Photographer Alex Harris explores the city of Mobile within the framework of E.O. Wilson's theories on biology, history and evolution.

Birthday girls, Stewart Memorial Christian Methodist Church, Mobile.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Grand Marshal's Ball, Battle House Hotel, Mobile.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Margaret Langdon Hamilton in her Mardi Gras gown, Mobile.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Ken McGhee, Bettle Bailer and Stephen Ellison, Magee Farm, Kushla.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Roy Hyde, Fairhope.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Ben Davis, Cedar Point Pier, South Mobile County.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Lenora Ash's house, Fairhope.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and pitcher plants, Splinter Hill Bog, Baldwin County.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Retired Maj. Gen. Gary Cooper, Mobile.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Terrilynn and Mike Benintende, Mardi Gras camp, Mobile.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Capt. Brent and Pam Shaver, Orange Beach.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Periwinkle snails on cordgrass, Grand Bay Marsh.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Star and Marty Singleton's pier, Dauphin Island.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Lewis Island, Chuckfee Bay, Mobile Delta.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Thomas Haring holding a rat snake at Five Rivers State Park, with (from left) Antonio Holmes, Christian Robinson and Conner McClerry.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Rosa Barahona, Mobile.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

UMS-Wright Bulldogs football practice, Mobile.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Roy Hyde, Fairhope.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

Rosa Barahona, Mobile.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

The cover of the book 'Why We Are Here' by Edward O. Wilson and Alex Harris.

Courtesy of Alex Harris

In 1991, photographer Alex Harris was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction for his book River of Traps, written with William deBuys. It told the story, in words and pictures, of an old-time New Mexican villager. Harris didn't win.

Instead, the prize went to evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson for The Ants.

"It took me 20 years to get over that defeat," said Harris.

Then, coincidentally, Harris was asked by a friend to take a photo of Wilson for his birthday — but before photographing Wilson, Harris wanted to have lunch with him. They hit it off splendidly, and by the end of the meal, they had decided to work on a book together.

That book, Why We Are Here, is a rich examination in text and photos of Wilson's boyhood home of Mobile, Ala. The photos show a distinct people, nature and, most importantly, place — infused with Wilson's unique scientific theories on human existence.

"I tried to photograph the people and places in a way that related to something bigger," said Harris over the phone.

Harris, who also grew up in the South, made five trips to Mobile — the last with Wilson. He said stepping foot in Mobile felt like a homecoming of sorts. And once there, he set off to photograph a "cross-section of contemporary Mobilians, looking at their lives, families, institutions and natural environment."

Ultimately, Harris says, he and Wilson wanted to create a book that was as much about the meaning of place as it was about the place itself.

Wilson's writings helped to inform Harris' pictures, influencing the feeling and tone of his work. Instead of just shooting off the cuff, Harris purposely incorporated Wilson's weighty hypotheses into his photographs — such as "consilience" and "biophilia," the idea that humans' love for nature is deeply rooted in our biology.

"As a photographer, I can't just get off the plane and start taking pictures, that's not the way I work," Harris says. "I need a kind of framework to see a particular place ... and in Mobile, E.O. Wilson's life, writing, stories — that became my frame. I wouldn't have photographed Mobile in this way if I hadn't been working with Wilson."

One photo that particularly illustrates biophilia is of the deaf and blind Rosa Barahona steadily making paper flowers for a festival, as if she must stay as connected to nature as possible. Another shows Roy Hyde putting an ear to his beehive to feel whether the warming sun has stirred the bees awake.

"I think I was expressing my own biophilia in the way that I photograph," adds Harris.

Harris says working with Wilson and getting to know him was one of the greatest pleasures of his life. Perhaps they can win a Pulitzer together.

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