My Scholarship entry - The Leuser Ecosystem: 'People of the Forest'
Indonesia | Thursday, November 20, 2014 | 5 photos
I’ve spent the past 3 years based in Indonesia, working on - and passionately documenting – grass-roots conservation and forest restoration projects in Sumatra & Borneo.
Back in 2011 I joined a team from around the world collaborating with a documentary film crew, a rainforest ecologist and an indigenous community in the heart of Borneo. I've since spent 12 months living in the Leuser Ecosystem of North Sumatra - the last place on Earth where tiger, elephant, rhino and orangutan roam the same forests.
As an entirely self-taught photographer, I hope going on assignment with Jason will re-calibrate, upgrade and hone my technical and story-telling toolbox. I'm now focused on carving out a niche in Immersion-Based Conservation Photojournalism; so couldn’t be more ready to learn (and quite likely unlearn) - the art of connecting the world to these stories.
My own personal lens has shifted focus. I used to be a strict 'nature' photographer – now I feel inspired to explore the bio-cultural interplay of forest-dependent people, their landscape ecology and their collectivist world-view.
I can see my time with Jason will take everything to the next level and I'm so, sooo ready for that.
Peru – April - 2015
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