Rodney Bursiel: the Wild Life

Wimberley photographer, adventurer and conservationist Rodney Bursiel is accruing an impressive body of work. His heart-stopping photographs of underwater giants, African people and wildlife, the feral horses of Camargue and legendary musicians can be seen at his new gallery on RR 12: Wild Life. You’ll find a life-sized sculpture of a young rhino displayed outside.

When you meet Bursiel, you’ll encounter an easygoing self-contained man with a wry sense of humor. He listens carefully and politely responds to inquiries about his work, equipment and travel. He embodies a quiet, watchful quality that must be a critical component in the composition and timing that make or break a great photographer. Behind this outward manner is a professional rugged enough to face down five or six massive horses — at a thousand pounds each — running towards him without flinching.

When asked about the rigors of the kind of travel he does, he said, “Well, I still fly coach, even on 21hour flights, wrestle with jet lag, and get myself into position more or less under my own power.”

His confidence within the natural world has put him in close proximity to elephants, zebras, rhinos, lions, sharks, orcas and whales, as well as near the lesser-tamed human wildlife: musicians. His work with them has spanned decades, and it’s been said his portraits number in the thousands.

Bursiel is currently planning a new trip to Africa where he’s slated to visit mountain gorillas in Uganda, of whom only 900 remain in the world. To restrict their habituation to humans, contact is limited to one-hour sessions.

“If they’re sleeping for that hour, you have to accept that the opportunity to photograph them is over,” he said.

From there, he’ll travel to the Omo Valley in Ethiopia to photograph the Suri people who live in one of the most remote places on earth. The Suri are known for the ornate decoration of their bodies through painting, scarification, lip plates and floral headwear.

From the Omo Valley, he’ll travel to the Danakil Depression in northern Ethiopia where three tectonic plates meet in the Horn of Africa. One of the world’s most incredible natural wonders, the Danakil stuns with pools of vivid yellows, oranges, reds, blues and greens. His last stop in Africa is Morocco, a place he’s not yet visited.

In January 2024, he’ll return to the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, and in February, he’ll travel to Antarctica as part of a documentary filming the lives of orca and humpback whales.

This complex travel planning takes place from inside his gallery against a backdrop of his images that are so large and arresting that it can be difficult to focus on anything else. A lion yawns hugely, a family of elephants gaze, a leopard warns, head down, to keep your distance, and Maasai dancers leap impossibly high. All the images are for sale, either through his online gallery, or directly from the gallery. Artifacts, other collectibles and gifts inspired by his travels are also for sale. One entire wall is dedicated to “Wimberley the Rhino” gear.

While Bursiel might not consider himself an activist, he feels deeply about ending the slaughter of wild animals for all the wrong reasons. “You can’t do this kind of work without becoming passionate about the animals we [photographers] see,” he said.

While trading grim statistics on the number of sharks killed each year, he said, “Over a hundred million sharks are killed each year. More people are killed by cattle than by sharks! It is gross, it’s just gross.”

In August 2021, Bursiel heard about the last two northern white rhinos on the planet. Through a series of introductions, he met James Mwenda, the grand ambassador and former ranger for the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, where the rhinos reside. For seven years, Mwenda had cared for them — Najin and Fatu, a mother and daughter — and welcomed Bursiel’s keen interest in their survival.

In September of that year, Bursiel hosted a gathering in Wimberley to share the rhinos’ predicament in the hopes that his guests would lend their support. The event raised money to support the conservancy and in return, the conservancy named a 15-month-old southern white rhino “Wimberley” to honor the newfound alliance.

The experience inspired Bursiel to consider starting his own nonprofit organization to protect vulnerable animals.

“But I realized that there are so many organizations out there already doing a good job that it’s best to support their efforts without creating a new one,” he said.

Visitors to the gallery will find the Wimberley the Rhino merchandise that directly supports the efforts of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy and the welfare of the rhinos. The conservancy has been collecting eggs from Fatu and sperm from southern white rhino males and, to date, have grown 29 viable embryos to implant into surrogate southern white females. Wimberley — the rhino — is too young for the procedure.

Community support for Bursiel’s photography, gallery and conservation efforts seems to grow each day as new people visit his gallery, listen to his podcasts and click on his website.

“Bursiel is a treasure to work with and to know,” said co-host Dr. Chick Morgan in a recent telephone interview about their shared podcast, Passports and Poets. “I first met him at Blue Rock Studio where he was photographing a musician there.” Morgan is herself a performer and a member of the Blue Rock Foundation Board of Directors.

“From the very beginning it was incredibly easy to become creatively involved. He had amazing contacts, and I brought the organization and technical wherewithal to our endeavor,” she continued. “We launched during the pandemic and found that everyone we wanted to interview was waiting out their isolation with nothing to do, and were, incredibly, available.”

Their podcasts brought important ideas to Wimberley residents, who may have realized, like Morgan did, that “they taught me things that I didn’t know I needed to know.”

Together they interviewed Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants; Patrice Aguilar, global wildlife photographer and special ambassador for the Wild Horses of Camargue; Andy Brandy Casagrande, award winning shark cinematographer and Discovery TV personality; Dylan Roberts, Wimberley film documentarian and war correspondent; James Mwenda, global wildlife conservation activist; David Wilcox, singer and songwriter; James Moskito, professional diver and shark and whale ambassador; and Jan Mirkin-Earley, textile guru and designer.

The Passport and Poets podcast is currently on hiatus as Bursiel prepares to travel and Morgan completes a memoir.

The Wild Life Gallery is located at 13620 RR 12, Suite 1 in Wimberley. For additional information visit rodneybursielphotography. com. To hear the Passports and Poets podcast, go to passportsandpoets. com.