“We are one human race, and there must be understanding among all men. For those who look at the problems of today, my big hope is that they understand. That they understand that the population is quite big enough, that they must be informed that they must have economic development, that they must have social development, and must be integrated into all parts of the world.” – Sebastiao Salgado
As photographers we are the ambassadors of our natural world. With the rise in popularity of photography since the development of the digital camera, everyone and anyone is a photographer these days. This popularity coupled with the social media evolution, more and more people are out searching for that elusive grand photograph, in these ventures our landscape is slowly being destroyed. Our environment and landscapes has not witnessed such stress since the industrial revolution. The list of issues is endless, from the spread of Covid and its shut downs pushing folks to social distance out in the wilderness, overfishing our seas, mass industrial farming, oil and gas demands, housing costs, access of clean drinking water. Our population in recent times has grown in leaps and bounds and at the risk of sounding arrogant, grown completely unchecked by our humanly self centered ways. If this continues, our natural world will only survive in photographs. As photographers we can help educate others and change the current culture of consumption through better understanding our environment, educating ourselves and others.
Landscape photographers tend to revisit the same locations often searching for the perfect conditions for their photography, I am no different than any of you. During the covid shut downs I noticed a large increase on the impact to my local landscape with not only larger amounts of people on trails but larger amounts of trash being left behind, this even in our National Parks.
Its a bigger social problem that faces us all. A problem that as individuals we must not ignore any further. There are simply things we can all do while we are out and about searching for compositions, hiking with friends and family. Carry an extra trash bag in your camera sack and be willing to pick up a few items you find and share an empty bag with others, follow the 7 principles of leave no trace. Plan ahead and prepare, travel and camp on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimize campfire impacts, respect wildlife, be considerate of other visitors. Leave No Trace
I would also urge you to join Nature first as a Photographer and help educate others on their principles, together we can all achieve more and make a lasting effect in protecting our environment. Thank you in advance for taking a moment to consider our impact and more importantly thank you for doing your part in helping.
