There is no question that part of the glue that holds societies together and that helps us understand our place in the planetary puzzle is the art of story-telling. The proverbial “campfire” around which stories of our common ancestry, the challenges we face, and the ideas we share, have, generation to generation, been passed through stories. Today’s technology allows us to gather around the global campfire in new and meaningful ways and skilled artists and story tellers have become key players to move the conservation agenda by helping ‘connect the dots’.
Translating science and complex conservation priorities into compelling messages that are accessible to larger audiences and decision-makers is an imperative that more and more conservation organizations are taking seriously, both in their strategy and in their budget. Using effective communications, strong visuals and interesting graphics is fast becoming an integral part of the conservation toolbox. The skills of photographers, film-makers, writers and other creative artists will be instrumental to help tell the story of how our planet succeeded in turning the tide, or of how we failed.
The story is not over yet.
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Cristina Mittermeier
President
International League of Conservation Photographers
Art’s book release for Alaska is featured in the latest newsletter from the Northwest Council of Camera Clubs. There is a wealth of additional information provided too.
Art’s photographic tour of Alaska has become the standard volume of its class. These 150 images take the reader from the lush Southeast to the singular Denali Mountain and across the northern tundra. The tenth anniversary edition of Alaska features gorgeous landscape-format photography, with sections including “Mountain,” “River and Lake,” “Tundra,” “Sea and Coast,” “Forest,” and “Island.” With text by Nick Jans, author of many books about Alaska, including The Grizzly Maze.
A titan of the American environmental movement has passed. Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, Stewart Udall (January 31, 1920 – March 20, 2010) was largely responsible for the enactment of environmental laws in Johnson’s Great Society legislative agenda, including the Clear Air, Water Quality and Clean Water Restoration Acts and Amendments, the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, the Land and Water Conservation [Fund] Act of 1965, the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, the National Trail System Act of 1968, and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968.
Pictured here are a few photos from some of the lands protected under his tenure: Assateague Island National Seashore, Canyonlands National Park, North Cascades National Park, and Redwood National Park.
The history of conservation photography did not begin with the creation of the iLCP. Although it is true that as a collective of concerned photographers we coined the term and gave the concept new impetus, the idea has been around almost since the advent of the camera.
There is a long legacy in conservation photography that has blazed the trail for the way we currently use photography for environmental advocacy – William Henry Jackson, Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter are among earlier photographers whose advocacy work, in one way or another, translated into the protection of special landscapes. Jackson’s 1871 photographs of Yellowstone, for example, provided the visual argument that convinced legislators to create America’s first national park, and since then, photographers all around the world have used images for advocacy.
How we use conservation photography today demands a higher degree of urgency, as the issues challenging our planet are ever more complex, pressing and devastating. Addressing these issues by simply making pictures and hoping they reach the right audiences is not enough. Photographers today must take on a very active role in finding ways for their images to impact the right people. Sometimes the audience consists of legislators and other decision-makers, others it is made up of influential people whose opinions and recommendations move attitudes; more often than not, we are trying to educate end users, corporations and extractive industries on the impacts of their activities and how to mitigate them. Rarely is the image made by a conservation photographer used as mere entertainment.
Today’s conservation photographers must strive to be visual activists – activism here defined as “the use of strong actions in opposition to or in support of a cause” – because if we fail to be activists, we will inevitably be merely “inactive”. The difference between making great images and making great images that work hard to protect our planet is what really defines conservation photography.
Cristina Mittermeier
President
International League of Conservation Photographers
Dan “Dano” Steinhardt was at the gallery today discussing the new line of EPSON signature worthy papers (velvet fine art paper, hot & cold press papers) with Art.
He and his crew filmed Art with the RED ONE video camera with BUILD 21 & Redcine-X software.
The resulting several minute video will be posted on the EPSON web site and used at trade shows around the country.
Nearly 300 of Art’s most amazing landscape images are showcased in this high-definition Digital Art Show™, accompanied by beautiful music from renowned new age musician Scott Cossu.
The images are displayed in a continual slide show showcasing the stunning beauty of distinct environmental landscapes & regions of the world. From the Great Bahamas Bank to the icebound Arctic, you’ll witness the sheer wonder and drama of our earth captured in these amazing< photographs. Use this DVD as the perfect backdrop for entertaining or creating a relaxing environment in your home or office.
Art will be giving a benefit showing of Between Heaven and Earth at the San Juan Island Community Theater at 6 pm, on March 13. For tickets, please call 360-378-3210.
Art has detailed the steps that he goes through in order to create his 
The history of conservation photography did not begin with the creation of the iLCP. Although it is true that as a collective of concerned photographers we coined the term and gave the concept new impetus, the idea has been around almost since the advent of the camera.
