Daniel Beltra: Photographer. Conservationist. Optimist.
by Rachel McFadden
Photographer.
Born and raised in Spain, Daniel Beltra moved to Seattle as an adult to pursue a professional photography career. He is an avid traveler, having visited all seven continents with collections from the Amazon, Greenland, Iceland, and the Gulf of Mexico. Interestingly, Beltra's educational background is in Forestry Engineering and Biology and not visual art. You can find his work in many publications including Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times. In an interview, Beltra admitted that he likes the dynamic aspect of his work, never knowing what he will be able to capture through his lens each day. In Beltra's personal reflection, his vocation of photography is not to produce a fine arts project, but rather to show what he thinks is important to be seen.
Conservationist.
Beltra is extremely distinguished among environmentalist professionals, having received various awards including Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award and Global Vision Award. When asked about his outlook on conservationism, Beltra said that he does not feel depressed when looking at humankind's impact on the earth, rather he is motivated by it. In his artist statement, he claims, “I find inspiration in the beauty and complexity of nature. The fragility of our ecosystems is a continuous thread throughout my work. My photographs show the vast scale of transformation our world is under from human-made stresses.” By focusing on nature through this lens, Beltra can be considered an Anthropocene artist.Anthropocene.
The “Anthropocene” characterizes the evidence that we are in a new epoch showing the significant impacts humans have on the environment. The term itself was first formally introduced during a 1999 conference regarding the Holocene, the latest epoch, by atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen. “Anthropocene” rapidly grew in popularity as people were trying to address the new age of vast human destruction. About fifteen years later, it was added to the English language, verifying that humans are themselves a geological force. However, there is still much debate surrounding the term, including when the Anthropocene officially began. Some argue it dawned with the invention of fire or modern agriculture. Others say it happened much more recently with the industrial revolution or nuclear age. Substantial evidence for this new epoch can be seen through an array of issues including melting ice caps, deforestation, the oil spill, and strip mining. The Anthropocene is a fascinating study because it encompasses a variety of professionals including “conservationists, environmentalists, policymakers, artists, activists, writers, historians, political and cultural theorists, scientists and social scientists.”Specifically, artists take a critical role in portraying the Anthropocene as we have come to understand it. Some have focused on humans living in “ruined” landscapes while others choose to examine consumerism and the perils of a capitalist, technology-driven society. Daniel Beltra has chosen to master his art in a way that not only shows the tragedies of the Anthropocene, but also the opportunities it brings.
Optimist.
One of the greatest challenges artists face is to capture contradicting emotions in their work. Daniel Beltra attempts to surface the dichotomy between beauty and tragedy through photography. By inviting viewers to see the far corners of the world and our very own backyard, he captures a sense of vulnerability, beckoning people to take care of the earth. His optimism shines through his attempt to inspire and expose disturbing landscapes while provoking a call to action. The true tragedy is not what humankind has already done, but the possibility that people will not do anything to slow down the trauma on the earth for the future. While it would be just as easy to take photographs of dead animals or desolate and ugly landscapes, Beltra captures an aesthetically pleasing scene to give viewers hope and passion to serve the earth as opposed to the earth serving them. He urges viewers to think like himself, seeing environmental issues as a challenge, not an insurmountable phenomenon.While the Anthropocene’s prospects seem irreversibly bleak, Daniel Beltra’s photography captures a profound sense of hope amid despair, challenging viewers to take action not out of fear but out of enthusiasm to create a brighter future.
How to View Photography
Central to understanding Beltra’s identity as a photographer is understanding the art form itself. To view photography in a fruitful and reflective manner, there is an easy three-step analysis.
- Description: The description tells viewers objectively what is happening in the photograph, often through a caption. It allows people to examine the details and content.
- Formal Analysis: This step allows viewers to ponder the “elements of art” in the photograph. For example, some of these characteristics include lighting, depth of field, focus, color, lines, and texture.
- Reflection: Finally, people are called to reflect on what emotions the photograph elicits and how they are “supposed to” interpret the image. In this stage, viewers can take the final step to understanding an image.
Greenland #5
- Description: Contextually, this photograph comes from Beltra’s Greenland Collection. It is an unnamed meltwater lake above the ice sheet in August, 2014. This image captures the Anthropocentric consequence of climate change and global warming.
- Formal Analysis: To conduct a formal analysis, the first element that stands out is Beltra’s choice in the depth of field. Taken from a birds-eye view, aerial photograph is able to capture a wider scope and magnitude of subject matter. By offering this perspective, Beltra deems it important to understand that melting ice caps is a physically daunting problem. Similarly, his focus is high definition with no central object. This leaves the image up to more personal interpretation. The combination of colors and lighting make the photograph bright and vibrant. The transition of colors using natural, vertical lines help imply movement both in the water and as a call to action for viewers. Finally, the waves add a unique element of texture where the viewer can understand a deeper sense of realism from the photograph.
- Reflection: As the thesis states, Beltra’s goal is to show hope amid despair. To reflect, we should look at the previous two steps of the photography analysis. In the description, viewers are meant to feel despair. The melting ice caps symbolizes the further environmental degradation including loss of habitat and rising sea levels. However, the formal analysis reveals an aesthetically pleasing image that elicits hope. With his combination of lighting, depth of field, and so on, Beltra “paints” the image in a positive light. To further substantiate his desire for viewers to garner a sense of hope and activism, Beltra’s Instagram caption for this image is motivational: “Happy Earth Day to all! I hope you had time today to think about our planet and take some sort of action, be it big or small, to improve it for future generations.”
Oil Spill #20
- Description: This photograph centers around a group of eight brown pelicans after the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. They are pictured at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Fort Jackson, Louisiana. Taken in June of 2010, the birds are penned together, waiting to be cleaned. Nearly five million barrels of oil were spilled into the water, causing numerous deaths in addition to economic and environmental ramifications, according to Beltra's Instagram caption.
- Formal Analysis: Upon first glance, this photograph is drastically different than Greenland #5. First, the image has a much narrower depth of field. The close focus on the birds seems more posed. The choice of a "posed" image rather than a natural organization of birds reflects the idea that human errors create a ripple effect on the rest of the natural world. The high definition lends itself to bring clarity among darker lighting and colors. One of the main aesthetically pleasing elements of the image is that the colors are all still shades of each other. The darker tones give a more intimate feel as viewers see the birds. Beltra uses the birds’ beaks as lines, all pointing inward, to centralize the looker’s attention and glance. The texture from the folds of the blanket make the photograph seem truly realistic.
- Reflection: Beltra uses the technicalities evident in the formal analysis to bring about beauty and hope even with a despairing subject matter. The birds are alive and will be cleaned up, summoning a call to action that humans can truly help the natural world around us. This image summons a more emotional response from viewers to not only realize the dangerous spiral humans have begun but also to take action and improve the circumstances for the future.
For more information, please visit Daniel Beltra's website or follow him on Instagram.
Sources
“Analyzing Photographs.” The Paul J Getty Museum, www.getty.edu/education/teachers/classroom_resources/curricula/exploring_photographs/background1.html.“Artist Statement.” Daniel Beltra, danielbeltra.photoshelter.com/p/artist-statement.
The Baum Foundation. “Interview with Daniel Beltra, Conservation Photographer -- Plum TV Aspen.” YouTube, 4 Aug. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzzcpSTdVos&t=10s.
Beltra, Daniel. “Greenland #5.” Daniel Beltra, 2014, danielbeltra.photoshelter.com/portfolio/G0000bVy23uNN5MQ/I0000_o3WAfQh2Lk.
Beltra, Daniel. “Oil Spill #20.” Daniel Beltra, June 2010, danielbeltra.photoshelter.com/portfolio/G0000N9uDgKewQWk/I0000ziQjexBwgD8.
Bergen, Sadie. “Getting Warmer: Historians on Climate Change and the Anthropocene.” Perspectives on History , American Historical Association , Feb. 2017, www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/february-2017/getting-warmer-historians-on-climate-change-and-the-anthropocene.
“Biography.” Daniel Beltra, danielbeltra.photoshelter.com/about/index.
danielbeltraphoto. Greenland #5. Instagram, photographed by Daniel Beltra, 22 Apr. 2015, www.instagram.com/p/1ywLnsDvH-/?taken-by=danielbeltraphoto.
danielbeltraphoto. Oil Spill #20. Instagram, photographed by Daniel Beltra, 15 July 2016, www.instagram.com/p/BH5X9T3DcVv/?taken-by=danielbeltraphoto.
MacFarlane, Robert. Generation Anthropocene: How humans have altered the planet for ever. The Guardian, 1 Apr. 2016, www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/01/generation-anthropocene-altered-planet-for-ever.
