A few hours' wait is not a hardship. He once spent an entire week tracking and waiting for the group of grizzly bears he had spotted to reappear.
Then there was the time he couldn't quite get close enough to a pair of coyotes - the land was flat and the trees sparse.
Without a cover to duck behind or foliage to blend into, Schulz found himself draped underneath a dark cloth, "mooing" and moving his way slowly across the field.
"I don't know if they really thought we were cattle," he said, laughing. "I think they were more surprised and looking at us as if to say, 'What are those guys doing?' But it worked, and we got close enough to take a great shot."
More important to Schulz than the great stories behind the images is the message he hopes his photographs portray themselves: Preserve the wildlife before it's too late.
"In Germany we still have green left. We have trees and forests," Schulz explained. "But we don't have wolves, and we don't have bears. The U.S. has incredible diversity to observe and the potential to not make the same mistakes that have been made in Europe."
Schulz hopes his photographs, featured in the Burke Museum exhibit Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam, will convey his message in a "poetic, yet informative" way.
A MESSAGE TO INSPIRE
The 40-piece exhibit displays striking panoramic shots of the Rocky Mountain region alongside environmental facts, preservation challenges and photos of grizzly bears crossing freeways due to shrinking habitats.
"I wanted to get the message across, but inspire people rather than depress them," Schulz said.
The exhibit is part of the Yellow-stone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y), a conservationist organization founded in 1997 to maintain the nearly 2,000-mile stretch from Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., to the Yukon Territory in Canada, as an interconnected wildlife corridor.
Yellowstone to Yukon opened June 16 with an information-packed itinerary, featuring speakers from Y2Y, Conservation Northwest, Grizzly Bear Outreach Project and the I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition.
Throughout the day, Schulz guided tours through his photographs, sharing his adventures and his message. It was the attraction of the discussions and tours that brought Stephanie Tschanz, 28, to The Burke one Saturday.
"The exhibit raises new awareness and brings people out of the hum-drum of everyday life," she said. "It gets them thinking about these problems more than they would normally."
For Burke associate director Erin Younger, the public's reaction was the most rewarding part of the long process of developing the exhibit.
"The issue is so compelling," Younger said. "To know people are getting it makes the biggest difference; it's a sense that we are getting something right."
A 'TRUE AMERICAN DREAM'
Discussions for the exhibit began nearly a year ago, Younger said.
Because the exhibit is a museum original, the staff members have had their hands full with fund-raising, finding supporters and creating public interest.
The work paid off, reaching not only the dedicated core of Burke members and general public, but the staff, too, she said.
"Florian's more than an artist; he's an ambassador," Younger said. "We're all personally inspired by these artists and in how these exhibits become much more than art."
The museum already has plans for two more wildlife photography exhibits. The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World and Arctic Wings: Birds of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge are scheduled to open June 28, 2008.
Along with the Yellowstone to Yukon exhibit, Schulz and The Burke Museum have partnered with The Mountaineers Books to create a 196-page coffee-table book. For Schulz, the project was a "true American dream."
AN EARLY START
Schulz developed an eye for wildlife as a child in southern Germany.
After feeding his curiosity for the large, "furry creatures" and wilderness by reading Jack London novels, Schulz made the great leap to see it himself at 15, opting to study abroad in America.
After spending the scholastic year in Woodward, Iowa, he skipped his high school prom for a trip through the Rockies to Jasper, Canada. From that trip on he was hooked.
After studying biology at the University of Heidelberg, at age 21 Schulz returned to the States, trading his books for his camera.
"Studying took time away from my photos," Schulz explained. "I knew photography was my true calling and that I would have to be fully devoted to it."
Throughout the next decade he consistently visited the Rocky Mountains, staying for trips up to eight months at a time.
While away from Germany, Schulz considers Seattle his home. Schulz appreciates the Seattleites' attitude and their views on the environment. And of course, he appreciates the natural beauty.
"The U.S. has a natural history all of its own," he said. "Like Americans talk of the beauty of the castles in Europe, they need to appreciate their own history, the wilderness.
"Without connecting these habitats," he continued, "we will lose the things we love the most."
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