Arctic Canada at a Crossroads

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited: Pangnirtung, Nunavut

Canada | Friday, July 5, 2013 | 5 photos

I grew up on the ocean. For the first 14years of my life I lived on a sailboat built by my father. This experience has undoubtedly shaped my sense of spatiality and the ways in which I’ve come to represent space visually - particularly my attention to motion and impermanence (not represented in the photos submitted).
As a mountaineer, I’m highly experienced in glacier travel, have guided climbers in the Antarctic, and would be a valuable asset to have along when photographing on Greenland’s challenging glacial terrain. My undergraduate degree in geography gave me a solid grounding in glaciology and climatology, as well the human geography of the Arctic. This knowledge would benefit the accurate contextualization and communication of the complex issues of climate change for Greenland, while my familiarity with Inuit culture and language could help inform a more nuanced representation of contemporary Inuit life.
4years ago I effectively hung up my camera and gave up any hope of becoming a professional photographer because I simply couldn’t afford to continue. This opportunity could give me one last chance of re-kindling my dream of being a photojournalist and, given how rusty I'll have become, working with a mentor would be an ideal situation.