Alligator #0001 — BayouSelf Wildlife Archive

Alligator #0001 — BayouSelf Wildlife Archive

Every great archive has a first entry. This is it. Alligator #0001 is the photograph that started the BayouSelf 1,000 Alligators Archive — the first wild American alligator documented in what would become one of the most ambitious wildlife photography projects in Louisiana history. Photographed in the wild wetlands of the bayou, this high-resolution field image captures the creature that set everything in motion: unhurried, ancient, and entirely at home in the dark water.

To own Alligator #0001 is to own the beginning. The first step into the bayou. The image that made 999 more inevitable.

Part of the BayouSelf 1,000 Alligators Archive, a long-form documentary photography project dedicated to capturing one thousand individual wild alligators across Louisiana’s wetlands. Each image is a numbered field record — one creature, one moment, one truth of the bayou.

What You Receive

• High-resolution digital image file (JPEG)
• Entry #0001 — the founding image of the BayouSelf 1,000 Alligators Archive
• Suitable for large-format printing, framing, editorial, and personal use
• Instant digital download — no shipping required

Field Note

Adult American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). Entry #0001 — the first field record of the BayouSelf 1,000 Alligators Archive. Photographed in the wild Louisiana wetlands. The image that started it all.

About the Archive

The BayouSelf Wildlife Archive is an ongoing photographic record of Louisiana’s wild alligator population — from hatchlings to giants. Every entry is numbered, documented in the field, and added to a growing catalog of one of North America’s most enduring apex predators.

The first step into the bayou. The image that made 999 more inevitable. Alligator #0001 is the founding entry of the BayouSelf Wildlife Archive — available as a high-resolution digital download.