1.0 Introduction
From a constructivist perspective, communication is the most critical social process through which humans rationalize their experience and construct social reality (Amineh and Asl 2016). According to some scholars, visual language has historically been the structural underpinning for cultural construction in many societies (Benoit 2016). Within this conceptual framework, this dissertation seeks to elucidate the role of photography in the environmental movement taking Adams photography as a case study. Specifically, the researcher aims to determine how photography helped to revolutionize the historical concept of environmentalism. The paper probes into Adams photography bidding to illuminate its psychological, social, and cultural impact on conservation communication and campaigns of the environmental movement.
Perhaps the viral aspect and potential of photography to convey essential messages about social issues motivated Adams to use the art to accentuate the positive of land conservation. Indeed, images can act as a catalyst for social change. This paper maintains that the rhetorical functioning of photography can be explained through an intensive probe into its various aspects of representation that increase its communicative power. The dissertation also asserts that there is a need to understand the impact of the interaction between cultural expectation and visual representation on land conservation.
1.1 Significance of the Study
The value of environmental conservation has increasingly gained prominence in recent years. Whether environmentalists can use photography to encourage collective actions is hitherto contentious. While it may be difficult to determine its effectiveness in environmental conservation campaigns, its continued use over the years is an indication that it has some advantages. Its ease of access and viral nature can help individuals or organizations to encourage the public to support their conservation efforts. Thus, this dissertation will provide a better understanding of the intricate relationship between land conservation and landscape photography and the role of photographers in land conservation campaigns, particularly in situations where resources such as finances and time are limited.
With the advent of new technology, photography could offer an important avenue of communication of conservation messages. However, the literature on its use as a tool for social change is limited. Therefore, by illuminating Adams photography and its role in the environmental movement, this study will provide an in-depth understanding of how an image can be used to convey messages to people and change their perception of essential issues in their societies. Besides, by illustrating the role of Adams photography in land conservation, this study will encourage people to embrace the present-day social activism and typify it as an inspirational blueprint of how they can use the art to raise environmental concerns. The study findings will also provide a pathway for the most effective approaches to the success of a social movement, accounting for the influence of other factors such as public support and political issues. Lastly, it will inform the extent to which the desire for change can revolutionize many aspects of the social, economic, and social world.
1.2 The Scope and Limitations
Although this dissertation is strictly limited to Adams photography and premised on semiotics as the primary methodological framework, the works of other landscape photographers will be highlighted to provide a broader discursive context to the discourse. A critical and intensive analysis of the role of other photographers in the environmental movement is beyond the scope of this research. Besides, this study does not aim to evaluate the different types of photography and their efficacy in conservation campaigns. Instead, it seeks to determine the general effects of images in the agitation for environmental reforms.
1.3 Hypothesis
The study hypothesizes that the psychological, social, and cultural aspects of Adams photography were the main determinants of the success of the environmental movement. It also hypothesizes that Adams photography bolstered the conservation communications and campaigns of the movement.
1.4 Definition of Key Terms
Environmentalism is a concept aimed at protecting and improving the natural environment through a reassessment of human's interactions with nature (Elliott 2018).
Conservation refers to the wise use of limited resources (National Geographic 2018).
Conservationism is the fight against depletion of natural resources with a principal motive of promoting health and wealth of the populace (Spash 2013, p. 359). From a social-ecological perspective, Saps (2013) defines it as efforts to centralize ethical conduct and enhance the distribution of the social, economic, and ecological resources (Saps 2013).
Environmentalist can be described as someone whose agenda to protect and improve the environment is premised on a myriad of overarching beliefs (Elder n.d.). According to Elliot (2018), an environmentalist is a supporter of a movement that aims to protect the natural environment from harmful human activities.
A conservationist is someone who advocates for balanced protection of the environment and its ecosystems (National Geographic 2018). DOI (2017) describes a conservationist as someone who aims to preserve the earth's resources for future generations. They do not have strict noninterventionist inclinations toward nature. Instead, they believe that while people should use the earth's resources, extracting too much can be detrimental to the environment (DOI 2017).
Photography is the art of generating images using radiant energy such as light (Upton, and Burton 2019).
Environmental Advocacy refers to the act of supporting a particular cause of action to protect the environment from potential threats (Parsons 2016).
Environmental Movement is a network of interactions or engagements between individuals or social groups motivated by a common identity to take a collective action about environmental issues (Giugni, and Grasso 2015).
1.5 Dissertation Structure
The first section is the introduction, which presents the background information, problem statement, purpose, objectives, hypothesis, and significance of the study. It also provides the research scope, limitations, and definitions of key terms. The second section examines the existing theoretical and empirical literature related to the role of photography in the environmental movement. This section seeks to conceptualize photography as a tool to give impetus to a social organization. The third section is the main body of text. It represents the findings regarding the research questions and hypotheses. The last section summarises the research findings, draws a conclusion, and makes recommendations for further research.
2.0 Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
Photography is a powerful instrument for sustainability of biodiversity because it can be employed to communicate social and environmental issues regarding nature (Farnsworth 2011). Such environmental communications create a better public understanding, consciousness, and encourage people to act and find a panacea for societal issues. Photography offers new approaches to communicate environmental literacy and provide a pathway to its protection and conservation (Farnsworth 2011). The messages conveyed through the art are exceptionally influential. Their visual stimuli elicit a unique effect on the audience's mind.
A theoretical review of mental imagery suggests that visual media is a vital component of human biology (Thomas 2014). It has a more significant effect than other forms of communication such as words and sounds. In his study in the 1890s, William James found that images were an integral part of human psychology (Thomas 2014). In an excerpt of Mitchell Stephen's book, the author argues that some understandings are easily put across through images because they are more concise and compelling as compared to words (Schill 2012). This concept can be important when attempting to understand the role of photography on the environmental movement.
Today, the world is constantly bombarded with visual images through online social websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These images are portrayed and decoded differently by the online community. In most cases, their interpretation and perception of environmental issues vary from one individual to another due to the media's biasness and stereotypical attitude towards such stories. According to Seeling (2015), having an insight into the impact of visual images on the audience can help photographers to employ appropriate and effective strategies to convey conservation messages. Unfortunately, environmental stories and images rarely make front headlines because, in most cases, they are not considered essential to the audience. Seeling (2015) attributes the slow development to the belief that environmental concerns do not fit into important part of their agendas and goals. Only environmental disasters such as forest fires are accorded an extended coverage by the mainstream media (Seeling 2015).
Notwithstanding this fault of traditional and modern media, some photographers have taken the responsibilities of investigating and communicating environmental issues. The protracted period of disenchantment with the traditional approach to reporting them has forced modern photographers to seek new avenues of raising awareness to the public. Today, conservationists are capitalizing on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to convey conservation messages. Minin, Tenkanen, and Toivonen (2015) posit that social media information encapsulates pattern values, attitude, beliefs, and cultural attributes, which can be critical to conservation communications of environmental movements.
2.2 Photography and Environmental Movements
The nexus between photography and social movements is hitherto contentious. Some scholars have argued that it changes society, while others have claimed that photography is a dictate of society (Di, Tenkanen, and Toivonen 2015). Nonetheless, there exists a discernible pattern regarding the interplay between visual art and environmental movement of the 1960s (Anguish 2015). Although various historical and societal factors contributed to the growth of environmentalism in the sixties and seventies, landscape photography was at the core of the size and hitherto legacy of the environmental movement of the United States (Giugni, and Grasso 2015). It gave an impetus to the movement by increasing environmental consciousness within the public arena.
Photography has been considered an essential tool for shaping societal views, beliefs, and attitudes (Davis 2015). Since the 1860s during the times of Abraham Lincoln, it was used to drive natural environment policies. For instance, Watkin used his landscape photographs to influence Congress' decision about policies for the preservation of Yosemite National Parks (Green 2018). Through his series of photographs, he successfully convinced Lincoln that the natural land of Yosemite Valley was worth protecting and conserving (Hickman 2012). Besides, the ethereal beauty of Watkins' images of nature provided inspiration for other conservation photographers such as Ansel Adams to pursue similar environmental goals (Spaulding 2016).
The most significant and distinct effects of landscape photography were felt in the 1960s when powerful images such as "Earthrise" were published to raise public awareness of environmental issues (Lazier 2011). Although the impact of this image cannot be quantified, it has been regarded as one of the most influential images in US history (Sample 2018). Its philosophical significance was gradual but ultimately gave it an iconic status as people became increasingly conscious of the earth's fragility. According to Sample (2018), Earthrise boosted the efforts of the environmental movement because it carried an emotional sense congruent with the ideology of environmentalism. In hindsight, the movement used the image to reiterate its social and political inclinations towards land conservation. The strategy consequently evoked a significant emotional response from the public. Figure 1 shows the image of Earth as captured from space by Apollo 8.
Figure 1: The Earthrise (Source: Sample 2018)
The use of photography in the agitation for land conservation and protection was not only limited to the US. It was ubiquitous in Europe and many other continents across the globe. In Australia, for instance, conservationist Peter Dombrovskis used his photographs to initiate a movement to stop the establishment of the Franklin Dam project (McGaurr, and Lester 2017). By capturing and presenting Tasmania's wild scenery, his images were a part of the national consciousness of environmental conservation. One of his most popular and influential wilderness photographs was "Giant Kelp, Hasselborough Bay, Macquaire Island, Tasmania, 1984" (NLA n.d.).
Figure 2: Peter Dombrovskis' Giant Kelp, Tasmania (Source: NLA n.d.)
In a series of photographs, Dombrovskis was able to illustrate the relationships between human and nature. In most cases, his pictures were elemental and spiritual. For instance, the main components of Giant kelp, Hasselborough Bay played a pivotal role in promoting conservation campaigns in Australia. By capturing the pure waters, moss, mist, and unstained air, Dombrovskis allowed the public to see the untainted beauty of the natural environment. According to McFadyen (2017), some opponents believed that the environmental significance of the Franklin River and its expansive riparian habitat was overstated. The area was leech-ridden and unattractive to people. However, through his photographs, Dombrovskis became a truth-teller. When his poetic pictorial took a political dimension, it came to prominence as a useful tool for raising environmental concerns (McFadyen 2017).
In China, Xi Zhinong used images to instigate a collective action to lobby the government to prohibit logging in vulnerable regions such as the Baimang Nature Reserve (Zheng, Zhang, and Wu 2018). Zhinong spent three decades capturing rivers, mountains, animals, and other sceneries in China. Due to his passion for animals, he was mostly focused on recording the plight of the endangered species such as Rhinopithecus Bieti, a monkey species commonly found in Yunnan Province in China (China.org,cn n.d.). Through his photographs, Zhinong successfully instigated a national campaign that helped to save hundreds of Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys (China.org,cn n.d). Figure 3 is Zhinong's photograph of a Yunnan snub-nosed monkey. The photographic print captures a high level of detail. Its combination of vivid and pure colours is stunning and thus has the potential to evoke an emotional response in the viewer.
Figure 3: Yunnab snub-nosed monkey (Source: Orson 2015)
In 1996, Michael Nichols used visual art to agitate for the protection of endangered ecosystems (Keefe 2017). During his two-year expedition in Congo, Nicholas documented his experiences in photographs seeking to create awareness about the dire need to conserve and protect the world's vulnerable species (Keefe 2017). At the heart of his work, his mission was to preserve the natural beauty of the wilderness. Using poignant images to tell stories of wild animals, Nicholas was able to bring the audience directly into their natural habitats and observe their routine activities.
Figure 4: Bangha, an orphaned gorilla (Source: Keefe 2017)
From the preceding discussion, it can be argued that conservation photographers convey their conservation messages by presenting their subjects aesthetically and technically to elicit emotions and concerns in the audience. Despite the extensive application of photography, studies about its roles in the environmental movement are limited. This study, therefore, attempts to bridge this research gap by taking Adams photography as a case study.
3.0 The Environmental Movement
3.1 Introduction
In order to explain the psychological, social, and cultural aspects of Adams Photography and their implications in communication and conservation campaigns of the environmental movement, this chapter presents its brief history and the cultural currents that had a significant impact on the mythology of the US, and the American West in particular.
3.2 History
After the American Civil war, the federal policies were implemented to provide a framework to survey, map, and have the American West occupied (DiBacco 2017). During that time, the country was struggling with massive debt. In 1787, through the Land Ordinance, the central government sought to transfer huge chunks of land within poorly known territories to settlers (DiBacco 2017). The strategy would establish a settlement pattern towards the west and help to strengthen the national economy. In a bid to achieve these objectives, settlers who purchased the land were allowed to build homesteads to signify private ownership. Consequently, the privatization of the land in the West created a boundary between the settlers and the aboriginal communities. The spatial distance resulted in a rift between the two groups, and consequently, the natives started agitating for freedom. Through media influence, the struggle eventually culminated in the environmental movement (Anguish 2015).
The environmental movement started in the 1960s and was one of the most crucial social developments in US history (Gordon 2012). According to Gordon (2012), contemporary environmentalism was born by the landscape consciousness that emerged in the 1970s. The influence of the movement has mostly been attributed to mass media such as photography, as it exposed people to ideas and news about the environment (Anguish 2015). The manner in which media disseminated its information had a significant impact on the society because its practical mode of communication presented a variety of formats that were easily understood by the audience, which influenced their participation in the environmental movement. The momentum of the movement has also been attributed to the influence of historical photographers such as Ansel Adams, Carleton Watkins, and Timothy O'Sullivan, who utilized their images to raise awareness about environmental issues and call for land conservation (Dennis 2015).
4.0 Description, Analysis, and Interpretation of Adams Photography
4.1 Aspects of Adams Photography and their implications
Although Adams' iconic photographs were obvious connotations of abstraction and were expressive of beauty, they had profound psychological, social, and cultural implications. According to some scholars, they conveyed a rhetoric of rebirth coupled with culturally, psychologically, and social goals (Scott 2014, p. 88). Thus, they can be considered reactions to exploitation, capitalism, and environmental pollution. In most of his works, Adams portrayed nature as unthreatening scenery to humanity.
While theorists had ignored his work for years, contemporary photographers have acknowledged his iconic status, describing his images as a visually and contextually relevant to the society from both historical and personal perspectives. When photography was becoming a tool for criticizing authorities in the mid-century, Adams' works were considered unfriendly to the widespread environmental concerns of the American West (Szarkowski 2018). Thus, the importance of his work was not immediately appreciated because many critics thought that it did not relate to the economic crises and political upheaval that prevailed in the country. Unlike Adams, the majority of the photographers focused on capturing important issues such as the plight of immigrants and engineering projects (Szarkowski 2018).
Dissecting Adam's photography reveals a deeper meaning that transcends the limits of a mere facade of grandeur. For instance, one of his most famous photographs popularly known as Mount Williamson –Clearing the Storm was explicitly contextual. The image was captured in 1945 and depicts Adams' technical prowess in visual art (Szarkowski 2018). It also communicates a range of tones. Mount Williamson has dynamic contrast levels, characterised by a balanced combination of highlights and shadows. An intensive analysis of this image shows that the camera was placed at a low angle to capture a vast landscape. The light flickers in the background to resemble the works of Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera. The technique used to take this image portrays the recurring motifs in his work.
Figure 5:
Mount Williamson - Clearing Storm (Encyclopædia Britannica n.d.)
Mount Williamson can also be described from a socio-political context that prevailed in some US regions during the Second World War. At that time, Japanese-Americans were frequently arrested and locked up in prison camps. In hindsight, many people lived in fear of unjust treatment by the colonialists. Adams probably used the photograph to convey patriotic messages to his audience. The image contents appear to have been metaphorical. The vast landscape can be interpreted as a struggle for justice and freedom from unjust treatment, and the rocks can be regarded as American patriots, while the streak of light can metaphorically be described as the freedom. Regardless of the dimension of interpretation, Mount Williamson clearly illustrates a diverse range of perception of landscape.
The psychological, social, and cultural aspects of this photography relate to the historical context of the American West. As an employee for the Department of the Interior (DOI), Adams documented his daily life in photographs. Mount Williamson was one of the most famous photographs in his sets (Fisher 2012). From a narrow perspective, this image can be considered a typical masterpiece. Indeed, it displays his technical expertise in "Zone System," the technique he used to determine optimal film exposure (Fisher 2012). From another dimension, this it is thematically linked to a particular subject matter – the agitation for landscape conservation in the American West.
In order to understand Adams' underlying motives in photography, it would be important to highlight their affective contiguity with conservationism principles. In most cases, his work revolved around the preservation and protection of beautiful landscapes such as sanctuaries, national parks, plants, animals, and wild biodiversity, which were highly predisposed to extinction due to their protracted period of exposure to adverse human activities on the environment. Adams' photograph, Moonrise, Hernandez, appears to have been congruent with conservationism principles. Unlike typical landscape photographs, this image evokes a far-reaching sense of sublime. Its elements are in black and white, which ordinarily may not be appealing to viewers. However, Moonrise tends to be exceptional. Its elements are artistically combined to create spectacular scenery. Figure 2 is Adams' Moonrise, Hernandez.
Figure 6: Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico (Gleadell 2018)
Moonrise is another famous photograph ever captured by Adams. It has three central elements. The first is Hernandez town in the foreground, the second is an illuminated cloud hovering over the background, and the third central element is a glowing moon that appears to flicker in a dark sky high above the ground. The overall texture of the three elements evokes a sensation of the sublime that tends to draw the audience closer to nature. Black and white colours notwithstanding, the texture does not obscure the contents. The mountain range, the grass, and the shrubs appear as they would if the image was in colour. The balance of black and white colours also puts the town in its place. It blends into the scenery, which would not have been possible if the photograph was coloured. The balanced contrast suggests that a skilful photographer captured this image. The remarkable scene creates a strong sense of nature to the viewer.
A critical analysis of Moonrise and its contents betrays Adams' dominant motifs. While each of its three elements is appealing, a holistic assessment provides an insight into the message the photographer aimed to convey to the populace. For instance, its contrast level has a significant impact on a viewer's perception of nature. According to Giblett and Tolonen (2012), Adam's inscription of a sense of the sublime in his work was a strategy to counter the ideology of industrial capitalism that was increasingly paving the way for privatisation, which would lead to environmental degradation. Thus, the Moonrise was tailored to emphasize that the burgeoning ethos of industrial capitalism were not congruent with the environmental conservation principles that prevailed among old generations. Some critics have argued that the efficacy of such kind of photographic documentation of environmental issues is underpinned on the extent to which its aesthetics and social value can elicit an emotional sensation of beauty rather than its ability to inform the target audience about the impact of industrial activities on the environment (Giblett and Tolonen 2012, p.92). However, the approach may sometimes obscure the reality of the environmental issue that the photograph aims to communicate (Giblett and Tolonen 2012).
In most cases, Adams' essentially used the ethical approach to photography to protect and conserve the environment as a part of the country's national park. For instance, his photograph, Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, carries a range of pictorialism functions that are most expressive of his opposition to privatisation of the ecological system. Unlike other photographs such as Mount Williamson and Moonrise, Adams' Monolith does not explicitly protest against capitalism. Instead, it appears to call for the conservation of national parks and biodiversity in general. Monolith is a black and white brooding image of Yosemite National Park. It has high contrast and a sharp focus from both the background and the foreground.
From a different standpoint, this photograph is not a representative of the natural landscape. Instead, it seems to render the photographer's deep emotions and instincts. His words corroborated this assertion when he said, "The great rocks of Yosemite, expressing qualities of timeless, yet intimate grandeur, are the most compelling formations of their kind. We should not casually pass them by for they are the very heart of the earth speaking to us" (National Parks Conservation Association, 2010, p. 56).
Monolith was taken from a vantage viewpoint, commonly known as the Diving Board, located about 4,000 feet above the valley floor (BBC 2018). When the photographer reached the point, he realized that he did not have enough glass plate negatives to capture it from several different angles. However, using his artistic photographic skills, he effectively pre-visualized how this photographs wood look before pressing the shutter button. By combining dark and red filters to darken the sky and using gleaming granite to emphasize the white snow, he managed to present a conscious visualization of the Half Dome (BBC 2018).
It has been argued that Adams' visualization of the Half Dome was more of his inner imagination rather than what his eyes could see (BBC 2018). He strongly believed that by capturing and sharing the beauty of the scenery with the world he could succeed in calling for its protection. Its sharp cliffs do not appear threatening and do not tend to dissuade the public from interfering with nature. Rather, they possibly illustrate the differences that have marred the activities of the Green Movement for a long time. Monolith specifically tends to explicate the sharp contrast between environmental ideologies of conservationism, which is largely inclined towards the preservation of nature in its natural form, and syndicalist movement, which calls for direct physical interventions. The protracted ethical dispute between the two protagonists dates back to the 20th Century when conservationists became sceptical of the effectiveness of the conventional approach to environmental preservation (National Park Service 2015). According to conservationists, a fundamental shift from the classic conservation method to the incorporation of ethical relations between man and nature was the panacea for the environmental crisis (National Park Service 2015). Thus, the aesthetic value of Adams' Monolith can be interpreted from this ethical dimension of environmental conservation.
Unlike some of his counterparts such as Richard Misrach whose grotesque sceneries of human activities were indicative of activism, Adams did not directly highlight environmental issues in his works (Hebel and Wagner 2011). For instance, in his Crater and Destroyed Convoy, Misrach takes an activist's approach to protest about the hazardous effects of human activities on the environment. The close-up image captures the ground of a red toxic bomb crater, betraying the photographer's confrontational tone. While Misrach's strategy offers visual evidence that tends to implicate the government in the issue, Adams' paradigm communicates the need for ethical relations between humans and nature. The divergent approach is explicit in Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, where Adams incites a collective social action against environmental degradation using an appropriately sublime image. Figure 3 and Figure 4 are Adams' Monolith and Misrach's Crater and Destroyed Convoy, respectively.
Through his landscape photographs, Adams also aimed to conserve the environment by encouraging viewers to appreciate and preserve nature it in its natural form. He believed that humans had too little or nothing to add to the beauty of the natural environment. This assertion is exemplified by his image, the Spanish Peaks, Colorado, where Adams explicitly omits any form of human presence, suggesting that humans cannot contribute in any way to the aesthetic value of natural sceneries. In this photograph, he struck a balance between five main components, namely trees, sky, clouds, plains, and a mountain. The foreground has smooth darkness and comprises of trees and a deep sky. In the background, a curved grey mountain peak seamlessly projects in
