Naturally Kiawah Magazine Volume 35 | Page 20

Through the Lens: Vincent J. Musi’s Animal Planet V  Photos by Vincent J. Musi incent J. Musi is first and foremost an award-winning free-lance photographer with the National Geographic Society. His work has graced numerous magazine covers and has taken him all over the world. In 2014 he incorporated his photographs into a TEDxCharleston presentation titled “Beauty and the Beast—Taming the Wild.” The presentation can be seen at www.vincentjmusi.com and is both informative and hilariously funny. Be sure to take the time to view it. Vince developed a photographic essay on animal cognition with a view to understanding what animals were capable of learning. His idea was to take studio lighting to famous animals and photograph them. Of his encounters with these animals he observes, “Everything we are learning about animals teaches us something about ourselves. Meeting a primate that can communicate using words or sign language is pretty humbling. We are not alone. Animals think and feel as much as humans do.” Highlights from his adventures include: 18