By Heather Cass, Publications Manager, Penn State Behrend
Students in Photo 202: Fundamentals of Professional Photography recently completed a photo essay project based on “The Land Ethic,” an essay written by Aldo Leopold in 1949 that argues for a deeper connection between humans and the natural world.
Leopold suggests that humans need to expand their concept of ethics beyond just people and animals to include the land—soil, water, plants, and more. The “land” is not something we own, but something we are a part of, and we should treat it with care and respect. Leopold proposes that we should think of ourselves as caretakers, responsible for maintaining balance and harmony with nature.
Tommy Hartung, assistant professor of digital media, arts, and technology, instructed students in the class to choose an area and create a series of five 360-degree panoramic images that document the landscape and the biome it contains.
“The site they chose could be anywhere from urban to complete wilderness,” Hartung said. “Students were also required to take notes documenting the ecosystem and use their notes to draft a 500-word essay to go with the images.”
A second part of the assignment involved time-lapse photography.
“The element of time and motion related to photography has allowed humans to see systems develop by compacting time into short motion clips,” Hartung said. “It allows a focus that the human experience may overlook about the location.”
Dobbin’s Landing in Erie. CREDIT: Evan Gerdes
The students’ essays are impressive and thought-provoking. See for yourself at the links below:
- Raily Kranz: https://sites.google.com/view/frontierpark-raileykranz/home
- Remmington Orange: https://remingtonorange.com/project_pages/PhotoEssay.html
- Yadav Krish: https://sites.google.com/view/beyondfocus/home
- Chelsea Quijas: https://ceq5032.github.io/photography/essay.html
- Karl Kirschner: https://sites.google.com/view/kirschnerphoto/home
- Dheeraj Gollu: https://sites.psu.edu/ph202/sample-page/
- Justin Banko: https://sites.psu.edu/bankophoto/
- Connor Carpenter: https://sites.psu.edu/digit10000/photo-essay/
- Ryan Dobson: https://sites.google.com/view/waterandstoneessay/home?authuser=1
- Lindsey Wood: https://lindseyxwood.github.io/lindsey-wood-blog/portfolio.html
- Tyler Dollard: https://sites.psu.edu/tylerdollard/essay/
- Jacob Fischer: https://sites.google.com/view/jakephotoessay/home
- Evan Gerdes: https://sites.google.com/view/porteriephotoessay/essay
- Lyndon Hershell: https://sites.psu.edu/photolyndon/2024/10/14/project-1-photo-blog/
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