Isn’t that a beautiful photo? Well, that is a photograph taken by Andrew Pacutho of Beortsbeard on the 31st March 2020 in the wee hours of the morning as the sun rose over the horizon of Kampala, Uganda. I had the opportunity to ask Mr Pacutho what inspired him to take this photo and He had this to say. “ I just love the sunrises. It was an opportunity to dip my feet back into photography when I had stopped it for a while”. Well, if that is dipping back in, goodness, I can’t wait to see you immersed completely in it.
Photography?
But his answer piqued my interest. Photography is a growing art in Uganda and the rest of Africa. We are getting to know more and do more with it but I’ll be the first to admit that I knew nothing more about photography apart from its immense necessity at our Ugandan weddings. You know a wedding is not complete without a photographer and we ,Ugandans have taken weddings to a whole different art form.
So I decided to research about photography. Boy, was I surprised? There are so many types of photography. I was blown away by the magnitude. One article had up to fifty different types. Fifty!!! But I will not delve much into that. I will share more about landscape photography which is what the above photo is.
Landscape photography is under Nature photography. According to Photography Life, it is another way of saying scenic or environmental photography. It involves taking pictures of a natural scene-often large and grand, but sometimes smaller and intimate- in a way that brings the viewer into a scene. According to Adriana, those who travel have taken a lot of landscape photos but this is not limited to horizontal photos. Shooting vertically can allow you to take photos of tall trees and anything else that catches your fancy.
With Earth Day having happened last week, it is only fitting we have such a photograph. What is Earth Day? This is an annual event celebrated on the 22nd of April to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, over 50 years ago.
Have you ever thought about our environment and your role in its protection? That sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? Well, let me bring it home. Did you know that the Covid-19 pandemic that we have all suffered through is linked to the health of our ecosystem? How? You may ask.
Well, according to the United Nations, climate change, man-made changes to nature as well as crimes that disrupt biodiversities, such as deforestation or intensified agriculture can increase contact and the transmission of infectious diseases from animals to humans like Covid-19. All this is happening but where do we expect to live if not on earth? And no, do not tell me Mars! Haha!
“We are coming down to the ground, There’s no better place to go We got snow upon the mountains, We got rivers down below We’re coming down to the ground, We’ll hear the birds sing in the trees And the land will be looked after, We send the sends out in the breeze Redefine your priorities, These are extraordinary qualities, To find on earth Coming down, Coming down.”
Down to Earth~ Peter Gabriel
Seeing Earth through different lenses
Now the question is not what can the rest of the world do? The question is what can you do? Because if each of us bands together towards a common cause, then surely we can create a change- a positive change this time that can affect the world. Earth Day has been celebrated for over 50 years. What are we going to do, what are you going to do to make sure it is celebrated in the 100th year?
We are one people. We need to think of ourselves as a family, looking after our environment for this and future generations. There is a South African proverb-” Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu”. It means “I am because you are or humanity towards others.” This Ubuntu speaks to the fact that we are connected and that one can only grow and progress through the growth and progression of others. More on this in this link
Let’s do this together so we and the generations to come can sit back and enjoy another sunrise over the horizon with the hues of blues beyond the trees, enveloping the peachy plumage of a plummy tricolour as poetically said by my friend, Pete. Let’s see Earth through different lenses, a different perspective. Let’s win this fight for Mother Earth. Together!
#ThisisMe
#BeAuthenticallyYou
#AfrikaCreates
#MyStoryMyBrand
Do tell us in the comments section- How are you protecting our planet? I am going to write about how you can protect it. haha!! Come on, do tell us
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