When Jim Schulz consulted his guidance counselor as a senior at Riverside-Brookfield High School, he knew two things with some certainty. He knew that he had some talent in photography, as evinced by his own experience and the opinions of friends and family; and he knew that above all else he wanted to be an animal keeper.
It did not really occur to him at this time that he would eventually end up working as the staff photographer for the Brookfield Zoo, a career that has satisfied both passions for 11 years now. Yet the unlikelihood of finding himself in this position did not stop him from tackling the unglamorous grunt work required to gain entry into either field.
“My guidance counselor was quick to point out that I was not going to make much money in animal keeping,” Schulz says. “And my other naive ambition-to become a highly sought-after fashion photographer living in New York-quickly revealed itself as a rather unrealistic goal.”
Fortunately for Schulz, a Brookfield resident, he managed to begin his journey on a path in the right direction, though hardly the one of least resistance. He started out working at a photo lab, putting in long hours in the darkroom, braving the chemicals and the darkness (a necessary task that any photographer will tell you wears on the senses, as well as the spirit, when done in excess).
After working this job for a few years, he left to take a job at the Trailside Museum in River Forest, where he worked for three years nursing baby animals to return them to the wild. This was the first time he worked in direct contact with animals, Schulz recalls fondly. He then followed up this job with a short stint as a veterinarian’s assistant at the Oak Park Animal Hospital.
After working at the animal hospital, he took his first job at the Brookfield Zoo, where he has been employed for 19 years now. He worked in the zoo’s animal nutrition program for three years, and then as a volunteer photographer for two years, which gave him the opportunity to have his photographs published.
“When the staff photographer at the time eventually retired,” he says, “I don’t want to say that I fell into the position, but it is probably the best way to explain it. It was pretty obvious. My supervisor made it clear that the job was mine to have, so it made perfect sense to take it.”
And that is just what Schulz did, assuming the role of staff photographer. He has held the position for 11 years now.
Since taking the job, he has been exposed to greater opportunities and found the work more rewarding with each passing year.
His photographs are displayed throughout the zoo. They can also be found on its Web site and in its newsletter, Zoo Views, a publication of the Chicago Zoological Society. In the spring of next year, an exhibit on sting rays will premier at the zoo, featuring photographs he took on his own.
He also notes that the Associated Press recently circulated a photo he had taken of a mother and baby okapi.
“Because of copyright laws,” he says, “pretty much all of the photography you will find at the zoo or in its publications is my own.”
The job has also enabled him to travel extensively. He recently ventured to the state of Washington with two female companions-Joan and Basilla, walruses from the zoo-to photograph a breeding program. Earlier this year, he was in Florida photographing dolphins. There he met a researcher from Tasmania, who offered to put Schulz up and show him around if he ever found himself in the country.
Schulz’s farthest travels took him to Calperum in South Australia, where he spent 16 days photographing a re-vegetation project managed by the zoo. He hopes to go back to Calperum, and possibly even pay a visit to his friend in Tasmania, in January.
But the greatest perk of his job is the privilege of doing what he originally set out to do when he first consulted a guidance counselor in high school-to work with animals.
“I am an outdoors person,” he says. “UV-dependent would be a good way to describe it. I love becoming a part of my natural surroundings.”
“It’s a really amazing thing,” he says about working so closely with wildlife.
One of the most satisfying projects in recent memory was when he photographed the live birth of a black rhinoceros.
“When you look at this 3,000-pound, female black rhinoceros,” he says, “you are naturally intimidated by it, and think only of its overwhelming, brute force. But when you see this animal as a mother, the moment after it gives birth, you see it as one of the most gentle, nurturing creatures.
“The mother will carefully slip its horn underneath the baby’s belly, raising it up to its feet. Eventually, after about a half-hour of the mother’s encouragement, the infant is standing on its own, and has begun to nurse.
“When you consider what goes in to this behavior,” he adds, “you can’t help but to be dumbfounded in trying to figure out the cause of it. The fact that the mother knows just what to do at that moment, and does it with such expertise-it is simply remarkable.”
Schulz also says that over the years, he has learned to pick up signs of discomfort or aggravation from the animals he is photographing. The exasperated snort, the whip of the tail, the twitch of the ears all let Schulz know when not to snap a picture. He almost never uses a flash. The shutter can also be very irritating to some animals, he says.
“It is important to know when to back off,” he says. “No photograph is worth compromising the well-being of an animal.”
Witnessing the birth of a baby, he says, who then grows up to have babies of its own, is a profound experience.
“It is cause for a lot of nostalgia, as well as an appreciation for the cyclical nature of life,” he says. “You learn to respect the animal’s dignity.
“I sometimes get to spend more time with the animals when they are young than their keepers do, because their development needs to be more closely documented.” he says.
And, appropriately enough, this is exactly what he set out to do in the first place. Who knew he would be doing it just next door to the place where he first sought out career advice from a guidance counselor?