Tag Archives: canada

Along the Pipeline featured on DeSmogBlog

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My upcoming project Along the Pipeline has just been featured on the popular Desmogblog. Check it out. 

I will be following the line of the proposed Energy East pipeline in Canada to take portraits and tell the stories of those along the route. TransCanada, the same company behind the Keystone XL pipeline, is proposing another pipeline but this time across Canada. If approved, Energy East would transport 1.1 million barrels of diluted bitumen a day from the oil sands of Alberta to St. John. It would cross hundreds of waterways and drinking water supplies and would be responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that would equal 7 million new cars on the road.

This photography project gives me a chance to contribute to a larger conversation in Canada about climate change, oil and the future of this land. I am currently in the throes of a crowd funder for this project so please visit and support. 

 

Along the Pipeline Crowdfunder Launched

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A few hours ago I launched my first crowdfunding campaign. Although crowd funding has been an innovative way for photographers and creatives to fund their projects for several years, I have been waiting for the right project. Finally, I believe I have a project that warrants reaching out and asking for the support of all of you in my community. I am looking for supporters that believe that culture and art have an important role to play in building a better world. If that sounds like you and you know already that you want to join me on this journey, then please visit the campaign at igg.me/at/climate to donate or continue reading below.

Image: Map
Courtesy of Environmental Defence

The Impact

The proposed Energy East pipeline would transport 1.1 million barrels of diluted bitumen a day from the oil sands of Alberta to St. John. It would cross hundreds of waterways and drinking water supplies and would be responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that would equal 7 million new cars on the road.

Along the Pipeline is a journey along the route to share the untold story of what the pipeline will really mean for Canadians and First Nations. How will they be impacted, what do they value, what does the future of Canada look like to them? When finished, the resulting exhibit will allow people to recognize themselves and their communities in the faces of others and realize that they are not alone in desiring a better future.

How You Can Help

I have partnered with a few NGOs in Canada and they are providing some seed funding but not enough. That is why I am launching this campaign to try and raise $10,000. I need funding for basic items like transportation, fuel, food, and critically an assistant. I want to hire an assistant to help with the social media, documentation, the logistics and of course the driving so I don’t fall asleep at the wheel.

If you want join me on this journey than please visit igg.me/at/climate to donate to this project. After donating please take one minute to share this project on Facebook, Twitter and forward this email to your friends and challenge them to match you.

I understand if you can’t donate. You can still help out by sharing this project on Facebook, Twitter or forwarding this email to people you think might be interested.

What You Get

Besides my eternal gratitude and that fuzzy feeling that comes with supporting a project, I have compiled some really exciting (I think) perks for your support. Visit igg.me/at/climate to find out more about prints or mystery postcards.

Thanks once again for reading and I hope to hear from you on the route.

(Robert van Waarden)

Near the route on the Ontario/Quebec border

A portrait, CBC and copyright

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Every photographer at some point deals with copyright infringement. It is an unpleasant reality of putting your images on the web. That said, it will never cease to surprise me as I scan through Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn to find one of my images staring back at me with no clue how it got there.

It happened today.  Scanning my social media I came across this image of Lionel Lepine, an amazing AFCN activist and friend, headlining an article on Neil Young’s upcoming benefit tour on the CBC News site. The CBC is a respected outlet in Canada and I was especially surprised to see that they had credited the image to one ‘Richard van Waarden’.

After allowing myself sufficient time to process the annoyance, it was a question of finding a solution. This time it was easy. I called another photographer credited in the article and got the email of the producer. I sent an email highlighting my concerns and my fee and within minutes, yes minutes, the producer was on the phone. They apologized, admitted they had screwed up, changed the credit immediately and asked for an invoice.

It is never pleasant to have to deal with copyright infringement, either from a photographer side or from a producer side. However in my experience if dealt with intelligently a solution can usually be found that is acceptable to both parties. See the updated article here. 

 

 

Screen Shot 2014-01-12 at 3.40.17 PM

Defend Our Climate – Oka

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Over 300 people gathered today to rally in support of action on climate change, social justice and environmental justice at Oka, Quebec in Canada. The rally was part of a national day of action organized by a group of organizations in Canada called Defend Our Climate. The purpose of the rallies was to draw attention to the worsening climate situation and the increased fossil fuel activity in Canada.

It was a beautiful day to be out photographing and capturing these moments.


Defend Our Climate – Images by Robert van Waarden

Through the Lens, a Retrospective

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15 Years ago the spark of photography was awakened in my eye by a small experimental program in Banff, Alberta. At the time, well-known photographer, Phil Borges, was presenting an exhibit at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies called Faces of Tibet. The Whyte Museum decided to run a small program with several High School students to compliment Borges’ exhibit and they called it Faces of the Bow Valley.

At the time I was already displaying an interest in photography and I was selected for this program. The 3 – 4 months of Black and White photography, darkroom work and ensuing exhibit stuck with me and I still credit that course with helping to get me on my way as a photographer today.

Image: Shizuka Shiono

The program was a great success. It continued the next year as Through the Lens and has been running with high school students from the Bow Valley and Morley for 15 years. This year, the Whyte Museum has put on a retrospective exhibit of the work and produced an amazing book.

I was invited along with 4 other photographers to present new work for the current exhibit. I selected images from my Force series on wind energy and they are on display at the Whyte now.

The opening in February in Banff, Alberta was packed and it seemed like the whole community showed up. There were over 600 people at the opening and I had to return a couple of days later just to see the exhibit.

Craig Richards and the team at the Whyte Museum have done a wonderful job. Not only have they helped build a photographic history of life in the Bow Valley, but more importantly, provided many young people with an opportunity to use photography as a creative outlet.

Congratulations and Thank-you!

Little Black Lies in Calgary – a Tar Sands Talk by Jeff Gailus

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I little black lieshave teamed up with Canadian author Jeff Gailus for his Tar Sands talk, Little Black Lies, tomorrow night in Calgary, Canada. During Jeff’s talk my photographs from the Tar Sands will be playing in the background.

If you are in Calgary tomorrow, join Jeff Gailus as he explores the intersection of two of the most salient features of the early twenty-first century: the explosion of tar sands development and the ubiquity of hogwash. The two, he posits, are companions of sorts, each engaged in a symbiotic dance that allows them both to thrive—to the detriment of our moral and social well being.

Jeff is the author of the Grizzly Manifesto and a Fellow of the International League of Conservation Writers. I am very happy to join forces with him as he exposes the ridiculous ‘ethical oil’ argument put forward by the government. Join him tomorrow at the Calgary Chapter of The Council of Canadians, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.  Doors open at 7, Unitarian Church – 1703 1st St. N.W.



Climate Oxide project acknowledged in Dutch Newspaper

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The project I am working on with Dutch/Nepali artist Shiva Rimal, Climate Oxide, was recently mentioned in Weesper Nieuws (a local dutch newspaper). This project is a focus on climate change and identity in Nepal, Canada and the Netherlands. Marieke van Veen wrote a beautiful story on Climate Oxide & Shiva Rimal in a page long interview. This interview is in Dutch, for those interested, click on the image below or click here to go to the pdf file to read the full story.

climate oxide in weesper nieuws

Up Up and Away – Nepal

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Tommorrow I leave for Nepal.

Nepali/Dutch artist Shiva Rimal and I are off to work on our collaborative art project Climate Oxide. It is a documentation of climate change impacts around the world using photography, steel and rust. We will visit various climate adaptation projects, trek in the Himalayas and take part in the Moving Planet action in Kathmandu on September 24.

About the Project

Robert van Waarden and Shiva Rimal create items of visual art using the mediums of photography, steel, and rust. Their current project, Climate Oxide, uses this art form to symbolize how climate change is impacting our world. Reflecting on their heritage, Nepali and Canadian born artists with Dutch nationality, they will personalize the climate issue to the viewer by visualizing the impacts on their individual environments.

The combination of this aesthetic art form and story is unique and is interesting for a wide audience. Publications and galleries/outlets are invited to contact the artists for more information and to explore opportunities to display the resulting body of work.

Stay tuned for more. I will return in the first week of October.

16 Feet at FLEX Mussels in New York

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Panorama of Prince Edward Island, CavendishPanoramic image of Cavendish, Prince Edward Island

I come from Prince Edward Island, a tiny island on the East Coast of Canada. I have been lucky to live all over Canada and now base myself in the Netherlands, but, I am still proud to call myself an Islander. Thus, I was very excited when the architect for a new New York restaurant called requesting to license two large Panorama prints from PEI. Christine Restaino from CR + DZ Architects had found my images online while searching for PEI Panoramas. We spent the next few weeks emailing back and forth, confirming images sizes, shipping proofs to New York and operating under a tight deadline for the restaurant opening.

Chrisine and her clients, Bobby and Alex Shapiro from FLEX Mussels, settled on two images that were created one cloudy and windy day near Cavendish. The above images of the Covehead lighthouse truly capture the spirit of Prince Edward Island, right down to the lobster trap on the beach. Now, these images are featured at the new Flex Mussels Restaurant (at 154 West 13th Street). The first (blue) is a HUGE 16 foot print done in a lightbox style (printed by Duggal). By all accounts, absolutely beautiful and you should check it out. (That is 5.33 meters for those of us in the 21st century.)

The restaurant opens this Wednesday, so, next time you are hungry in New York, stop by for some Island fare and enjoy the view.

Do you want to see this image and other panoramas from around the world, click.