Photo of Old-Growth Clearcut on Vancouver Island Takes Top Prize

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A raw and striking image of an old-growth tree stump in a clearcut near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island, BC, recently claimed 1^st place in Outdoor Photography Canada magazine’s “Human Impact” photo contest in its latest fall/winter edition. The photo, taken by Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) photographer TJ Watt in the Gordon River Valley last March, shows a stark, foggy clearcut with a man solemnly poised on a giant stump surrounded by logging slash and a fringe of the former forest in the background. See the winning photo here: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/pic.php?pID=12  

 

“As a photographer working for a cause you’re always looking for that elusive shot that truly captures both the emotional and the factual aspects of the issue in one image. It’s difficult to get both together but this picture is quickly proving to have done just that. Of the hundreds of thousands of photos I have taken, as sad as it is, this is the one I am most proud of,” notes Watt.

 

Photography is a powerful and essential tool for raising environmental awareness and Watt feels its key benefit lies in its ability to bring remote or unseen places to the public’s eye.

 

“My images focus mainly on the threats to BC’s endangered old-growth forests and often times I am taking photos where less than and a handful of people have stood, if any at all. The rugged rainforests of Vancouver Island go largely unexplored and the clearcuts are very treacherous so it’s really important to be able to share the images from these places that few people see,” says Watt. “If you can’t bring the 4 million people in BC to the woods then you need to bring the woods to them. And now with the power of GPS mapping and Google Earth you can extend that concept to include the entire world.”

 

Watt and a hiking partner snapped the winning shot after they finished leading a public hike through the nearby endangered Avatar Grove (see Watt’s photo gallery here: https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/photos-media/) – a stand of easily accessible, monumental old-growth forest flagged and surveyed for logging that has caught the attention of thousands of British Columbians, elected officials, and media over the past year.

 

See other photos by TJ Watt of Canada’s largest trees and stumps at:   https://staging.ancientforestalliance.org/photos-media/

 

The Ancient Forest Alliance is calling on the BC Liberal government to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests, ensure the sustainable logging of second-growth forests, and to ban raw log exports to foreign mills.

 

 

You can visit Outdoor Photography Canada magazine’s website here: https://www.outdoorphotographycanada.com/