Shooting sharks, bears -- with a camera, noon June 18

“How to Film Sharks and Bears without Getting Eaten,” will be the topic of Chris Palmer’s talk today at noon the National Press Club Photography Committee luncheon meeting in the McClendon Room.

Palmer is an award-winning environmental and wildlife filmmaker, speaker, author, professor and director of American University’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking.

All Club members are welcome. No reservations are required.

Palmer will talk about how wildlife films are made and what goes on behind the camera. He will also show dramatic film clips and reveal there is a dark side to the wildlife filmmaking industry.

Palmer is president of One World One Ocean Foundation, a multimillion-dollar global media campaign to save the oceans. He has also swum with dolphins and whales, confronted sharks, come face-to-face with Kodiak bears, camped with wolf packs and waded hip-deep through an Everglades swamp.

Profiles about Palmer have appeared in many publications, including the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. He has been interviewed on the Today Show, ABC Nightline, NPR, the Fox News Channel, and other networks.

Over the past 30 years, Palmer has spearheaded the production of more than 300 hours of original programming for prime-time television and the IMAX film industry--work that has won many awards, including two Emmys and an Oscar nomination. Palmer was also named recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Media at the 2009 International Wildlife Film Festival.

Before becoming a film producer, Palmer was an officer in the Royal Navy, an engineer, a business consultant, an energy advisor and an environmental activist. For five years, he was also a stand-up comedian, appearing in Washington comedy clubs.