Daniel Beltra

Daniel Beltra is a news photographer specializing in covering environmental issues. He is a freelance photographer for Greenpeace International and was hand picked by Prince Charles for the brand new category in the World Photography Awards: Prince Charles' Rainforests Award. According to ABC news Prince Charles' organization aims to combat deforestation with incentives to keep the natural resources intact. More than 100 of the photographs taken by Beltra will be published in a book that has been sent to world leaders, nongovernmental advocacy groups, and corporate executives before the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference this past December. In the photograph posted, you can see the remains of the Brazilian Nut Tree or castenheira. I feel this photograph shows part of the tragedy that is deforestation. These trees are supposed to be protected by Brazilian law. However, they are burnt down by loggers and the land is used for soy plantations. Below are links to his website as well as other links to play around with.
news article on Beltra and the Prince's Rainforests Award:
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/PersonOfWeek/photographer-daniel-beltr-dedicated-career-nature-conservation/story?id=9138771&page=3
Daniel Beltra's photographic galleries:
http://www.danielbeltra.com/
Greenpeace International Website:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/multimedia/multimedia-archive/Photo-Essays1/global-vision-award-daniel-b/
Story of Stuff Project:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Essay #3 Topic

In our class we have discussed, in depth, the cultural influence of Americans who were fighting for equality. In today's day and age I strongly believe that our art, culture, and everyday life needs to be a fight for the bigger picture: taking care of our precious Earth. I chose to write my essay on the works of greenpeace freelance photographer Daniel Beltran. He is an amazing artist who has captured some very remarkable photos which display the different effects that our consumerist society has effected our rainforests and natural glaciers. I would be using to the "Story of Stuff" videos as background sources as well as several scholarly journals and articles.

"A main tenet of Black Power is the necessity for Black people to define the world in their own terms" (Neal, Larry p.446).
Larry Neal's manifesto calls for all artists, writers, poets, and the like, to produce pieces that highlight an African culture. He refers to all African Americans as a 'community' and calls for everyone in that 'community' to stick together and inspire each other rather than appeal to a white audience. He viewed Western culture as being a primarily white culture with white role models at the forefront of the American community. Neal wants this to change.

A friend once told me "there is a difference between a nice person and a good person". When I read the speech Malcolm X delivered at Harlem Rally, I knew that he and my friend shared a common hostility towards others. Each word I read had it's own tingling effect. Yet, the overall message was unified; " ...northern crackers are in cahoots with [these] southern crackers. Only [these] northern crackers smile in your face, ...then they stick the knife in your back when you turn around" (Malcolm X , 1964). Though the Civil Rights Movement were unified acts of non violence, Malcolm X expressed the hate and hostility that many African Americans were surely feeling. Malcolm X had many critics who felt he was cynical and much too violent...and he was! However, he was the voice that had to be spoken.

In contrast, the song I picked was If You Miss Me from the Back of the Bus. The tune of the song is far from being intimidating. Instead, the song looks to a brighter future. A future without segregation. The song highlights some of the forms of protest that took place during the Civil Rights Movement such as the sit-ins and inspires African Americans to continue working for a brighter future. While there is no obvious feelings of hate in the song, there is an overall feeling of "we will fight and we will prevail", much like Malcolm X's attitude toward the individuals who against the fight for freedom.