Photography and Our Environment

The Photography and our Environment showcase for ThinkingAboutPhotography.com is live and runs from April 10th through June 30th.

The theme for this showcase is very dear to me and I’m so pleased with the wonderful group of featured artists and book reviews. One photographer blends insights on mental health with a passion for visual storytelling, while another turns the lens toward our inland seas - examining the fragility and resilience of complex ecosystems. Several have found photography is a passport - exploring the many vistas that people around the world call home. Whether they journey to the world’s last truly wild places - or the wild spaces found outside their door, all these projects celebrate and honor our natural environments.

Reviews from PhotoBook Journal features an exceptional set of books on: life in the Russian Arctic, climate change, our wild seas, animals, the melancholy of everyday landscapes and creativity inspired by our natural spaces. Many thanks to Gerhard Clausing, Douglas Stockdale and their amazing team of contributing editors.

Environmental Melancholia: Precarious Places by Donna Bassin
Shifting Ground by Lori Kella
Earth is Home: A World of Photographs by Kerik Kouklis
The Nest by Lynn Alleva Lilley
Island of the Dragon’s Blood by Beth Moon

Hyperborea: Stories from the Russian Arctic by Evgenia Arbugaeva, reviewed by Rudy Vega
Niemandsland by Daniel Chatard, reviewed by Matt Schneider
Aqua by Maria Elisa Ferraris, reviewed by Hans Hickerson
The End Sends Advance Warning by Todd Hido, reviewed by Paul Anderson
Why We Photograph Animals by Huw Lewis-Jones, reviewed by Gerhard Clausing
Creatures Found by Adam Thorman, reviewed by Hans Hickerson

I am especially thrilled that this showcase features my 100th individual artist! WooHoo! Use this link if you’d like to go directly to the Photography and our Environment showcase - otherwise, keep reading for more about the showcase process - and Earth Day!

Earth Day is April 22nd - organized 55 years ago by EarthDay.org’s founders, they have mobilized over 1 billion people in over 192 countries to “drive positive action for the planet.” Check out their website to see how you can help.

As I said earlier, this is an important showcase theme for me - full disclosure, I have someone dear to me in the National Park Service and I know the damage that happened to our natural resources when there have been cuts in the past. That said, my last showcase was (literally) about resistance - so I wanted my emphasis on this showcase to be about embracing the richness these spaces have for us. Not just that the views can be amazing…but that our natural environments truly are a resource for so much that is essential to our wellbeing.

I found Donna Bassin through a terrific site, LA Photo Curator which should be on your radar, if it isn’t already. Donna brings an imaginative, mixed-media aesthetic to her work, which I hadn’t thought of when I first starting working on the showcase theme. It’s a good example of how the curation process is really about learning - your ideas on the theme expand as you learn more about it.

Lori Kella’s Vanishing Shoreline project was on LensCulture and I was fascinated by her sculptural approach and had saved it to a spreadsheet I keep on interesting artists. In addition to the project included in this showcase, I think you’ll love seeing this one that Lenscratch featured several years ago. In both cases, her work is a good example of how photography can be just one step in a much larger process.

I first met Kerik Kouklis at a Platinum Palladium workshop he taught at The Image Flow Photographic Center in the Bay Area. I’d been struggling with trying to learn the process on my own and right from the first print, I knew this was the “voice” I’d been looking for. While his project in the showcase makes use of traditional Palladium process, he is also a master of various mediums and has created some very interesting documentary short films.

Lynn Alleva Lilley’s project was originally was considered for the PhotoBook Journal reviews section - but it seemed like such a perfect fit for the larger showcase. What she found by just crossing the street is magical and I’m so glad to have it. PBJ is a great place to look for interesting photography and it’s very easy to search for themes and artists.

Beth Moon has been on my shortlist for a very long time - I love both the concept and the execution of her projects. She was one of the first artists I thought about when starting this showcase because it seemed like a strong foundation to build on. I love her use of black and white, it’s such a good fit for the ancient trees she’s searched the world for.

PhotoBook Journal sends me a list of possibilities for each showcase, and since one of them was moved to the larger galleries I was able to include more of their artists. I do their page after I’ve settled the rest of the featured artists so I can make sure to include a broad range of concepts and approaches for each topic.

Check out the Photography and our Environment showcase - these are amazing artists - hope you like them as much as I do.