos by Steve Winter
Steve Winter’s photography highlights the importance of education and conservation.
Steve Winter thought he was a dead man.
He’d set out to find the resplendent quetzal, a sacred
bird in ancient Mesoamerican mythology, after he’d
gotten the story idea from an ornithologist. Now, he
was somewhere deep in the Guatemalan jungle.
One night, alone in a one-room shack, he heard it.
Creaking floorboards, then creaking stairs. Scratching at
the door, then heavy sniffing.
Terrified, he radioed the nearby naturalist, who
responded: “Steve, don’t worry – it’s just a black jaguar.”
The experience would prove life-changing and
career-defining. “That’s the moment big cats chose
me,” says Winter, now a multiple award-winning nature
photographer for National Geographic.
Winter has travelled the world, from India’s remote
mountains to Myanmar’s dense jungles to Los Angeles’s
urban centres, to capture rare and stunning images of
these “charismatic, sexy animals.”
His adventures, sometimes months-long in the most
grueling of weather, have led to something else: a sense
of responsibility.
“One can’t do a story on these animals, then let them
disappear,” he says. Beyond the aesthetics, he uses his
photography as a medium for discussing, and hopefully
expanding, conservation efforts for his animal subjects.
“My favourite photos tend to be those which make
CITY
the biggest difference to a particular species at a
particular time,” he says.
One example is his iconic Hollywood Cougar,
featured in “Ghost Cats,” the headline story in the
December 2013 issue of National Geographic.
“I love that photo, because it got people in greater
L.A. to acknowledge they have animals,” says Winter. “It
was also a catalyst to get people interested in building
one of the world’s largest wildlife overpasses.” That
overpass, to be built over California’s Highway 101, is
scheduled for completion in 2022.
Winter’s latest gig, a talk entitled “On the Trail of Big
Cats,” is the next step in his education and conservation
efforts. It comes to Vancouver this month.
The goal is not only to delight audiences with
outstanding photography, but also to highlight the
intimate connection between humans and nature – a
connection we often don’t think about, and one that
could prove essential to our own survival.
“If you stop and think about the areas where big
cats live, they’re also important to us. So if we can save
them, then we can help save ourselves.”
National Geographic LIVE presents Steve Winter’s “On
the Trail of Big Cats” on Wednesday, February 27 the
Orpheum Theatre.
MICHAEL LANDSBERG
#SICKNOTWEAK TURNS THE VOLUME UP ON THE CONVERSATION AROUND DEPRESSION
LAUREN EDWARDS
“Silence is suicide’s biggest ally,” says long-time TSN
reporter Michael Landsberg, over the phone from one of
the stops of his #SickNotWeak Canadian tour. He travels
across the country with the focus of spreading his message
about depression, “the invisible disease” he has been
suffering from for 20 years.
Landsberg founded #SickNotWeak in 2009 as a
community platform that recognizes depression’s looming
voice and encourages more people to open up about their
experiences to help end its stigma. One of the weapons
depression uses to induce suffering are the negative
connotations associated with having a mental illness.
“Dialogue within the community is how you disarm the
stigma,” states Landsberg.
In 2013, he released Darkness and Hope: Depression,
Sports, and Me, a memoir that featured elite athletes like
Olympian Clara Hughes, Stanley Cup winner Stéphane
Richer and World Series winner Darryl Strawberry speaking
about their struggles within the sports industry. It would
later receive a nomination for a Canadian Screen Award for
Best History or Biography Documentary.
Moving from film to stage, Landsberg says that “if
you’re a decent speaker, doing it face-to-face with people
is way more powerful than any other format. I think
every individual benefits from it, from hearing someone
talk about it. I know when I speak to a group of a couple
hundred people, at least one person will walk out of there
and see themselves differently. That it will change their
life.”
Landsberg exudes confidence as he speaks eloquently
about depression. Committing time to talk about his
personal battle, he explains, “It works both ways. When
people feel like they’re understood, because I know what’s
been going on in their brain, I feel understood as well.”
There is no doubt a bigger stigma with men about
mental illness. A contributing factor could be young boys
conditioned that they are not allowed to cry and should
instead “man up.”
According to Statistics
Canada’s 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey
on Mental Health, about one in five Canadians have
experienced depressive thoughts at some point in their
lives. Statistically, women are more likely to experience
depression than men – however, “Men will suffer in silence
because they think it is a weakness, and do not want to
show it,” Landsberg explains.
#SickNotWeak could also benefit parents, especially
those faced with their children opening up to them about
suicidal thoughts. However, the reality nowadays is that
many kids may not feel comfortable going to their parents
for help. “It would be a little easier if parents mentioned it
first,” Landsberg suggests. With a reduced stigma, perhaps
the next generation will feel they can ask for help without
fear. “The way we get to that position is from talking about
it, from desensitizing people,” says Landsberg, “This is not a
weakness, not self-inflicted. This is an illness, like anything
else.”
If you would like to know more, check out sicknotweak.
com and @SickNotWeak on Twitter.
Michael Landsberg speaks at Congregation Beth Israel on
February 13, in support of #SickNotWeak.
Michael Landsberg is working to minimize the stigma against depression.
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