A new nature-centered exhibit is opening at the Momentary. Ozarks at Large’s Jack Travis attended a special preview last week. He brings us this report.
Wildlife is center stage at the Momentary through June 7, 2026. While exploring the new exhibit titled “The Greatest Wildlife Photographs,” visitors can examine the history of nature photography through some of National Geographic’s most impactful images.
However, as curator Alejo Benedetti says, the exhibit is more than just pretty pictures. It’s an exploration of how National Geographic photographers have innovated their craft in pursuit of these images, and furthermore, how humanity interacts with the natural world.
The tour began with a stop at the magazine’s first published images. They depict white-tailed deer bounding through some dark forest. Their leaping forms are captured by a trap camera, an early invention of photographer George Shiras.
“And it was photographs that he had done at night, and it was using a new technique that people weren’t using. And so it was like with this flash bulbs with a series of tripwires, and he was going out in the middle of the night, and he would capture photographs of animals doing what they do at night. And this at the time was a wild thing, because we didn’t know, or at least certainly if we knew, we didn’t have any sort of proof of it. We didn’t have any sort of photo evidence of it. And so this was a wild thing. This is a technological advancement that he was able to pioneer and try out and put into action.”
Until the October 1906 issue, Nat Geo had been a magazine with no pictures. The publication featured essays and research for a largely academic audience. These early photographs set the magazine on a path toward the iconic photography it is known for today.
But National Geographic is more than just its images. Words always run alongside these pictures, in the magazine and at The Momentary. They explain their subjects and the lengths the photographers went to capture them.
Benedetti gestures toward a picture of a panda posing sassily in center frame.
“So a great example of that is with this. Amy Vitale did this— had really wanted to get a photo of a giant panda. This was a big goal of hers, but you can’t just wander into the forest and set up with a camera and hope that you can snap a photo of a giant panda. Instead, she got a big panda costume. Put it on. But it was a big panda costume that was soaked in panda urine. And for three days she sat out in the forest, waiting. Just waiting. No pandas. Until up walks this panda. It sits down. It does its little pose. She’s able to snap the picture, and then it wanders back on. And so these are the sort of things that when we see these photos and we think, 'Ugh, glamorous. Beautiful photos. Like this must be— what a sweet gig to get if you can be a National Geographic photographer.' It is a sweet gig, but also it’s not always glamorous. Sometimes it’s like a giant panda costume soaked in panda urine.”
Giant pandas can be dangerous creatures. But as one will learn while walking through the exhibit, Nat Geo photographers regularly face danger in pursuit of the best shot. Though, the potential threat is not always giant.
“Mark Moffett is this very well known photographer who typically photographed bugs, but his big thing is that he is interested in the sort of small world that’s always hiding in plain sight that we don’t always see. And he’s very good at being able to bring our focus down and get it into a space that we aren’t typically looking, that we typically are just walking past or walking over.
“In this case, he goes down to Colombia. He wants to get a photograph of this golden poison frog. But the problem with this frog is that it’s very poisonous. And so if you even touch it, then there are going to be some issues. And so he devised a plan. And so he wants to get this great close shot. So he has his assistant wrap him in plastic, like all the way down with his hands out here so that he can take the photo. And then he said, 'My assistant was this big dude. And so we would have him lower me down, and then I would get up close. I’d get the picture. And as the frog would continue to kind of jump towards me, he would just pull me back.'”
Storytelling is at the core of National Geographic, Crystal Bridges and The Momentary. They all use striking visuals to break us down, enabling us to consider how what we’re seeing got in front of our eyes.
And like most stories, the ones Nat Geo tells are not stagnant. The natural world is always in motion, and a few images in “The Greatest Wildlife Photographs” depict that movement.
“This is a charging elephant. This is a photograph that was taken by Michael Nichols. And it was specifically he wanted to photograph a charging elephant. And he goes, he finds a spot. It’s a perfect spot where he knows that these elephants are coming through. And he also has identified one tree that he could easily climb back up in an effort to get away from these elephants once they do start charging. So he was able to get two photographs before he felt like he had to sneak back away, climb back up into his tree and get to safety.
“But he goes and he goes to Africa and he’s taking this photograph. And it’s an important photograph. It becomes the cover of National Geographic. It’s part of a bigger story that they do about the elephants in this area. And that ends up inspiring USAID to go in and actually help fund setting up a reserve for these elephants.”
The tale of how Nichols got that picture, and then the impact it had on conservation, highlights an underlying theme behind the work on display.
“We as humans, as a society, we play an important role in the continuation of all of this, the continuation of these different species. And when we are impacting the world around us, we need to be doing it with cognizance, with an awareness that our actions have repercussions.
“And I think that the benefit of something like National Geographic in a show like this is that there are many ways that we could tell that message. There are many different ways that we could get into the conservation around it. But National Geographic has always brilliantly and beautifully been able to say, the reason why we need to preserve this is because it’s so incredible. The reason why we need to care about this is because we are always learning things. We don’t even know all the things that we could learn about the world around us.”
These images also remind us how close some of these wild animals can be, and despite how it may feel, the fact that we are inextricably linked to the natural world.
“You know, there’s a work in the show. It’s called Cougar P-22, which is not necessarily like the most glamorous title. But when you see this work, it is a work. It shows a cougar in the Hollywood Hills. The Hollywood sign is behind there. And I think that there’s this perception that when we talk about wildlife photography, that you have to go out to the far-flung reaches of the Earth. The reality is that wildlife is all around us. And we are in the Ozarks. There’s a lot of wildlife. It’s very present.
“And if you come to this show and you see this beauty and you get excited about these creatures that make up our world, they’re not so far away. Some of them, like, you’re not going to walk out and see a polar bear, but you might walk out and see an amazing bird. You might walk out and see a possum, which is actually a very cool thing to do. And I think there are ways that we can engage with the world around us on a very local level, even as we are seeing things that are pushing us to also think about a space or a species that’s existing halfway around the world.”
You can visit the Momentary to view “The Greatest Wildlife Photographs” free of charge until June 7 next year.
