#nicklen

In fact, images have always been used as powerful pictorial calls to action. A photograph made by the late Peter Dombrovskis as an anguished cry for the imminent loss of the mighty Franklin-Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia, became the lightning rod that inspired an entire nation to oppose a project that would have dammed one of our planet’s most magnificent wild rivers.

The image worked because it was infused with a sense of purpose. It was crafted with emotion and with urgency; it was meant to show those who could not see with their own eyes the beauty, the wildness, the incomparable value of what was to be lost.

Photographs are powerful tools to mold perceptions, to call on our principles, to inspire. As photographers, we have a choice to give our work a higher purpose and to invest it with a fundamental value that goes far beyond the mere beauty of an image.

One may argue that many, if not most, beautiful images are achieved in the absence of purpose. I submit to you, however, the idea that photographs born out of concern for the tragic loss of our natural world carry an intrinsic emotional and spiritual weight that is projected onto those who view them.

The magnificent images summoned by this competition will no doubt capture the world’s attention. They will find their place in hundreds of publications and will be enjoyed by a million people on computer screens. As they travel, they will become ambassadors for a world that is changing fast. I invite photographers around the world to make it their mission not just to capture beautiful moments, but also to produce work that infects others with purpose and to share them through the Por el Planeta Competition.