University Place photographer focuses on African wildlife

Photographer Sally Ullman’s heart is in Africa.

It was there she watched a lion bask in the sun, and she was sitting so close she could see a tick on his ear.

She watched an elephant walk through the brush, his large ivory tusks drawing more attention than his enormous body.

Ullman’s personal lifelong dream has been to travel to Africa and see such wildlife, which she did for the first time in April 2016 and then again in October 2018.

That dream has evolved into a passion to make a difference, particularly in helping with animal conservation efforts.

“I can’t tell you (why Africa) other than it’s my passion,” said Ullman, a resident of University Place. “I think it’s the wildness, seeing something you may never see again. I had the desire to see (the animals) in the wild, and I’m certainly not done.”

A professional photographer for more than 40 years, Ullman is determined to return to Africa and to use her photographic skills to give back.

On Jan. 25, she hosted “Return to Africa,” a show and sale of her African safari photographs, at Courtyard by Marriott at University Town Center. Donations collected and a portion of proceeds benefited the African Wildlife Foundation.

Ullman said she also is actively looking for opportunities in which she can volunteer in Africa, whether using her skills as a photographer or volunteering at an animal sanctuary.

“Something to help. I don’t always want to go as a tourist,” Ullman said. “I would love to do something humanitarian.”

She has set up a fundraising account with the African Wildlife Foundation and is giving personally to it, as well as hoping others will contribute.

Ullman’s career in photography started in photojournalism, working in Pennsylvania for Rodale Inc., a publishing company. Her photographs were featured in magazines like Prevention. She even spent four years specializing in food photography before opening her own studio in 1990.

She operated that business until 2013, when she moved to Florida and reopened her business here.

Ullman said her photographs of Africa are personal. Although they can be purchased, she did not take them to make money.

“There’s always a story behind the photo,” she said. “It’s not a snapshot to me. It’s art.”

During her last trip, Ullman hired a guide to take her and friend, Jennifer Lee, to Zambia to see the top of Victoria Falls, a waterfall that plunges more than 100 meters. The waterfall’s top is accessible only certain times of year and the pair walked through waist-high water, holding on to a rope, until they got to the edge of the waterfall. Ullman dared to bring her cell phone, but not her high-end camera equipment for photos as they stood just feet from the ledge.

“It was terrifying and thrilling,” she said. “It was magnificent. Fish were nipping at our feet the whole time. There were rainbows behind you. It was stunning.”

The rest of the trip she spent with group tours, riding Jeeps through African prairies. She saw elephants cooling themselves at waterholes and lions with faces stained with blood after eating their morning meal.

She said she looked at each with a photographer’s eyes, and the experience made her more passionate about finding ways to help protect African wildlife.

She said the art show and her fundraising campaign with the African Wildlife Foundation are a first step toward making a difference.