by Cam i l l e Se aman

was sit ting on my couch

in Berkeley California holding
my almost two year old daughter
in my arms as I watched the second
plane hit the World Trade Center.
It was in these moments of shock
and horror that I realized that my
daughter would never know those
buildings in the way that I had except
for in a photograph or film.

I had been a NYC bike messenger. I

delivered parcels to the World Trade
Center daily. I knew those buildings,
I knew that space in a physical
way. When they fell, it was the first
time I realized the significance of a
photograph as a historic document
as proof of existencemuch in the
same way photos of our ancestors
keep them real and alive for us.

Weeks later, the US was precision

bombing Afghanistan. There I was
on my couch in North Berkeley
watching the news and thinking
that we were going the wrong way.
So much darkness and cynicism. I
caught myself thinking almost out
loud, What can I do to counter this?
In that moment, it was as if someone
had tapped me on the shoulder and
said, Its time. We need you to get off
your couch and do something.
Me? Why me? All I knew how to do
was make pretty pictures. But the
switch had been flipped. I KNEW that
I would use a camera to document my
experiences with the intent to show
how beautiful life is and how amazing
our planet is, in counter to the darkness.

I had no plan. No grand ideas, I just

had intention. That intention created
paths and opened doorways to
places I had never dreamed I would
be so privileged to witness. I had no
idea what Climate Change was as I
made my way back and forth to the
Arctic and then the Antarctic as an
Expedition photographer on ships.
It did not take long before I started
to notice the changes. Subtle at first,
then more and more pronounced. My
beloved Poles were melting. My first
images of the Polar Regions were to
share with viewers how awesome
these remote parts of our planet were.
I realized within a few years that my
images were no longer of what we
had but what we were losing rapidly.
I know now that these photographs
C amille Seaman

43

will stand as a document to what

once was if we continue to ignore
the very strong message our melting
poles are sending us.
I stopped going to the poles in 2011.
I began to feel that my images had
no impact, inspired no change and
that I myself was part of the problem.
Traveling thousands of miles burning
fossil fuels. How could I ask the world
to change if I myself did not?
The
scientists
and the data
only made
what was
coming more real
and daunting.
Yet all around me
change seemed to be
happening at a snails
pace, if at all.
Finally one day I threw
my hands up in surrender. I
said to my daughter, who was
eleven years old at the time, If
you tell me that you wont have
children, then I say lets just live a
great fun filled life and say forget you
to everyone and everything on this
planet!
Mom, she said. I am eleven. How
can I tell you if I will or wont have
children? And besides, you have to
try!
We are all Earthlings. We humans
share this planet with many other

C amille Seaman

life forms. The earth does not belong

to us, we belong to it. Knowing this,
how can we continue to sit and do
nothing? How can we as citizens of
Earth look to others to pick up the
trash, clean the water and the air and
our soil? DONT WE ALL HAVE TO TRY?
I know in my heart that the answer is
yes. It has to be me who tries to make
a difference, and you and you and you.
Each one of us has unique abilities.
Each one of us has something that
we do like no
one else on the
planet. Each of
us is absolutely
necessary. We need
each other. I need
you. We need every
single species of plant
and animal to keep our
planet alive and well.
Each one of us is several
billion years in the making
of this moment. The collective
experience stored within our
cells makes us the right people for
the job.
Paul Hawken said, It is not a crisis of
climate we face but a crisis of culture.
I know that if we would allow
ourselves to see our relationship
with this planet in an interconnected
way and allow that interconnectivity
to define what it is to be human, our
behavior would inevitably change.
Our treatment of our only home,
this magnificent planet Earth, would
change. Change is already happening.
Let us make that change positive.

So what can I do, you ask. I am just

one individual. How can I possibly
help to effect the positive change
that is needed when that necessary
change seems overwhelming, if not
impossible? I too have felt this way,
dismayed by what I see, depressed by
the sheer weight of the difficulties we
face. I asked myself these questions,
but I discovered that what I do does
make a difference.
If you look close enough, you will
see people answering the call. The
pace seems slow, only because I am
impatient to see how grand and
glorious we actually will be. I see more
and more people creating solutions,
asking questions, and shining light
on areas that need to be exposed. The
doers, the makers, the thinkers, the
visionaries, all are looking for a way
forward that will make us proud to
call our selves not only human but of
this earth. We are Earthlings.
Change is coming. Somehow we think
that change means loss or sacrifice,
but change has a greater range. It can
be scary or encouraging, troubling or
rewarding, and I prefer to think of
the coming change as encouraging
and rewarding. It is becoming easier
and easier to imagine a human world
that defines itself not by how much
stuff we have, how much bling or
status, but by how well we can live in
harmony with each other and within
our environment, how we treat
other species with respect instead of
subjugation, acknowledging that the
Earth is not a resource for humans to
exploit.

DECEM BER 2 014 - A PR I L 2015

This planet is not ours to use then

discard. Let us seek to understand the
earth as sacred. The true gift that it is.
A verdant blue planet quite capable
of offering everything we could ever
want, if we care for it with love and
careful consideration. Let us define
ourselves by that which unites us
and not by those that divide. Quite
simply, we humans are all Earthlings,
connected to all and responsible for
each other.
I had no idea that the images I make
would find their way around the
world, touching people in a very
personal way. It doesnt seem like
much, doesnt feel like that big of
a deal. Yet every time I receive an
email from someone telling me that

they will never see ice the same way

is important. Each time others let me
know my work has touched them in
some way, I know the work has been
worth the effort.
I was an apathetic earthling, just
hoping I could do my thing and make
no trouble, walk quietly through my
life, and call that ok. I am sure many
of us feel this way, but, in the end, it is
necessary to step up for the benefit of
future generations and for those with
whom we share the Earth in the here
and now. We must step forward as a
son, a daughter, a mother, a sister, a
friend, a neighbor. We owe it to each
other. We owe it to all our fellow
Earthlings. Each breath we take
comes so easily, so effortlessly, but

that air is not inviolable. Its clarity and

its purity are delicate, the breathing
fragile. It is our duty as inhabitants
of this planet to honor and revere the
breath of life, if we want human life
to continue on this beautiful planet.
Save the thing you love. Pick that one
thing, whether its the tree in your
yard, butterflies, tigers or bees. Stand
up to save that one thing you love
about living here on Earth. You make
all the difference.
We need you.
We need your vision of what life
can be, not just what it is. Creating a
peaceful world on this beautiful planet
has always been a collective effort.

C amille Seaman

45

As a mother of a teenage girl, I know and have known since

she was an infant that I must lead by example. Positive
change happens faster, perhaps, when we cease being
children looking to follow the examples set for us, and
understand instead that examples of active change must
start with the standards to which we hold ourselves and
how we confront the difficulties we face as individuals
and as members of the greater human family.
Does it have to be you? You are being called on right now,
in this moment. Will you answer the call?
My job as a photographer is to inspire you. Show you
things in a way that opens you to greater awareness and
compassion. As we skate along the edge of oblivion I hope
that my words and my images will inspire you to ask what
you want it to mean to be a human being on planet Earth.
We only have this one home, this one place of safety in the
great void of space. My job as a human being is to walk
lightly upon the earth so that its gifts are still abundant
for our children's great great great grandchildren.
All my relations.

C amille Seaman

DECEM BER 2 014 - A PR I L 2015

Camille Seaman strongly believes in capturing photographs that articulate that humans are
not separate from nature. She is a photographer and explorer for Camille Seaman Photography.
Her photographs have been featured in prestigious publications, including National Geographic
and TIME Magazine. Seaman has a bachelors degree in the fine arts photography from the
State University of New York at Purchase. She has won several photography awards, including a
National Geographic Award and the Critical Mass Top Monograph Award. In 2008, Seaman was
honored with a solo exhibit, The Last Iceberg, at the National Academy of Sciences. She advocates
the importance of recognizing the relationship between humans and their natural surroundings.
cam i lleseaman . c om

C amille Seaman

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