UNIVERSITY OF ARTS LONDON: MA FINAL PROJECT

In June of 2021, I presented my Final Project for MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication. The photo project was accompanied with a critical report that explained every bit of decision making when it came to the photo part, weighing the equal part in grading. You can find my project HERE, and below is my report:

Water In The West

Introduction

In the Roaring Fork Valley, and in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains in general, snow can be the center of the universe from early December to mid April. As an outdoor enthusiast living in a valley surrounded by 14,000 foot peaks, I have come to learn that everything I love about this place depends on snow. Because of its climate, Colorado doesn’t get much precipitation in the summer, so the region depends heavily on the snowpack to feed the rivers, keep soils moist and protect against wildfires. Due to climate change, western snowpacks have declined in recent decades, and the trend is expected to accelerate (Nijhuis, 2014). This information does not come as general knowledge to the people who enjoy outdoor activities in Colorado. Given that 2020 was the worst wildfire year on record in the state, it is urgent to tell the story of increasing wildfire danger due to shorter winters. When I started working on this project, I didn’t know what the outcome of the winter snowpack would be. At the time of writing this, the Western U.S. is considered to be experiencing the worst drought in modern history (Berardelli, 2021).

In order to communicate the message that snow has the same importance as water in Colorado, I focused on documenting all phases of water - snow, ice, rivers, rain clouds - exploring the most basic element that is of critical importance to life. I decided to present the photographs in black and white, stripping them of all distractions and making the scenes easier to absorb. Additionally, I documented the subject through a variety of different exposure times, challenging our perception of reality. Climate change is something that happens over time, and is hard to make sense of in a single photograph. By shooting long exposures of moving clouds and flowing rivers, I blur the lines between time and space, thus relating to the passing time that is the essence of understanding climate. The different technical approaches in this project were my explorations of expressing grief about the changing environment. Metaphorically, the long exposures also relate to the slow, drawn out actions by the world’s governments on implementing solutions to the climate crisis. 

This critical report reflects the historical, scientific, and theoretical knowledge that influenced my photographic choices. It is separated into sections titled by neologisms of the changing world, as these newly coined terms are important to describe human relationship with nature and the emotions we experience due to climate change. In the first section, Hyperobject, I define the connection between climate change and Colorado’s declining snowpack, and I also discuss the documentary aspects of landscape photography. Topophilia and Solastalgia vs. Soliphilia provide references to the history of landscape photography and the issues in climate change communication. Finally, in Symbiocene, I consider the potential of photographers as activists. 

I. Hyperobject

Balog, J. (2006) Columbia Glacier, Alaska - Extreme Ice Survey

On April 22nd, the 51st anniversary of the Earth Day, the thick clouds covered the mountains as the snow was piling on the ground. April used to be the time of highest snowpack accumulation in Colorado. Even though a storm like this one might make people think that everything is normal, western snowpack has significantly declined in recent decades. A late April snowstorm is more of a freak event these days as opposed to a regular occurrence. 

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of my generation, and arguably humanity’s most unifying issue as well. Even though the Earth Day movement started over 50 year ago, my parents' generation either didn’t think it was an urgent enough issue, or they simply thought it wasn’t their concern. This was largely due to the way climate change was portrayed historically through the media, and the politicization of the matter. But it is not only the media’s fault. Climate change is not something that is understood from a single photograph. As the changes in climate happen gradually, over decades, they are unscalable to the human eye. With the advance of technology, we can now compare images from over 100 years, and do simulations of what some areas would look like if the warming continues at this rate. James Balog’s photographs for Extreme Ice Survey are an example of the new photographic technologies, as he uses time-lapse cameras to document retreating glaciers over time (2021).

In the early years of photography, images were seen as mechanically produced, free of the subjective influence of the photographer and thus considered as objective truth (Wells, 2009). This idea has changed over time as it became more clear that photographs reflect the camera operator’s way of seeing the world influenced by their own experiences, making it more of “mediated communication” rather than unbiased truth (Newton, 2001, p. 4). With the possibility of photo manipulation, the idea of photography as truth has lost even more value. Nonetheless, photography can still inform us about the socio-political issues of the times when the photograph was taken, and can be strong evidence of changes in the landscapes and the threats that they may face (Solnit, 2003).

Newton argues that the core of documentary photography is “seeing and knowing, and then telling” (2001, p 54). Even though my photographs are my personal expression, they are informed by research in the area of scientific data, practitioners before me, and inevitably by living in a place threatened by drought and wildfires. As I try to communicate an issue so vast and incomprehensible, often called a hyperobject, I transform a scientific issue into a personal one. Selfishly, I think of myself losing the life I love due to the warming climate. Then, I want to convey the issue to the spectators, by informing and raising awareness. My goal is to capture the importance of snow and the impact of the climate crisis on water. 

Destruction caused by wildfires in the United States has significantly increased in the last two decades. Nearly 700,000 acres burned in Colorado in 2020 (Rosner, 2020). To understand the issue and Colorado’s climate, we should start with some basic knowledge about Colorado’s topography. With an average altitude of about 6,800 feet above sea level, Colorado is the highest state in the contiguous U.S. Of particular importance is its position in the middle of the continent, which gives it the arid, high-desert climate even though it boasts 59 peaks that rise over 14,000 feet (Doesken et al, 2003). As a result, the region doesn’t receive much precipitation in the warmer months. Thus, it greatly depends on winter storms to accumulate snow high in the mountains, and act as frozen reservoirs throughout spring and summer. Even though I specifically focus on the Roaring Fork River basin in my photographs, this information applies to all of Colorado’s Rockies - climate change has shifted the timing of spring, and with the winter snow melting earlier, wildfire risk is expected to rise. This will also have consequences for water resources and ecosystems. Shorter winters and prolonged dry conditions create arid soils that can absorb snowmelt before it gets to rivers and streams. These conditions can also cause sublimation, where melting snow turns to vapor instead of liquid (Condon, 2021 b).

 Winters in Colorado are already a month shorter than they were 50 years ago (Environmental Protection Agency, 2016) and the Roaring Fork Valley has suffered from major fires two years in a row. In 2020, Grizzly Creek fire burned in Glenwood Canyon, where the Roaring Fork river meets the Colorado river. In 2019, Lake Christine fire burned in the hills of Basalt mountain, causing evacuations of hundreds of people from their homes. The outlook for the upcoming summer is grim (Condon, 2021 a). As the world warms, the fires will burn more often and more intensely. Given that a quarter of all visitors to the ski resorts in the Rocky Mountains visit in March for spring break, the shifting of the spring and earlier snowmelt could destabilize the multi billion dollar industry (Borunda, 2019). But it is not only the ski industry that needs to worry - with drier summers, fishing and rafting seasons will become shorter, mountain biking trails will become too dusty, and the nature experience will change with low air quality due to smoke. 

Bearing witness to the changing landscape takes a toll on mental health and well-being. It has even been described in psychological terms as eco-anxiety, the chronic fear of environmental doom (Nugent, 2019). As I watched the ashes fall out of the sky and prevent us from doing any outdoor activities last summer, I wanted to find a way of conveying these issues through my photographs in a way that is meaningful to the viewers. People often think of climate change as a “distant issue in both time and space” (O’Neill et al, 2009, p. 369). The recent fires show that the issue is here, happening in real time, in the place we live, and we can’t look away anymore. 

Environmental psychology, a new field of scientific study, explains the benefits of contact with nature for our health, such as reduced depression and anxiety, increased self-esteem and lowered blood pressure (Bratman et al, 2015). Yet, human disconnect with nature has been growing in the increasingly technological world. A United Nations report from 2015 showed that 4 in 5 Americans live in urban areas, where their contact with the natural world is rather limited (Frumkin et al, 2017). This loss of desire to interact with the outdoors has been cited as a potential factor contributing to environmental destruction (Kelert and Wilson, 1993). As people do not feel like they are a part of a larger ecosystem, they are less inclined to protect the environment and other species from extinction. The environmental degradation resulting from the effects of climate change has even been termed a violation of children’s human rights (Vasquez and Liu, 2018). Reestablishing the human connection with nature has become an important theme in conservation. During the Covid 19 pandemic, more people rediscovered nature, and the visitation to US national parks skyrocketed in 2020 (Hautamaki, 2020). It seems to be great timing to be talking about these issues. 

Barthes (2010) argues that a photograph is a witness of something that exists no more. Even though he talks about people, this can relate to landscape photography as well. Looking towards the future, will my photographs act as evidence of environmental change? This socio-political concern has always underlined landscape photography, and I will focus more on the subject in the following section.

II. Topophilia

Adams, A. (1951) Maroon Bells near Aspen, Colorado

During the Renaissance age, people started transforming nature from an inhospitable place to a controlled environment, thus developing the concept of a landscape. Wells defines landscapes as “vistas encompassing both nature and the changes that humans have affected on the natural world” (2011, p.59). This section will examine a brief history of Western landscape photography, and the ways photographers have engaged with issues concerning the wilderness. I will additionally discuss the way nature has been historically portrayed through male gaze. Further, I will examine how my own work relates to the photographers and theories mentioned.

Exploration of the American West preceded the wet-collodion process by only about a decade, which made photographing remote landscapes more accessible (Solnit, 2003). Commercial in origin, early landscape photography in the West is social-historical evidence of the exploration of the new world. Photographers such as Timothy O’Sullivan, William Henry Jackson, and Carleton Watkins, documented this newly found landscape for the Geological Survey and Pacific Railroad Company, and by doing so they explored areas of the country that had never been seen before. Their photographs helped establish America’s first national park, and inspired the wilderness conservation movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Wells, 2011). 

As founding members of Group f.64, Ansel Adams and Edward Weston advocated for protection of America’s wilderness (Alinder, 2014). Given that nature has great implications on human health, their photography tackled issues of immense social significance. Along with documenting breathtaking landscapes, their goal was to bring new meanings to overlooked and mundane objects through “pure photography,” shooting with sharp lenses and extensive depth of field. Ultimately, these photographers were documenting their love of land and the emotional connection with the physical environment, also described as topophilia. Derived from Greek topos "place" and -philia, "love of", describing these emotions is a starting point in caring for the changing environment (Worthy, 2016). 

Whilst Adams and his contemporaries documented nature by omitting human intervention on the land, in the later half of the 20th century Richard Misratch and Robert Adams brought a shift in perspective in documenting landscapes. Their work specifically focused on the human alteration of the land, and the relationship between nature and development (Bright, 1992).

This brings us to the relationship between my own work and these photographers. Influenced by the aesthetic Adams conveyed in his photographs, I don’t include the human element, although arguably, there is no wilderness left untouched by humans, whether that intervention is direct or indirect. That unintended action upon the landscape is shown in the photographs of land scorched by wildfires. The intended impact of humans is shown in just one photograph in my series - the gondola that takes skiers to breathtaking views, now showing smoke in the distant hills. This photograph is a stark reminder of  human alterations to the environment, a documentation of anthropocene.

Landscape photography emerged as a male documentation of land, portraying the photographer as an explorer, adventurer, the one taking incredible risks to achieve spectacular views (Wells, 2011). He was at the center of it all, and it is important to note that this male gaze on the land not only created American landscape photography, but also shaped our relationship with nature. Solnit (2003) subtly distinguishes styles of male and female photographers, female being more in touch with nature. Bright describes it as “man the predator” relationship with nature versus “female the nurturer” (1985, p. 10). Female landscape photographers are often excluded from histories of photography, and women as adventurers are still not as common as men. As a female photographer tackling these topics, I deconstruct the male gaze on the land by trying to convey that women as camera operators are just as capable of being explorers and adventurers. Most of my photographs were taken on stormy days, where I found myself in complete whiteouts, alone at the top of the mountain, with grueling winds blowing my tripod off the ground. In order to access these locations I had to be an experienced skier and mountaineer, something that would not have been possible for a woman only a century ago.

The aesthetics early western photographers used in their work are closely related to the ideas of sublime. “The passion caused by the great and sublime in nature,” writes philosopher Edmund Burke, “is astonishment; and astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all of its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror” (Burke, 1968, p. 57). Burke distinguished philosophically between the beautiful, picturesque and the sublime: beautiful being characterized with pleasing and harmonious, and picturesque is associated with beauty that is manageable at scale. Philosopher Immanuel Kant focused his exploration of the sublime on the viewers’ emotional response to the overwhelming qualities of nature.

Presenting my photographs as beautiful or picturesque seems inappropriate because there is nothing beautiful about global warming. So I distance myself from the classic Colorado postcard views which are some of the most photographed locations in the country. By showing abstract photographs of familiar locations, I invite the viewer to take a second look at something that might have gone unnoticed at first, evoking deeper thoughts and emotions. Sublime is associated with vastness and infinite landscapes, feelings of pleasure combined with joy (Good and Lowe, 2017). I seek these emotions not only through grand landscape vistas, but also through abstract nature views. Confusing the viewer with the scale of what is depicted in the photograph is my aesthetic interpretation of sublime. 

Further on, limitations of 19th century photography required long exposures. Ironically, I come back to the same technique with my high-end digital cameras. As photography is considered to freeze a moment in time, I explore ways of showing time in a moment. The biggest distinction people fail to understand is that weather is experienced instantly, and climate is observed over periods of thirty years or more. Thus, I create a relationship between those concepts by shooting exposures ranging from 8000th of a second to minutes at a time. A frozen moment of weather, a movement of climate. 

It is not my intention to distance the subject from reality, even though it might be a virtue of black and white photography. I seek to leave room for the spectator’s own interpretation, and invite the viewer to look at nature in a different way. In the early days of photojournalism, black and white was considered the truth, and color was an aesthetic choice used in fine art photography. When Susan Maiselas documented Nicaragua in color, it was controversial (Bogre, 2012). She was criticized for aestheticising violence, but she strongly believed that color was the best way to communicate her story (Maiselas in Light, 2010). Over time, color became standard in all genres of photography, and monochrome took over as the more surreal and abstract of the two (Hoffman, 2012). By stripping my photographs of color, I bring back history, the idea of unspoiled wilderness, memories, the world Ansel Adams hoped to preserve. Black and white is also considered to be timeless, which I find fitting in communicating issues of climate change. Additionally, the way these photographs are presented could relate to any ski town in Colorado or Western United States. They are not attached to a place, as I try to make this project an archetype of a global issue. 

The history of American landscape photography lies in conservation. As a photographer in the American West, I feel compelled to continue the legacy of photographers who advocated for protection of the natural habitats. I did not grow up in Colorado, and I hope that my gaze on these lands as an outsider only brings a new way of understanding, instead of misinterpreting the message. In order to be less of an outsider, I base my work on extensive research that makes me more familiar with the subject matter. This research involves topics of climate change representation, which we will focus on in the following section. 

III. Solastalgia vs. Soliphilia

Burtynsky E. (2007) Super Pit #1, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia

The way climate change has been portrayed in the media since the beginning of the environmental movement in the 1960's has been mostly doom and gloom. Deforestation, melting glaciers, and starving polar bears became icons of global warming, to the extent that people became immune to those stories (Manzo, 2010). Because of this distance from the subject, climate change remains an abstract concept for many people. Nowadays, we know that using fearful images does tend to heighten the public's concerns, but it is paradoxical as at the same time these images are more likely to induce disempowering feelings instead of genuine engagement (O’Neill et al, 2009). In this section, I will explore pessimistic and optimistic approaches to climate change communication, and examine viewer engagement in relation to both.

Many novels have been written with a dystopian outlook on the climate change crisis. JG Ballard drowns the world with melting polar ice caps (1962), while Emmi Itaranta dreams of the past-world winters in Memory of Water (2014). In his photographs, Edward Burtynsky turned scenes of Earth ravaged by industrial processes into art, presenting a whole new genre, modern sublime. Many followed this trend, and nowadays aerial photographs of anthropogenic influences on the planet are a part of museum collections.

At the turn of the century, environmental disasters became more common and engulfed us. It started to feel like they came out of nowhere, provoking feelings of solastalgia - the emotional distress caused by environmental change (Albrecht, 2019). While researching the topic, I found articles from ten, twenty years ago that talk about the urgency of changing our consumption of non-renewable materials. Not much has changed for the better since, and arguably the US has only moved backwards by withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. When a president who doesn’t believe in climate change is elected to run a country that releases some of the highest annual amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, it is hard to be optimistic. 

As the general public’s apathy to the climate crisis was escalating, research led by the team at Climate Visuals tried to find the reasons why. One of their conclusions was that people do not find a connection between climate change and their daily lives (Corner et al, 2015). To bring it back to the media, National Geographic and Time magazines have been criticized in the past for presenting the issue as “ambiguous, portrayed without cause, solution and with little connection to human perpetrators” (Remillart, 2011 in Wang et al, 2017, p. 4). By establishing 7 Principles of Climate Change Communication, the team at Climate Visuals urged the media to change the way they report on environmental issues. Through their research, Corner et al (2015) concluded that showing photographs of environmental degradation makes people feel like the fight for climate has already been lost. Instead, they suggested that in order to tell more engaging stories, the topics of destruction need to be followed with topics of solution. Additionally, the images are more powerful when they show consequences at scale, and if they include the human element. 

These principles informed my own work, so instead of showing only devastating impacts of climate disasters, I decided to focus on landscapes vulnerable to environmental changes and show what we are at stake to lose. The first principle urges media and photographers to find new stories and wildfires in Colorado are fairly new on the global scale of environmental disasters. Most online articles talk about California fires since they have been bad for decades, but the media is just starting to grasp how bad Colorado fires are becoming. Additionally, many people are not aware of the connection between snowfall and drought, and most of my research focused on that topic. Further research by Climate Visuals shows that presenting local impacts of climate change is likely to evoke stronger reactions, as it makes the issue more relevant to people (Corner et al, 2015). I did this by focusing solely on the Roaring Fork Valley and its landscapes. The third principle that I implemented in my work is to show solutions with impacts, as Corner et al argue that people need guidance in order to channel the emotions that arise when they view photographs of climate change. I start by showing fire (impacts), what we stand to lose if the fires get bigger (consequences) and a call to action (solution).

After coining the term solastalgia, Albrecht knew that there needed to be a term to express the opposite, the love of and responsibility for a place. Soliphilia is the word he proposed, and this association with positivity and interconnectedness is the optimistic outlook on the future that I have based my work on.

Another important concept that Corner et al relay in their research is the importance of understanding the audience, which we will focus on in the following section.

IV. Symbiocene 

Norfolk, S. (2014) When I am Laid in Earth

Photographers dealing with socio-political issues have always tried to evoke a genuine change of attitude. Activist documentary photography as a genre was central to the history of American photography in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Bogre, 2012). From Lewis Hine and Dorothea Lange, to Simon Norfolk as a contemporary storyteller, embedded in photography has always been the desire to change the world. Adams was known to personally lobby congressmen on behalf of wilderness values (Turnage, 1980).

In a world of growing concern for the consequences of climate change, it is important to consider the role of a documentary photographer. Can photographers engage people to support their causes, change government policies and public perceptions on environmental issues? Chapnick argues that “photojournalism has not stopped wars, eliminated poverty, or conquered disease, but neither has any other medium or institution” (1994, p. 12).

We can start by arguing that photography, and art in general, has a way of relaying complex issues on a more personal scale. The meaning we extract from photographs is based on our experiences, including conscious and unconscious memories that influence the way we interpret the message (Newton, 2001). When the viewers find a deeper connection with the cause conveyed in a photograph, they are more likely to want to make a difference. Given the amount of exposure to news and images we get on a daily basis, contemporary photographers have to consistently seek out new ways of relaying environmental issues. Over the last decade, many publications have shifted their coverage of climate change from iconic images to a wider variety of topics. Burtynsky started adding photographs of renewable energy solutions to his collection of human influences on the environment. Many nature and adventure photographers have become climate activists, using their social media channels to raise awareness. These photographers often work with NGOs, create foundations to support their causes, and use photographs for fundraising. 

Albrecht (2019) proposes that if we imagine a world in which solutions are realized, we are more likely to strive towards those goals. The Earth Art movement has long been using this approach. By using earth elements, these artists conceptualize a world in which we have a sustainable relationship with nature - a Symbiocene. Roni Horn (2007) invites us to rediscover our personal relationship with water by turning a former library in Iceland into a museum filled with water melted from Icelandic glaciers. Melanie King (2019) creates landotypes, temporary installations burned into grass by the sun. In making landscape art, these contemporary artists envision a future that inspires people to change how they act in the present. Wells argues that “crucial changes in the landscape begin with changes in the way we think about it” (2011, p. 60). Nature is a place we look to as an escape, a refuge of awe-inspiring wilderness. Through my photographs, I show the beauty of our landscapes as a haunting record of what we are rapidly losing. They invite us to engage with questions about the future of the environment, learn how to better interact with the landscape and live within the limits of nature. 

That brings us to the final question - how does one get the audience to engage with the information derived from photographs? There is no simple answer to this question. In Anthropocene, Baichwal says that her team did not seek to provide answers, but only to start a conversation (Baichwal in Burtynsky et al, 2018, p. 221). Maiselas suggests that we should “find ways of taking people someplace they don’t expect to go” (in Light, 2010, p. 106). It is unfortunate that the topic I am tackling is more influenced by political affiliations than by experiences in nature. My audience members come from both sides of the political spectrum, and as a result I believe it is important to show the story as politically neutral. However, climate issues have always been political topics. In order to engage the viewer, I try to use the same approach as Norfolk does in his work. He counters the preconceptions people create by looking at his photographs by hitting the viewer with strong political statements that are not inherent in the image itself (Lowe, 2021). If I convince my audience to want to make a difference, I provide them with a list of organizations that they can learn from, donate to, and volunteer for. 

There is a vital link between mind and nature which has been neglected due to living in the modern world. Norfolk argues that in order to protect a place, one needs to be in love with it (Lowe, 2021). This suggests that the only way to make people feel connected to and responsible for the natural world, is to have them experience it. In addition to that, connecting with nature can facilitate prosocial and environmentally sustainable behaviors (Piff et al, 2015). For this reason, I have chosen to present my photographs outdoors, rather than in a gallery or as a book. They are meant to be seen while walking to the chairlift to ski, or passing by on a mountain bike. This way, I relay these issues to people whose lives depend on the landscapes. Maiselas suggests that photographers need to keep experimenting with different avenues of showing their work, thinking beyond gallery walls and magazine articles, in order to find the best ways to get the audience involved with their causes (Maiselas in Light, 2010). For activist photographers, “the photograph is only the beginning” (Bogre, 2012, p. 72).

Conclusion 

With the coming of spring, life is beginning to come back to the areas that burned in last year’s fires. Nature is capable of restoring itself, but not at the pace that can keep up with human destruction. Anthropogenic climate change has created a hotter and drier Colorado. The future of our winters is uncertain. 

As I document the impacts of climate change that are already being felt in this valley I call home, I find it necessary to be socially engaged. When I started working on this topic, I didn’t think that landscape photographs were enough to convey the issue, and act as a documentary artifact. By researching the history of environmental photography, I learned that issues of conservation have always been embedded in landscapes. Many photographers in the West embraced their role as stewards of the wilderness, and turned issues of nature into socio-political issues as well. In the 21st century, climate change is the unifying issue for landscape photographers across the globe. Research by Climate Visuals has taught us to shift the way we relay climate issues, and has invited us to imagine a more sustainable future. Albrecht gave us terms to better explain the emotions we feel in connection to the Earth. Acknowledging them is a step to help us set on a proactive path.

Influenced by techniques and theories elaborated in this report, I look forward to continuing the legacy of the early landscape photographers of the American West. As I work on becoming an environmental advocate, I can’t expect people to change their ways. However, I can try to inform them, raise awareness, and inspire at least a few to care. Education at its core is the most important thing we can do for the planet. I know that the topic I chose to tackle is going to involve a lot of political debates, but I am ready to join the fight.

“It is worth repeating once again that we are the first generation to fully understand climate change and the last generation to be able to do something about it.” (Taalas, 2018)

Bibliography

Photography

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Non-fiction

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Fiction

Ballard, J.G. (1962) The Drowned World: A novel. Reprint. New York, NY: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2012

Itaranta, E. (2014) Memory of Water. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers

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Web Articles

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Websites

Artists and Climate Change (2021) Available at: https://artistsandclimatechange.com/ (Accessed on 1 May 2021)

Extreme Ice Survey (2021) Available at: http://extremeicesurvey.org/ (Accessed on 15 April 2021)

Project Pressure (2021) Available at: https://www.project-pressure.org/ (Accessed on 1 May 2021)