Last night, 60 Minutes profiled professional photographer Joel Sartore and a highly ambitious project he has undertaken.  Quite simply, Sartore wants to photograph every animal he can ensuring there is a permanent record of all species.

Thus far, the photographer has cataloged 8,255 species of animal from insects to birds to monster mammals.  While it seems unlikely he would ever get them all, Sartore is okay with that saying, “At least my life’ll be spent doing something that’s hopefully mattered to the world.”

Using only black or white backgrounds, the images he captures are just stunning. Check out the amazing story and some of the images in the video below.