About Jan
In 1994, Jan came face to face with a mountain gorilla in Rwanda. The experience changed her life. When her guide said there were only 600 mountain gorillas left in the world, she decided to create books for children on endangered animals.
The first book in the True to Life series, Grandy the Gorilla, is now out of print, but Jan wants to return when it's safe to take additional photographs. Jan went back to Africa six times to follow, lions, elephants, rhinos, giraffes, cheetahs and she went into the jungle with chimpanzees. Each time she followed animals for weeks, taking photographs and writing about the animals' habitat. For the tiger book she travelled to India for a month and China twice for the panda book.
In 2007 the ABC asked her to write Diary of a Wildlife Photographer. All her adventures for the last 14 years have been recorded with over 300 photographs she has taken in the wild.
She is guest speaker at schools, libraries, and festivals in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, China and Singapore.
Jan is a popular guest speaker at schools and libraries, showing 100 unique photographs, talking about endangered animals and her adventures in the wild.
Read editorials about Jan and her books:
- In the quest for the perfect photograph, Jan Latta gets up close and personal with Africa's animals - Sydney Morning Herald April 2006
- Trek across country only to face late scratching - Sydney Morning Herald July 2006
- Favourite Things by Katrina Lobley - Sydney Morning Herald March 2009
DIARY OF A WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER VIDEO
In March I travelled to Zambia, Botswana and Namibia in Africa to photograph animals in the wild. Here's a short video from that trip.