Author Archives: Robert van Waarden

Photography of PowerShift UK – Reporting by Project Survival Media

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Crossposted from Itsgettinghotinhere
More Photography and Gallery Here.

By: Adaeze Umolu

Young men and women at the reception and registration desk are in high spirits as UK Powershift 09 has brought hundreds together to tackle our climate future here in London. Irrespective of physical, cultural or social differences, the determination of these young men and woman begs one to wonder if United Kingdom or world leaders can ignore such a movement.

Powershift UK is not just another campaign event to gather young people. It is a conference where workshops have been organized to teach skills to the young people in attendance with the end result of taking a meaningful action. It is “not just swapping to low energy light bulbs, but how to campaign and communicate effectively within their local communities.” It aims to inspire and educate drawing from the vast experience of the speakers lined up for the conference such as Ian Katz, Deputy editor of The Guardian and Emily Cummings, a 22 year old inventor using her designs to tackle climate change issues within Southern African countries.

Organized by the UKYCC, and modeled after the Powershift conferences held in the USA and Australia. The passion and focus of this conference is a serious one. It is about climate change, our planet and our future. Yet, these young people have set out to tell a more positive story and get people involved. The future and our planet’s future looks bright here today and I am more optimistic as the events of the day continue that our voice will be heard. I intend to remain here for the full duration of the conference and more articles are on the way.

Writer Adaeze Umolu reports for the Project Survival Media team in Europe.

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Why she got Climate Justice Tattooed on her Neck

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Crossposted from It’s Getting Hot in Here.

Tattoo art by Sara Svensson (Swedish Climate Activist) and Studio Remi, Utrecht
Three reasons:

1. The principle
2. The permanence
3. I like tattoos

From the least important to the most important, these three reasons explained…

Reason 3 – “I like tattoos”

Continue reading “Why I got “Climate Justice” tattooed on my neck.

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Irish Moss Photography – Canadian Geographic Photographer

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My photography essay on the Irish Moss Industry on Prince Edward Island, Canada, appears this month in Canadian Geographic.

The story behind these photographs begins one blustery morning when the rain was pelting my tent whilst camping with family and friends. The dawn brought with it a slew of men and horses, crawling the North Cape beach and collecting the ‘blessing from the sea’. The photography that day was moody and dramatic as exhausted horses and jubilant men played in the stormy waves. The seawater dripped off their backs, no damper to the joy brought by the bounty the sea had bestowed upon them.

This led me to investigate further. I met Carl Doucette, a brick of a man who has spent over 50 years raking the moss off the sea bed. His arms are testament to the physical labour that has defined his life and his spirit is calming. Having spent so much time on the water, Carl’s is a man comfortable with his place in the world. We sat in his kitchen drinking coffee and tears filled his eyes as he recounted his story about the decline of his industry and his uncertain future.

Heading out on the water with Carl that afternoon will remain one of those memorable experiences as a photographer. The sun glinted off the waves and the moss raked from the sea quickly piled up in the boat. I tried my own hand at raking in the moss and was quickly reminded why Carl’s arms were small trees. It was an honour to spend time with Carl and I am indebted to his story and time for making this essay possible.

My thanks also goes out to the folks at Shea’s Irish Moss Plant in Anglo Tignish. They were kind enough to allow me to work with them for a few hours and photograph their dusty, cavernous operation. They bale the moss into packages that weigh over 120 lbs, (as eagerly demonstrated to me by Rodney, the strong man in the operation).

It was a pleasure to put this essay together. Now go out to your nearest newsstand (in Canada) and buy the issue to see the images.

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Kiboko bag and Norway – a success?

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A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take my new Kiboko camera bag from Gura Gear on an assignment for Canadian Geogarphic in Norway. For years I have been using a trusty, Lowepro Nature Trekker. However, it is now suffering from acute zipper disorder and since the Lowepro hospital doesn’t cover zipper disorder, I went looking for a new bag.

I came across the Kiboko bag and the weight of the bag convinced me that it was the bag that would fill my needs. I travel and I want a camera bag that balances weight, durability, weather proofing and ease of use. The Kiboko bag appeared to do this, it will easily hold two pro canon bodies with any lens and is surprisingly comfortable on my 200cm frame.

Where did it go wrong? As I unpacked the box, I found the neat little rain cover and an ‘oh oh’ escaped my lips. I had a bad feeling that the elastic band would not hold the cover in a strong storm. Sure enough, on a ridge in Norway, horizontal rain and gale force winds, ripped the cover from my pack. The image below is the moment my subjects are watching it float away on the winds….

Fortunately, I was able to retrieve the cover on the slope below before my gear was compromised, but the design is a serious issue if it won’t hold in a storm situation. I will be forced to create a leash for the cover to hold it to the pack. If Gura adopted an integrated rain-cover approach, the cover would be attached to the pack and won’t get lost or blown away, a real problem when you need to access your gear in the wind and the rain. Perhaps they will consider this in the next line…

Despite the near escape, I found the pack worked well in all situations and I look forward to my new travel companion for many trips to come.

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Train Vs. Airplane, the moral economics of an Assignment

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Airplane
0.19 tonnes of CO2		 Train
0.02 tonnes of CO2
Ticket Cost = €160
Taxi to Airport = €100
Carbon Offset = €5
Cost to future generations = Unfathomable
Total = Huge		 Ticket Cost = €320
Taxi to Station/Back = €20
Good feeling and
Respect from Girlfriend = Priceless
Total = Priceless

In less then one hour I will embark on a 24 hour train ride for my next assignment in Norway. I am off to Norway to work on a climate change story for Canadian Geographic. For the last couple of years I have been focusing on climate change and particularly the youth movements across the globe. Whether at the United Nations Conference or a grassroots events, I have been documenting the young change makers of today.

Needless to say, I move around a lot and I am acutely aware of my personal carbon footprint on the planet. So when the opportunity came up for an assignment where it wasn’t necessary to take a plane, I jumped at the possibility.

Why spend 24 hours getting to a destination when I could simply go to Schiphol airport and get on a plane for 2 hours?

It isn’t actually all that hard to explain, air travel has for long been cited as one of the main causes of carbon dioxide and one the major contributors (between 4 – 9%) of global warming. Not only that, but aircraft emissions are special. Because they are produced at cruising altitudes high up, the emissions are more harmful. In fact, the IPCC estimages that the impact of aircraft emissions is 2 – 4 times high then the direct effect of the CO2 alone. See the David Suzuki website for more information.

By taking the train to Norway, I am responsible for 10 – 25% of the CO2 that I would if I were to take the plane. This makes me happy, this makes my client happy, it makes future generations happy and most importantly it makes my girlfriend happy. (ED. Note, upon consultation, said girlfriend has declared that she is not more important then future generations.)

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Announcing Project Survival Media

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Imagine on all seven continents, there are young people equipped to globally broadcast pivotal stories on impacts, struggles, and solutions. Imagine that you had one minute to tell negotiators how you wanted them to represent you. What would you say?

Announcing PROJECT SURVIVAL MEDIA. The brainchild of Journalist and Activist Shadia Fayne Wood, Project Survival Media is a project of Fired UP! Media and launched on August 11th in San Fransisco, California (read the launch update)

‘We are a global network of youth journalists reporting from the frontlines of the climate crisis in the lead up to COP 15. Our seven new media teams, one for each continent, will report on the most compelling climate stories from around the world, amplify voices underrepresented by traditional media, and launch “Survival” to the forefront of the political debate.’

This is an incredible project that has the potential to help shift our world. It has great leadership, great ideas and a youth network second to none behind it. Expect to hear more from it in the future.

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vanwaardenphoto.com connection with Photoshelter

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For quite some time now I have held a Photoshelter account. It has been used primarily in the background and for specific client requests. However, in an effort to make my stock images more available and it easier to search for images, it has now been integrated into vanwaardenphoto.com.

When you enter vanwaardenphoto.com you will be given the option of ‘Images’, this will take you to my Photoshelter webpage.

Over the next few weeks I will be updating this webpage and making many more images available.

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In Bonn – Inter-Intersessional

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In Bonn – again….

United Nations Inter-Intersessional Climate talks.

The latest feedback from some friends that have been here all week….

The draft text for Copenhagen is too long so the negotiators are arguing about how to cut it down. We can’t confuse this with cutting it down, that would be moving too quickly, first they need to argue about how to cut it down.

Till next time, from Bonn with Love.

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Oman for National Geographic Traveler – Photography Assignment

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I am back from my assignment for the Netherlands version of National Geographic Traveler.

I must admit, the climate in the Netherlands is much more conducive to clear thinking. From the moment we stepped onto the tarmac in Oman, it was about heat and humidity. Please note, I have become accustomed to stepping out of airplanes and being greeted with a different climate, but stepping out of the plane in Muscat was like walking in to a brick wall of fire and water. It was +45 and humid. To survive in the Capital, Omanis travel between air conditioned atmospheres as quickly as possible. When one taxi driver was asked what they did before air conditioning and he simply responded, ‘It was bad’.

The interesting thing about Oman was the layer of modern paint applied over a multi-thousand year history. It has been modernized in 30 years and once you break through that layer of paint, it shows. However, I think that I will let Thijs Joosten, the writer and editor of NG Traveler tell us more when his article is published.

On another note, I have never been to such a harsh climate for photography gear. Even the Arctic was nicer. Oman has some serious heat and some serious humidity. Stepping outside during the day with your cameras, is like stepping into a swimming pool atmosphere, the lenses fog right up. And Oman has sand so fine a simple gust of wind blows it everywhere.

A tip for future travelers, don’t wear ‘flip flops’ in the desert, the sand that gets kicked up when you ‘flop’ is at a perfect angle to cover your camera on your shoulder.

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National Geographic Photography Competition – Judging

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A few weeks ago I received an email from the web editor at National Geographic here in the Netherlands informing me that every month they run a competition for amateur and semi-professional photographers.

Initially I was a little confused, I was set to head to Oman for the magazine and was wondering why I was being informed about this competition. However, when I read the second paragraph and realised they were asking me to judge the entries. I enthusiastically agreed. Judging that month’s images, (they narrowed it down to 12) and choosing the 3 that I felt were the strongest was quite interesting.

It was a unique experience to look at another person’s images critically, judging them against each other for composition, mood, emotion and technicality. There were some great images in the 12 that were sent to me and it was a tough decision to make. But, you can see the results of my choices here, take a look.

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