Conservation Photography: An Overview of the Seminar
What
The Conservation Photography course was offered through the Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) at Stanford, which enables Stanford undergraduates a variety of opportunities to study abroad.
Why
The course introduced students to conservation photography and the strategic use of visual communication in the environmental arena. We examined conservation photography from its historical roots through current deployment in today’s environmentally active climate. Using case studies of specific conservation issues, we studied how images, video, and audio can impact public perceptions and government actions. Students created their own original photographic work through photoessays that highlighted visual storytelling and the construction of personal image portfolios.
Who
Course instructors: Susan McConnell, Professor of Biology, Stanford University (to see Sue’s website, click here); Neil Ever Osborne, Director of Environmental Visual Communication at Fleming College, Canada (to see Neil’s website, click here); and Josh Feltham, Professor, Fleming College School of Environmental and Natural Resources, Canada.
Course assistants: John Schroeder, Ph.D. candidate in Biology, Stanford University, with able and informal assistance from Felipe Villegas, student in Environmental Visual Communication at Fleming College, Canada.
And twelve talented Stanford undergraduates: Simone Barley-Greenfield, Hannah Belitz, Sophie Charlton, Natalie Durant, Cecily Foote, Leah Francis, Catherine Hsieh, David Katosh, Julia Lee, Molly McKinney, Amanda Sani, and Laura Swenson.
Where
We started the course in Parismina, a fishing village south of Tortuguero National Park on Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast. We were well cared for by Jason and Juliana of the Green Gold Eco-Lodge, a family owned business situated next to the coastline and surrounded by 36 hectares of wet forest. We were serenaded each morning by howler monkeys and driven back to the lodge each evening by bloodthirsty mosquitos. Computers failed in the humidity, rain poured down each day, scorpions invaded the bathrooms and tarantulas took up residence in the showers – yet the group remained cheerful in the face of all challenges. In Parismina we had multiple snake encounters with herpetologist Josh Feltham; we released dozens of hawksbill and leatherback turtle hatchlings into the sea and watched green turtles dig nests and lay eggs at nighttime. We were proud to donate images to a local conservation project called ASTOP, which works hard to protect the sea turtles of Parismina.
Eleven days later, after saying farewell to Neil, Josh and Felipe, we moved inland by boat and bus to La Selva Biological Station, near Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí in the northeastern lowland wet forest. Here we went crazy with bird photography; many of the students developed what may become a life-long obsession with hummingbird photography. We took silent walks in La Selva’s magnificent forests, navigated roaming gangs of peccaries, and found boas and kinkajous and red-eyed tree frogs at night. Four nights wasn’t quite long enough at La Selva.
A long day’s drive delivered us from the lowlands up into the cloud forest of Monteverde in Costa Rica’s northwestern highlands. We had a blast zip-lining and Tarzan-swinging above and through the forest, our involuntary screams providing yet another source of contest material (Natalie’s being the most impressive, but with many others in hot pursuit). We visited Monteverde’s oldest butterfly garden and took long walks through towering trees and the elfin forest of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Animals were few, but the experience was near holy.
Finally, back in San José, students presented their final photoessays and individual portfolios, all of which are included on this site. It’s extraordinary to consider how a group of students who had never used digital SLR cameras prior to this course could produce such amazing work, all in the course of three weeks – and all in service of conservation, sustainability and biodiversity.
