The Fifth Element

This aircraft belonged to the late Doug Tompkins, co-founder of The North Face and one of conservation's most visionary figures. His wife Kris Tompkins, former CEO of Patagonia, is in the plane as this photograph was captured during filming of "Wild Life," the documentary chronicling their unprecedented rewilding work. Together they donated over 1 million acres to create Chilean national parks. Doug passed away in 2015 in these very landscapes. This image documents conservation legends actively protecting the glaciers and wilderness visible below. Unrepeatable. Historical. Essential.

Sixty days into legendary explorer Mike Horn's successful attempt to ski the entire length of Antarctica, the most pristine wilderness remaining on Earth. No humans. No trash. No life except the expedition crew and these Emperor penguins, who had never encountered another person in their existence. This is what true wilderness looks like: a world where wildlife has no concept of human presence. The sailboat on sea ice and the diffused polar sun create an otherworldly scene. This moment documents first contact in one of the last places on the planet where such encounters remain possible.

An extraordinarily rare composition capturing two rhinoceros together in their mountain foothill habitat, rendered in black and white to amplify the profound symbolism. With black rhinos critically endangered and white rhinos threatened, this ethereal image documents species that may not coexist in the wild much longer. The morning mist creates an almost otherworldly quality, as if these ancient megafauna are slowly fading from our world. This is not just photography; it is testimony to what we stand to lose.

The iconic granite towers of Torres del Paine rise from the Patagonian steppe like Earth's cathedral spires. This black and white treatment transforms one of the world's most photographed mountain ranges into something beyond tourism imagery. The rare lenticular clouds, formed by high winds crashing over the peaks, appear only under specific conditions. This is fine art documentation of landscape architecture 12 million years in the making.

These flamingos exist nowhere else on Earth, thriving in salt lakes at 12,000 to 15,000 feet elevation. Andean flamingos filter-feed on algae that flourishes in extreme altitude lakes fed by mountain snowmelt. The perfect reflections captured here require absolute stillness, a rarity in the wind-scoured Altiplano. Their near-threatened status makes each mountain wetland critical; when you preserve high-altitude watersheds, you preserve species found at no other elevation.