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Theo Bosboom
Theo Bosboom is a passionate photographer from the Netherlands, specialising in nature and landscapes. In 2013, he turned his back on a successful legal career to pursue his dream of being a fulltime professional photographer. He is regarded as a creative photographer with a strong eye for detail and composition and always trying to find fresh perspectives.
Tim Parkin
Tim Parkin is a landscape photographer living in Scotland who co-founded On Landscape magazine. Alongside his photography and writing he also co-founded the Natural Landscape Photography Awards, runs a film scanning business and is a judge for other international landscape and nature competitions.
I have chatted with Joe Cornish and many others about aspects of the environment and landscape photography many times, and we both think there are no easy answers or quick tips to solving what is one of the prime challenges of our times. We've wondered what parts of our photography 'business' can or should be adjusted to minimise our impacts and what priorities we may place on them. So when Theo Bosboom got in touch to put forward an idea for a poll to capture what our current attitudes and approaches are, I was very interested. The goal isn't to point fingers, we know that individual action often seems pitiless in the face of global forces. But we also realise that, apart from voting, individual action is all we've got. I'll let Theo introduce the idea in his words but I just wanted to ask that people please fill out the form if they can. You don't have to include your name, or any personal data for that matter, and we only plan on sharing aggregate, statistical data once complete.
An allegorical image from Theo's 'Iceland is Hot' series.
Introduction
There is no doubt that we, landscape and nature photographers, love nature. For many of us, it is precisely that love for nature that forms the basis of our photography. We want to capture the beauty of the landscape in images, each in our own way, and then share this beauty with others through our photographs. We spend much more time out in nature than most other people and usually feel a strong connection to it.
However, in order to pursue our passion or - for the professionals amongst us - our profession, certain activities are sometimes necessary that are not at all good for the climate and nature. Consider, for example, air travel, which is associated with high CO₂ emissions and thus contributes significantly to global warming and climate change. Or regularly buying new equipment, which is sometimes only slightly better than the equipment we already have, which has to be manufactured and transported and generates waste. Or the negative impact it can have on the local environment when a place suddenly becomes very popular among landscape photographers and, in its wake, other travellers.
For me personally, this is a dilemma I’m increasingly grappling with and one that I sometimes find quite challenging. See also my article ‘7 ways to reduce our environmental impact as landscape photographers’ in On Landscape 264 (which includes various links to articles by others on this subject). I’m very curious to know how other photographers feel about this. I’d therefore like to explore where we currently stand as a landscape photography community. How significant is our negative impact on the environment? Are we aware of this, and are we already taking steps to reduce this impact? And what positive things are we doing with our images? Do we simply show them to our family and other photographers, or do we also use them to bring about change or raise awareness?
Just to be clear, I should point out that this research is not intended to accuse other photographers or to cast our community as a whole in a bad light. I have no right to speak on that matter, as my own ecological footprint is still substantial. But I believe we should not ignore this issue and that it would be interesting and important to assess where we stand and to consider how we might improve things without completely giving up our passion or travelling.
To ensure everyone feels comfortable taking part, you can complete the survey anonymously and choose not to answer questions about your personal details. We will only share statistical data, not individual entries.
The questions focus primarily on your actions as a landscape or nature photographer and not so much on other aspects of your life, as this would otherwise make the survey too extensive. Nevertheless, a few questions on these topics have been included at the end of the survey.
You have until May 31st to complete this survey, at which point we'll compile the results and expect to discuss them in On Landscape in June. Please share this survey with your photographer friends. The more people take part, the more reliable and interesting the results will be.