Statement

I have always loved looking at the world that surrounds me. Ever since I was eight years old, I have been running around and exploring with a camera. During the course of my life, I have seen more and more land bulldozed away for development. Nature has always been a great source of inspiration and solace for me, and seeing its ever-accelerating destruction distresses and saddens me. My photography and film work combines art, documentary, and activism, with the aim of raising awareness to try to help protect our Earth, its lands, and its cultures. Most of my work has been about development and its impacts on the land and on the people who inhabit it. There are invisible economic and political forces which pull the strings of our lives and which most of us are powerless over. Usually, when a landscape or habitat is damaged, the culture which has evolved in it, is also greatly impacted. My aim is to use my cameras to give a voice to those who have no voice, including the land. I aim to convey these “voices” via photographic exhibitions, talks, books, documentary films, events and the press. My approach to photography is impulsive and instinctive. I very much enjoy the process of searching for places and objects to photograph and this is the first and most important step in creating my images. Having a camera around my neck intensifies my action of looking. I also love light, especially the light from the sun. My best photographs come when everything comes together for one instant – the light, the place, me with my camera and some kind of magic. The message I aim to convey with my work is that there is a general disrespect for the earth and a lack of humility toward the planet. We are cutting off our roots that connect us to the planet. In the end this leads not only to environmental problems, but also to conflicts between us who inhabit the earth. I believe that if there were more respect for the Earth, there would also be more harmony amongst us humans.