Conservationist

Hello All,

Our discussion on photography in class tonight introduced me to a new photographer/conservationist: Carlton Ward, (I attached his website incase you are interested).  Carlton is a modern photographer, conservationist, and farmer.  His work focuses on preserving the natural world and attracting people to the ideas of conserving our surroundings.

The photograph was taken in a National Park in Flordia by Carlton Ward. I agree with what Carlton is doing with his work and wish more photographers took after his ambitious heart.  Carlton has created The Nature Conservancy and is work is based on the conservation of the wetlands, everglades,  and water resources not only in Florida, but in 30 countries and all 50 states.  Carlton has exceeded his limitations and societies limitations by adding more acres to The Nature Conservancy and jointly working with The Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation.

The photograph above speaks in volumes to me. I have never been to the everglades, or deep into Florida, but from the image, I must go.  The wetlands house thousands of rare species of plants and animals that I have only seen in books or on TV.  The idea of documenting these places for conservation and attraction to these places is a brilliant idea and needs more documentation.  As Americans, we want to be able to show our children and our grandchildren these images of how things use to be. Yet, if we continue at this rate of destruction and pollution, these images may be the only thing left we have to show future generations.  The idea of documenting these places just to show future generations of how things used to be is a great example of why we need conservationists like Ward to help spike the awareness of the decline in attention to these areas.  In America, and other countries we are doing a lot towards the conservation of our planet and our environment.  Yet, I believe it is important for people to be focused on the parts of the world that need to be conserved and saved from pollution and other environmental matters.  Conservationists and photographers like Ward are doing all of the right things to help with this movement and it makes me very proud and excited to be studying photography and to know I could somehow help one day.  The image above is a place I want to visit one day, to be in nature, wilderness, and be surrounded by rare species of animals and plants.  I would love to see endangered animals and plants that might not be here 20 years from now.  It is sad to me that these are the measures we have to take to get the attention from the media and the people, but it is needed.  The attention is needed indefinitely due to the downward spiral of the environment.  I am thankful for Ward and his attributions to the National Parks and wilderness. I am thankful that America still has areas that are preserved and are not exposed to the public. Hopefully more people will pay attention to areas needing conservation and do something about it, like Carlton Ward.