Background

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Signs, Harbingers, and Causation

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Signs, Harbingers, and Causation

Many fields of photojournalism have well-worn paths showing you where to go, with signposts that clearly identify stories and valued subjects. Environmental photography does not. Here Dennis lays out a possible course:  "As you get your bearings on the landscape of environmental photography, learn to look for signs that guide you towards ideas. Like navigating landscapes, creating a trail that leads to ideas that produce photographs is about finding your bearings, seeking and recognizing signs you come across, and learning to understand meaning in the signs you discover."

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Whose Earth is it, anyway?

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Whose Earth is it, anyway?

Jim ponders what is effective in environmental photography? What will actually work? What can you photograph, or instance, that will result in the survival of elephants? More elephant pictures? Maybe, but we’ve seen a lot of pictures of elephants already. Has that worked to save elephants? Perhaps, some. How about hard hitting documentaries about elephant poaching, especially if it results in increased funding for anti-poaching enforcement? Better, but maybe not enough – still. Jim argues that the question of actual effectiveness often gets lost when it should be at the forefront of our thinking.

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The River or the Rapids

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The River or the Rapids

When it comes to environmental coverage, Jim wishes the underlying causes would get more attention than the hot news stories of the day. He puts it this way: "Sometimes we pay too much attention to the rapids when we should be paying attention to the river. The rapids are interesting, but the river is important."

Peering through an Anthropocene Lens

Peering through an Anthropocene Lens

It is an era in history when humanity has become the dominant force on earth. Enduring impacts of our expanding enterprise have become visible and measurable worldwide. Earth’s landscapes, ecosystems, ice, rivers, oceans, and atmosphere have all been affected. As a result, scientists have proposed a new geologic epoch called The Anthropocene to mark this impact.