BagNews is featuring an article by Jon Lowenstein South Side: Shots Fired, highlighting his recent reporting on everyday life amidst the violence on the streets in the Chicago South Side.  Lowenstein has recently had two projects with Blue Earth: Shadow Lives USA and The Perilous Path: Cross-Border Migrant Journeys in the New Global Economy, both of which report on cross-border communities of Mexico and Central America and their experiences migrating to the US.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Blue Earth is participating in The Seattle Foundation’s “GiveBIG” event on May 15. For 24 hours, and only on May 15, donations to Blue Earth made via our Seattle Foundation profile page will qualify for matching funds from the Seattle Foundation. Plan on supporting Blue Earth as part of our community’s biggest day of giving of the year!

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

As we’re gearing up for Collaborations for Cause in Portland next week, we just wanted to take a moment to thank all our partners and participating organizations for donating so much of their time and making the conference possible!

Spencer B. Beebe, Ecotrust

David Bellard, Rare

Bridget Besaw, Seedlight Pictures

Matt Black, mattblack.com

Gary Braasch, worldviewofglobalwarming.org

Kara Briggs, Pyramid Communications

Andrew DeVigal, Second Story

Benjamin Drummond & Sara Joy Steele, BDSJS

Ed Edmo, ededmo.tripod.com

Eugénie Frerichs, Wieden + Kennedy

Bev Gabe, LightHawk

Carolyn Holland, Ecotrust

Jason Houston, Take One Creative

Ed Kashi, Talking Eyes Media

Amy Kober, American Rivers

Dan Lamont, Tatoosh Media

Alyssa Macy, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation

Andy Maser, andymaser.com

Tim Matsui, timmatsui.com

Neil Ever Osborne, neileverosborne.com

Julia Plowman, Context Partners

Glenn Ruga, SocialDocumentary.net

Finn Ryan, The Ways

Dan Sadowsky, Mercy Corps

Robert Semeniuk, robertsemeniuk.com

Dan Shepherd, danshepherdimages.com

Russell Sparkman, FusionSpark Media

David Waingarten, Second Story

Tyler Whisnand, Media Arts Lab

Amy Yenkin, Open Society Documentary Photography Project

Collaborations for Cause is about fostering cooperative efforts, and the event itself is a prime example of what can be done when talented people from different fields come together for a common purpose!

C4C partner Ecotrust interviews Matt Black on his Blue Earth project The People of Clouds in their latest blog post this morning.  Black is just one of a number of Blue Earth project photographers who will be presenting his work at Collaborations for Cause later this month.  If you’d like to hear more about his work in the field first hand, it’s not too late to register for C4C!

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Ecotrust just published an interview with Finn Ryan on their blog in a post discussing some of his recent work, including Powwow Trail and Prayers for a Song.  Ryan, an accomplished video producer and educator, will be appearing this month at Collaborations for Cause in Portland April 26-27th.  If you’d like to hear fist-hand from talented creative storytellers like Ryan, register this week and take advantage of a $75 discount.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Wired Magazine’s Raw File is featuring a profile of Christoph Gielen’s Blue Earth project Incarcerated Populations: American Prison Perspectives.  The article includes a small gallery of recent photos as well as an interview by Peter Brook providing some interesting insight into Gielen’s personal perspective on his work.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Early-bird discount ends soon for Blue Earth’s Collaborations for Cause -  register by April 5th and save $75!

Collaborations for Cause, presented in partnership with Ecotrust in Portland, OR, April 26-27th, 2013, will bring together photographers, NGOs, activists, and communications professionals to discuss the collaborative future of storytelling. Award-winning visual storytellers and communications strategists will share groundbreaking examples and examine the new media landscape, practical considerations for effective collaborations, and the ethical complexity of cause-driven storytelling.

On Friday, our second annual conference includes in-depth presentations and panel discussions with Andrew DeVigal and David Waingarten (Second Story), Glenn Ruga (SocialDocumentary.net), Amy Yenkin (Open Society Foundations), Dan Sadowsky (Mercy Corps), Amy Kober (American Rivers), Dan Shepherd (Photographer), Jason Houston (Blue Earth, Take One Creative), Andy Maser (Filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer), Finn Ryan (Wisconsin Media Lab), Eugénie Frerichs (Wieden + Kennedy), David Bellard (Rare), and Bev Gabe (LightHawk) as well as others, and insightful case studies by Blue Earth project photographers Gary Braasch, Robert Semeniuk, and Matt Black.

An evening keynote by photojournalist Ed Kashi on the intersections of social media, visual reporting, and media partnerships will round out the first day.

Saturday will be dedicated to small group, constructive conversations diving deeper into these and other topics using a participatory Open Space, or “unconference,” model.

Don’t wait to register - seating will be limited at Collaborations for Cause to ensure all conference attendees have ample opportunities for participation and networking.

PS - As mentioned in a previous post on our blog, selected videos from the 2012 conference are now online.

We’ve been adding some great new speakers for Blue Earth’s Collaborations for Cause!  Register by April 5th and save $75!

Join us April 26-27th in Portland for a great event that brings together photographers, NGOs, activists and communications professionals to discuss the collaborative future of storytelling.

Presented by Blue Earth and Ecotrust, our second annual conference builds on Blue Earth’s mission to support photography that makes a difference through a combination of in-depth presentations and discussions, insightful case studies, and a full day of breakout sessions.

On Friday, award-winning visual storytellers and communications strategists will share groundbreaking examples and examine the new media landscape, practical considerations for effective collaborations, and the ethical complexity of cause-driven storytelling. A keynote by photojournalist Ed Kashi on the intersections of social media, visual reporting and media partnerships will round out the first day. Saturday will be dedicated to small group, constructive conversations diving deeper into these and other topics using a participatory Open Space, or “unconference,” model.

Don’t delay - seating at the conference will be limited to ensure attendees have ample opportunities for participation and networking.

PS - As mentioned in a previous post on our blog, selected videos from the 2012 conference are now online.

This past week, Blue Earth project photographer Michael Forster Rothbart After Chernobyl, After Fukushima noted the second anniversary of the earthquake in Japan by launching a new photo commentary series on his blog featuring a photo per day from his project.  The series should run through the end of the month and provides a unique insight into his experiences reporting on nuclear crises.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Photographer Judy Blankenship - Blue Earth project The Cañari of Southern Ecuador - just released her newest book Our House in the Clouds: Building a Second Life in the Andes of Ecuador.

While many baby boomers are downsizing to a simpler retirement lifestyle, photographer and writer Judy Blankenship and her husband Michael Jenkins took a more challenging leap in deciding to build a house on the side of a mountain in southern Ecuador. They now live half the year in Cañar, an indigenous community they came to know in the early nineties when Blankenship taught photography there. They are the only extranjeros (outsiders) in this homely, chilly town at 10,100 feet, where every afternoon a spectacular mass of clouds rolls up from the river valley below and envelopes the town. In this absorbing memoir, Blankenship tells the interwoven stories of building their house in the clouds and strengthening their ties to the community.

The gallery for her project at Blue Earth was recently updated with new photos from Ecuador, as well as updates on recent work.  We’re proud at Blue Earth to have sponsored so many great projects over the years, and I can easily point to Blankenship’s work in the Cañari communities as a great example of what Blue Earth is all about.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Registration for Blue Earth’s Collaborations for Cause is now open!  Join us April 26-27th in Portland for a great event that brings together photographers, NGOs, activists and communications professionals to discuss the collaborative future of storytelling.

Presented by Blue Earth and Ecotrust, our second annual conference builds on Blue Earth’s mission to support photography that makes a difference through a combination of in-depth presentations and discussions, insightful case studies, and a full day of breakout sessions.

On Friday, award-winning visual storytellers and communications strategists will share groundbreaking examples and examine the new media landscape, practical considerations for effective collaborations, and the ethical complexity of cause-driven storytelling. A keynote by photojournalist Ed Kashi rounds out the first day. Saturday will be dedicated to small group, constructive conversations diving deeper into these and other topics using a participatory Open Space, or “unconference,” model.

Don’t delay - register by April 5th and save $75! Seating at the conference will be limited to ensure attendees have ample opportunities for participation and networking.

A live Q&A with Christoph Gielen will be hosted tomorrow, Friday Feb. 28th, by Creative Time Reports.

Photographer Christoph Gielen, seen above in a helicopter flying over a maximum security prison in Arizona, joins us on Facebook this Friday (3/1) at 1pm for a Q&A to discuss his CTR dispatch “Supermax Prisons: Views from Above.”

Also joining the conversation will be architectural and cultural historian Michael Prokopow, President of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR) Raphael Sperry, and others to be announced.

As noted earlier, and article by Gielen on his Blue Earth project was just published in Creative Time Reports this month.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

The Society of Environmental Journalists has released a call for entries for their 2013 Annual Awards for Reporting on the Environment.

SEJ’s awards honor the best environmental journalism in seven categories, bringing recognition to the most important stories on the planet. Journalism broadcast or published in print or online is eligible. SEJ’s 2013 Awards will be presented on Wednesday, October 2, 2013, at SEJ’s 23rd Annual Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

The deadline to enter is April 1st, 2013 and environmental journalism published or aired March 1, 2012 - Feb. 28, 2013 is eligible.

The Kirkland Arts Center will be featuring prints from current and past Blue Earth project photographers as part of the upcoming exhibit Human+Nature from Saturday March 2nd through April 6th, 2013.

Attempting to make sense of the world around us is in our nature. We venture out into the deepest oceans and climb the tallest mountains to take notes, make maps and collect data. The marks we accumulate from these pursuits and discoveries are not without their own implications; we also leave marks of ourselves in nature’s landscapes. From the minuscule to the extreme, we leave behind everything from unobtrusive ski tracks to devastating oil spills. Human+Nature is an exploration of how artists have captured these themes in their work.

The exhibit includes work by Benj Drummond and Daniel Beltrá as well as several other great photographers.  The opening reception is Friday March 1st at 6 p.m.

King County, Washington artists take note - 4Culture’s next deadline for individual art project applications is coming up soon on March 6th.

4Culture provides critically needed funds to artists and art groups, of all disciplines who reside in King County to create and present their work. Eligible projects may be at any stage of development including planning, development and final production. Selected projects must offer public access to a project-related art experience.

In 2012, 4Culture received 418 applications from individual artists and groups for art projects. $548,500 was awarded to support 126 art projects. Typical award amounts range from $1,500 - $7,500. A portion of Lodging Tax revenues collected in King County provides all of the funding for this program.

If you are based in King County, WA, check out their guidelines for full details and application requirements.

Benjamin Drummond and Sara Joy Steele just launched four new films for Facing Climate Change. Oyster Farmers, Coastal Tribes, Potato Farmers, and Plateau Tribes all explore global climate change through people who live and work in the Pacific Northwest.

These stories came about after one of the project’s partners, the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington, released the Washington Climate Change Impacts Assessment. It’s an incredible resource with startling projections for how climate change will impact the Northwest’s future, but it’s also 400 pages and a lot of science to wade through. Benj and Sara’s goal is to put a face to projections like these and to bring new voices into the conversation.

The new films recently premiered at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, and over the next year Benj and Sara will be working to distribute the stories though their project partners and a series of community events - including a launch event in Seattle. In 2013 they will also add two more films. Stay tuned to their blog for details.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Creative Time Reports just published today a new article by Christoph Gielen.  In the article, Gielen discusses his Blue Earth project Incarcerated Populations: American Prison Perspectives and features several new photos.  This will be the first in a forthcoming series of articles from Gielen - keep an eye out for further updates!

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Samantha Box will have an “artist’s talk” at Strange Loop Gallery in New York on Monday, February 25th, 8 p.m.  Box will be discussing her Blue Earth project Invisible with Alexis Heller, founder/director of The Hear Me ROAR! Project and the Coalition for Queer Youth.  The gallery will feature an exhibition of Box’s latest photos from the project - if you will be in the area next week, be sure not to miss this unique opportunity!

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Samuel James’ latest work, from his Blue Earth project Niger Delta, is being featured in the New York Times blog Lens.  The Whitney Richardson article Money for the Taking in the Niger Delta Swamps includes an interview with James as well as a gallery of recent photos.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Photocrati Fund
Deadline: April 30, 2013

The Photocrati Fund offers a $5000 grant to a photographer to undertake an important humanitarian and environmental photography project. Our goal is to identify outstanding photographers and to provide the resources necessary to pursue projects that will have a tangible and positive effect on the world. The 2013 Photocrati Fund competition will be open from Tuesday January 15, 2013 - Tuesday April 30, 2013. Following that time, the applications will be judged by our panel of distinguished reviewers. The 2013 Photocrati Fund award will be announced in late June 2013. The grant winner will become a Photocrati Fellow for the calendar year from the announcement of his/her award until the announcement of the following year’s award.

Salon this week published Introducing Africa to the OMG crowd an article by Blue Earth project photographer Peter DiCampo.  DiCampo’s article discusses the use of Instagram in, and its effects on, his ongoing project Everyday Africa, a joint project with writer Austin Merrill.  It’s an interesting case study on the opportunities presented by new technology.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Samuel James’ new exhibit “Water of My Land: The Niger Delta’s Illicit Fuel Trade” runs February 12 - April 7, 2013 at The Half King gallery.  The exhibit will feature a selection of new photos from James’ Blue Earth project Niger Delta.

“Apart from the lush beauty of his images, what caught our attention with Sam’s story was his direct engagement with Nigerians eking out a toxic, undercover living-and the primeval forest itself,” says Half King curator Anna Van Lenten. “The jungle is as much a character as the oil and the people making it. Haunting everything is the worldwide, unrelenting thirst for fuel.”

The Half King Photography Series is dedicated to showing exceptional documentary photography. In tandem with its reading series, it fosters a dialog between photographers and writers that underscores the importance of their relationship. Co-­‐curating its photography series are James Price, photo editor at Newsweek, and Anna Van Lenten, writer and editor.

Samuel James, a photographer and educator from Cincinnati, Ohio, is based in New York City and Lagos. Since 2008, he has pursued extensive documentary work in Nigeria, as well as independent projects, and assignments for a variety of publications. He teaches nonfiction storytelling at Tufts. While still a student, in 2010, he was awarded the VII Photo/ Exposure Alexandra Boulat Award to carry out his ongoing project about the Area Boys of Lagos.

There will be an opening reception Tuesday, February 12, 7:30 p.m. with Samuel James and Stacey D. Clarkson, Art Director at Harper’s Magazine. If you will be in the New York area this spring, be sure not to miss the exhibit.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Several Blue Earth photographers and board members recently attended the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, California. The Festival, now in its 11th year, features environmental and adventure films. This year’s theme was A Climate of Change and more than 4,500 tickets were sold.

Garth Lenz spoke about the True Cost of Oil and shared images from his project, Energy and Ecology.

Matt Black presented photography from his project, The People of Clouds, which chronicles the unraveling of one of the world’s oldest farming cultures in the Mixteca region of Southern Mexico.

Benjamin Drummond and Sara Joy Steele premiered four new films from their project, Facing Climate Change. They also spoke on a panel titled On the Edge of Their Seats: Effective Storytelling in a Noisy World, with board member Jason Houston of Take One Creative. Jason and his partner Hal Clifford were at the festival for the west coast premiere of their new film, Picture the Leviathan.

Photo Credit: Wild & Scenic

Today, Jamey Stillings’ “The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar” is being featured in a new online gallery at the Forward Thinking Museum.  Stillings’ Blue Earth project Changing Perspectives on Renewable Energy Development expands upon some of this earlier work at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert highlighting the complex issues surrounding the development of alternative energy sources.  Take a few moments to view some of the amazing work from his project.

Update 1/29: Stilling’s work from Ivanpah Solar is also being covered by Fast Company and the Instituto Carbono Brasil.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

We are pleased to note that the Furlotti Family Foundation awarded a $50,000 grant to Eberhard Riedel’s Cameras Without Borders project at Blue Earth.  Over recent years, Riedel has spent many months in several African nations ravaged by conflict working in the field to photograph his project as well as to help efforts at recovery.  This grant is a recognition of the value of his work, and a great example of how partnerships between documentary photographers and foundations can yield concrete results.

As noted on the Blue Earth blog earlier, Eberhard Riedel: My African Journey, Riedel’s latest manuscript will be published this spring in the journal Psychological Perspectives, Volume 56-1.  Be sure to check out the article to learn about his most recent trip.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

NPR’s “The Picture Show” blog is featuring Jamey Stillings’ Blue Earth project Changing Perspectives on Renewable Energy Development.  The article by Clare O’Neill Under Construction: The World’s Largest Thermal Solar Plant includes an interview with Stillings and an interactive gallery with several recent photos from his latest work.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Today, Blue Earth photographer Roberto ‘Bear’ Guerra’s project La Carretera: Life Along Peru’s Interoceanic Highway is being featured in NPR’s ‘the picture show’ series.  The NPR article, 100 Words: On Peru’s Interoceanic Highway features a statement from Guerra about his work and a gallery of some of his latest photos.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Don’t miss the CENTER’s once annual Call for Entries for the Awards, Project Grants, and Review Santa Fe.  Enter to receive $10,000, an exhibition and admittance to the world-renowned portfolio review program where 1/3 of the participants receive scholarships.

Potential applicants should note that The CENTER will give out scholarships to 1/3 of the Review Santa Fe applicants, and they now have Project Grants including a works-in-progress grant

Deadline: January 23, 2013

Annie Marie Musselman’s Blue Earth project Finding Trust: The Sarvey Wildlife Project is being featured in Wired Magazine’s Raw File.  The interview explains the origins of Musselman’s work and her time volunteering at Sarvey while shooting the project.

Musselman recently launched a Kickstarter to publish a volume of her photos with German publisher Kehrer Verlag, known for its high quality books.  The Kickstarter is progressing quickly but has a few thousand to go.  If you’d like to support Musselman’s project, this is a great opportunity to pre-order a signed first edition!

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Our readers may remember that Blue Earth’s Gary Braasch recently published the first photos of Shell’s Kulluk oil rig off the coast of Alaska.  Now that very same oil rig has run aground:

Already there is a disturbing New Year’s surprise from Shell Oil.  Shell’s drill rig Kulluk, which Gary Braasch photographed in October off northern Alaska, broke free of tow ropes and ran aground on Kodiak Island in heavy seas while being towed to Seattle. We have info and links to the news.

Just three months ago on World View of Global Warming we showed how close Shell’s Kulluk drilling location was to Alaska’s protected Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The grounding of the rig on its way from that location via Dutch Harbor to Seattle for the winter shows the power of Arctic weather, and the threat of oil drilling to all of Alaska’s rich waters and wildlife along its coast.

Visit Gary’s World View of Global Warming for additional updates as well as new photos from his latest trips.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Thanks for supporting The Blue Earth Book! We only need $1,314 to reach our goal – but with just 32 hours left.

Blue Earth is launching our very first book series, The Blue Earth Book - and we’re doing it on Kickstarter so you can reserve your own copy of this limited edition book at a bargain price.

The Blue Earth Book will highlight a collection of Blue Earth’s most important projects, projects like Dina Kantor’s Treece, Samantha Box’s Invisible, and John Lowenstein’s Shadow Lives USA. Featured portfolios will be selected and edited by Whitney Johnson, Director of Photography at The New Yorker.

Your support of this book will not only send a volume of top-tier visual storytelling to your table, it will also ensure that Blue Earth’s photographers can continue to bring attention to critical environmental and social issues.

Help put us over the top!  Pre-order your copy today.

Recent work from Garth Lenz’s Energy and Ecology will be featured in the upcoming Jan/Feb issue of American Photo.  The issues is on its way to the newsstand, so keep an eye out.  Once the article is live online, we’ll update this post with the link.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

We’re getting closer - as of today we only need $6,286 to reach our goal to launch The Blue Earth Book series.

And starting today, Rebecca Horne’s popular Visual Science blog at Discover Magazine is featuring our Kickstarter for The Blue Earth Book and is highlighting some of our projects with a small gallery.

If you’d like to help us ensure the success of the book, please promote our Kickstarter http://kck.st/TmcMnm with your friends on Facebook or Twitter. Every dollar makes a difference…

And as a reminder, year-end is approaching, and the tax man cometh! Blue Earth Alliance is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, and all contributions to our Kickstarter are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Tax receipts will be provided at time of delivery.

Help put us over the top! Pre-order your copy today.

“Sacred and Profane” from Tom Reese’s “Choosing Hope: Reclaiming the Duwamish River” project at Blue Earth.

Blue Earth project photographer Tom Reese was kind enough to share with us a new collection of some of his latest work.  Reese has been winning awards for his project and is keeping very busy these days with recent exhibits.

The Duwamish River can be hard to love, but it flows powerfully through the hearts of those who know it well. The Duwamish is one of earth’s vital arteries conveying lifeblood from mountains to the sea, so it can be difficult to accept that its lower 5½ -mile stretch has been turned into one of the most toxic waste environments in the United States - an industrial sewage canal flowing out past the scenic waterfront of Seattle.

It would be easy to turn away feeling depressed and helpless, but a growing number of people are choosing to believe in the recovery of this river and are working relentlessly toward that future.  Their vision has motivated the first successes in reducing water pollution and restoring habitat, wildlife, and hope.

The larger question for the river is also the essential human question of our time: “What relationship do we choose to have with our home, the natural world?”

Take a few minutes to check out the new photos in his project gallery!

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Great news - we’re over halfway to our Kickstarter goal with two weeks to go! As of now, we only need $7,947 to reach our goal.

Blue Earth is launching our very first book series, The Blue Earth Book - and we’re doing it on Kickstarter so you can reserve your own copy of this limited edition book at a bargain price.

The Blue Earth Book will highlight a collection of Blue Earth’s most important projects, projects like Dina Kantor’s Treece, Samantha Box’s Invisible, and John Lowenstein’s Shadow Lives USA. Featured portfolios will be selected and edited by Whitney Johnson, Director of Photography at The New Yorker.

Your support of this book will not only send a volume of top-tier visual storytelling to your table, it will also ensure that Blue Earth’s photographers can continue to bring attention to critical environmental and social issues.

Help put us over the top!  Pre-order your copy today.

Fresh from the field, Blue Earth project photographer Gary Braasch just published an update on his recent travels:

We have just returned from a two month journey to India, Nepal and — for the first time — Bhutan. We explored climate change, energy, food and conservation issues affecting Himalayan and Indian villages, cities and rivers. Gary shot more than 25,000 24-mb images with the latest full frame digital cameras.

Please see our first report from this journey, about the source of the Ganges River, now updated with recent science and implications of rapidly thawing ice. Gary estimated the Gangotri glacier terminus is now at 30 degrees 55 minutes 34 seconds N, 79 degrees 4 minutes 48 seconds E. Recent scientific measurements pace its recession at approximately 18 meters a year.

Take a few moments to check out a gallery of his latest photos.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Ashoka U Online has partnered with PhotoWings to offer Self-Discovery Through Photography, an eight-week webinar designed to help “build changemaking skills through photography.”

Starting Tuesday, October 23rd, participants will build a substantial understanding of their own motivations and self-identity, while learning from experts, mentors and one another about the importance of perspective, context, communication, and trust as a foundation for creative and effective social change.

PhotoWings Founder and President Suzie Katz shares her vision: “In this seminar we’ll explore a myriad of thoughtful new ways to think about photographs, including deep-seeing and deep-listening techniques. We’re all about the ‘big idea’ and dimension—ideas to think about, discuss with others, and carry as a tool in you toolbox for both life and work.”

The world of photography will serve as a medium through which participants will take a deep dive into their personal interests and aspirations. All participants will benefit from an incredible wide array of open PhotoWings educational resources, including their deep linking Resource Center, provocative interviews, and in-depth yet accessible features.

Almost all of the webinar sessions are now online, so take advantage of this free resource while you can.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Calling all documentary photographers! Our deadline for the next round of reviews is January 20th, 2013.

Blue Earth sponsors photographic projects whose goal is to educate the public about endangered cultures, threatened environments, and important social issues. We are primarily interested in work that is educational and informational in nature and will consider proposals of any geographic scope involving the photographic medium. Our standard agreement sponsors a project for two years.

Blue Earth offers fiscal accountability to the projects we accept for sponsorship. As a non-profit organization with 501(c)3 status, Blue Earth is eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions from private foundations, individuals, or other entities. Along with this fiscal accountability, we also offer other services. When you join our community of photographers, we offer mentorship throughout the life of your project sponsorship, publicity on our blog and newsletters, help with PR and marketing, and more depending upon individual needs.

We accept applications only twice a year.  If you are a photographer and would like to apply, it’s never too early to send in your application. Check out our guidelines for more details.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Photographer David T. Hanson is showing slides of environmental damage done by Puget Sound Energy’s Montana coal plant on the evening of Dec. 5th, 7 p.m. at the Bellevue Arts Museum.

Join The Sierra Club for an evening with award-winning documentary photographer David T. Hanson to see the impacts of PSE’s coal plant. Hanson’s photographs dramatically evoke a story of the local impacts of our coal-fired electricity. Following the presentation, there will be a discussion about clean energy investment opportunities in our communities. Learn how you can get involved to make this critical transition off of coal.

Seating is limited.  Contact Seth Ballhorn, Seth.Ballhorn@SierraClub.org, (206) 378-0114 X302 for reservations.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Blue Earth is launching our very first book series, The Blue Earth Book - and we’re doing it on Kickstarter so you can reserve your own copy of this limited edition book at a bargain price.

The Blue Earth Book will highlight a collection of Blue Earth’s most important projects, projects like Dina Kantor’s Treece, Samantha Box’s Invisible, and John Lowenstein’s Shadow Lives USA. Featured portfolios will be selected and edited by Whitney Johnson, Director of Photography at The New Yorker.

Your support of this book will not only send a volume of top-tier visual storytelling to your table, it will also ensure that Blue Earth’s photographers can continue to bring attention to critical environmental and social issues. Pre-order your copy today!

Take One Creative is holding a free workshop On The Edge of Their Seats: Keys to Authentic Storytelling Tuesday, December 4th at Boulder Digital Arts.

How can you get potential customers, members or donors to lean forward in their seats and want to hear more about what you have to say? Authentic, passion-driven stories can inspire your audiences to want to affiliate with you.

But what does that look like? How and why does it work? How can you do this yourself? The team at Take One Creative shares examples, stories and knowledge to help you think about how to tell an effective story in any media form, including print, video and presentation.

Jason Houston and Hal Clifford bring a combined 50 years of journalistic experience to Take One Creative, a Boulder firm creating authentic content for passion-driven organizations. Individually and together they have worked as award-winning photographers, reporters, authors, editors and filmmakers. Their work has been published in scores of outlets, from The New York Times Magazine to Outside to The Colbert Report and the United Nations. Their documentary films have been exhibited and toured at a variety of festivals and are distributed by Snag Films. They especially like assignments that involve beer or fly fishing (or both).

If you will be in Colorado that week, this is a great opportunity to expand your storytelling skills - and it’s free!

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Wired’s RAW blog is featuring Jamey Stillings’ Blue Earth project Changing Perspectives on Renewable Energy Development.

Changing Perspectives is an aerial and ground based examination of large-scale renewable energy development in the American West with a long-term goal of expanding this work to a global study.

Renewable energy development will play an essential role in humankind’s long-term survival and the ultimate viability of our global ecosystem. Utility-scale projects, those that add significant power to the electrical grid, manifest a positive shift away from a society dependent upon coal, petroleum, and nuclear power sources. Yet, such projects frequently raise challenging questions about land and resource use, wildlife protection, impact on local communities and respect for cultural sacred sites. This project seeks to foster a clearer understanding of large-scale renewable energy projects and be a constructive pro-active voice for responsible energy development.

Check out the Wired RAW article for a perspective of the issues raised in the project as well as a gallery of his recent photos.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Roberto ‘Bear’ Guerra is holding a great holiday print sale to help support his Blue Earth project La Carretera: Life Along Peru’s Interoceanic Highway. The sales features a large number of prints from his latest work, starting at only $50 US. If you are looking for a unique holiday gift for someone special - this is nice opportunity to support an amazing photographer working in the field today.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

A photo by Blue Earth project photographer Bruce Farnsworth Amazon Headwaters: Locals Working Toward the Global has received the Highly Honored Image award in the 2012 Windland Smith Natures Best International Photography Competition. Images from the competition will also comprise a Smithsonian Museum exhibition in 2013.

The photo above is a Pacific sea nettle or jellyfish (Chrysaora fuscescens) photographed on Drakes Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore north of San Francisco, California. It was awarded in the category of “Nature as Art.”

Here’s the behind-the-scenes story:

…One morning, while combing the beach for still life images after a winter storm, I found this jellyfish that had come to rest beautifully, still offering a sense of movement. The subtle tracings of waves enhanced the sense of texture, form, and motion in the scene. To me, this photograph portrays both the life history of the jellyfish and the serendipity we enjoy as photographers.

Our good friends at Photokunst were kind enough to congratulate us on our six new projects announced earlier this month. If you haven’t had a chance to do so yet, take a few minutes to check out our new projects and view galleries of their recent photos.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Updating an earlier post, new videos from our spring Collaborations for Cause workshop have been added to the archive. If you were unable to attend the retreat, or just want to refresh your notes from the day, these videos are a great resource that we are pleased to be able to offer as a free service.

- Bart J. Cannon, Executive Director

Our thanks for PhotoWings for sponsoring videotaping at Collaborations For Cause.

We are excited to announce Blue Earth’s second Collaborations for Cause will held in Portland, Oregon on April 26-27th, 2013.

The ways in which stories are told, disseminated, and consumed continue to change at a break-neck pace. New technologies have made us all visual story-tellers and put increasingly fractured audiences squarely in charge of the exchange of information. In an incredibly noisy media environment with no dominant model, those of us who seek to sustainably generate interest and garner support for our worthy causes face an increasingly daunting task.

Collaborations For Cause, presented in partnership with Ecotrust, will put considerable emphasis on a case study driven, boots-on-the-ground approach and will provide ample opportunities for participants to engage in a process of dialogue and active problem solving. This will be a unique opportunity to bring together nonprofits, change-makers, visual story-tellers, communications professionals, and cause-driven photographers in a collaborative environment to enhance our mutual understanding and to help us all better achieve our goals.

Program and pre-registration available this spring!

Alternate Flevoland. Wind turbines along the dike at Flevoland, Netherlands, which is both preparing for risiing sea levels and moving toward renewable energy, like its NW European neighbors. From Gary Braasch’s “World View of Global Warming”

“If you go to every farmer in this complaint, they all have an issue,” says Sherman Witcher. “We all have a bond. We can’t get loans because of the color of our skin.” After he and brother Doug brought one of their semis up from the field to be repossessed by the bank in Rocky Mount, VA, somebody shot 13 bullet holes in it. May 2001, Rocky Mount, VA. From Jeffrey M. Sauger’s “Where Furrows Run Deep”

John, Treece, 2010. From “Treece”, a series documenting the residents and landscape of a fading American town. A former mining community, Treece is now economically and environmentally devastated. The residents are in the midst of a government-funded relocation program, so they can escape living on unstable land that is contaminated with lead. John, Treece, 2010. From Dina Kantor’s “Treece”