© Dr Thomas Smith
Today is Earth Day, an annual international day to raise awareness and show support for environmental protection. This year’s theme focuses on protecting species and raising awareness of the far-reaching impacts human activity has on the natural world, including climate change, deforestation, habitat loss and unsustainable agriculture, amongst others.
To mark Earth Day this year, the Society, in partnership with Forestry England, are calling on aspiring and professional photographers alike to submit their images of what a changing forest means to them. ‘Changing Forests’ is the brand new category in Earth Photo, the innovative competition and exhibition which enables a better understanding of the world around us through the complementary disciplines of the environment and geography. The aim of the new category is to reveal the stories the world’s forests have to tell today, while teasing out the image’s back story.
Dr Thomas Smith, Assistant Professor in Environmental Geography from London School of Economics, said: "Capturing Earth's changing forests through photography is both important and challenging. Timing can be crucial; change can occur in the blink of an eye; with the violence of the chainsaw, or the catastrophic use of fire to clear land for agriculture. Slower changes to our forests are often difficult for us to perceive and challenging to convey in a snapshot. Chronic forest dieback due to drought, disease and invasive species, as well as afforestation efforts for climate change mitigation, requires an innovative photographic imagination to capture and communicate these processes effectively."
Alongside Changing Forests, People, Place and Nature are also categories for the Earth Photo competition. The competition is open to national and international photographers of all levels, experience and ages, and entrants can submit up to 10 photographs or films for one or a mix of the categories. Shortlisted images will be displayed in our Pavilion between 6 July and 22 August. Three further exhibitions will take place at Forestry England sites later this year.
The deadline for entries is 5.00pm on 6 May. So what are you waiting for? Submit your entries now.