Patrick Brown is a photographer who has been working for years on documenting the illegal animal trade industry. His first look into the illicit activity was brought on while photographing for ‘Black Market,’ a book revealing the trade of endangered animals in Asia. The book was completed in just 18 months, but this was still a subject that Brown wanted to explore in greater depth.
Now, Brown is coming out with his own book called ’Trading to Extinction’ and is sharing some of his photos on Instagram. As Brown describes: "There are a lot of people out there that won’t be able to get a copy of my book, but with Instagram I can quite literally touch tens of thousands of people. It’s a very powerful tool."
Illicit Animal Trade Captures
Patrick Brown Documents Illegal Endangered Animal Trade on Instagram
Trend Themes
1. Illegal Animal Trade - Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Develop technology or platforms to detect and prevent illegal animal trading activities.
2. Documentary Photography - Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Create augmented reality or virtual reality platforms to provide immersive experiences in documenting social issues like illegal animal trade.
3. Digital Outreach and Activism - Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Build online communities and social media campaigns to raise awareness and mobilize action against illegal animal trade.
Industry Implications
1. Conservation and Wildlife Organizations - Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Develop artificial intelligence tools to analyze big data and identify patterns in illegal animal trade for targeted conservation efforts.
2. Technology and Surveillance - Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Develop advanced surveillance technologies and tracking systems to monitor and prevent illegal animal trade activities.
3. Social Media and Online Platforms - Disruptive Innovation Opportunity: Create specialized platforms and algorithms to detect and report instances of illegal wildlife trade on social media.