Northern Beaches local, wildlife photographer and prolific children’s author, Jan Latta, has published Doing it My Way, about her life-changing adventures travelling the world alone and reinventing herself in the face of adversity.
Wildlife photographer and children’s author, Jan Latta, was working in advertising and living in Hong Kong when her life turned upside down.
Her then husband told her he was gay, and the revelation sent her reeling. “I left the marriage with no money, no visa, nowhere to live, and no job,” Jan says.
“After a few painful years, I succeeded in creating a small publishing company for Regent, Mandarin and Hyatt hotels. A wonderful ten years followed, but we lost everything with the Chinese handover.” It was time for new adventures.
Local Jan Latta has travelled to Africa 11 times to photograph animals such as rhinos and zebras.
In her recently published memoir, Doing it My Way the well- known local writes about her life-changing experiences around the world and how she reinvented herself over and over again.
“After the second COVID lockdown, I started to write about being an artist, my life in Japan and Hong Kong and the challenge of being a worldwide publisher. Then all my scary experiences of travelling alone and following animals in the wild to take photographs to tell their stories. My memoir is to encourage everyone to be brave.”
After Hong Kong, the new chapter of her life started in Rwanda, Africa, trekking up a mountain to see mountain gorillas.
“I had an amazing encounter with a big silverback, and this changed my life and career. When I heard there were only 600 mountain gorillas left in the world, I thought that was so sad, so I decided to create books for children on endangered animals,” Jan explains.
Jan became the ‘voice’ of the animals and a prolific children’s author.
“I aimed the book at children because they will be the ‘keepers’ of endangered animals in the future,” she says.
She decided to use photographs to make the books real, which meant following animals in their natural habitats.
“To create the True to Life books, I’ve travelled to Africa 11 times, Borneo twice for the orangutans, India for tigers, the mountains of China for the pandas, Uganda for Dr Jane Goodall’s chimps, Sri Lanka to finish my leopard book, and all the way to Costa Rica to photograph and film the adorable sloths.”
Each of her books took months of research, but the most challenging one to write was Lennie the Leopard.
It took Jan 15 years to write her book about leopards because the animal is so rare to see in the wild.
“It took 15 years to finish because leopards are so difficult to see in the wild,” Jan explains.
But as her mother used to say to her: “If it’s difficult, you can do it; if it’s impossible, it might take a little longer.”
During her months of research, Jan learnt everything about the animals. “I need to know all the body movements of animals to keep myself safe. If an elephant is flapping his ears, he’s either cooling himself or about to charge. It’s so important to know the difference,” she says.
The result is engaging books well-loved by children, with amazing photographs and videos of the animals in their natural habitats.
Jan has also been talking at schools in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, and throughout Australia for over 25 years.
“I love talking to children and inspiring them to learn about endangered animals. I have many adventures to tell them – a lion chased a wildebeest through the big mess tent I was in, being charged by an elephant, a misunderstanding with an orangutan and playing with pandas in China.
“My reward is when a student says, ‘I want to do what you do when I grow up.’ There is no greater reward than that!”
Doing it My Way can be purchased and signed at www.truetolifebooks.com.au.
By Patricia Alonso