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  • Award-winning photojournalist Peter Essick presents "Can photographs help guide us through environmental crisis?" March 28

Award-winning photojournalist Peter Essick presents "Can photographs help guide us through environmental crisis?" March 28

Peter Essick

For the past twenty-five years, freelance photojournalist Peter Essick has traveled across all seven continents exploring some of the earth’s most beautiful and captivating landscapes. Essick has earned a spot as one of the forty most influential nature photographers in the world. 

Essick will give his presentation, “Can Photographs Help Guide Us Through Environmental Crisis?” at West Virginia University Reed College of Media’sInnovation Center on March 28 at 7:00 p.m. During this event, he will speak to students about visually illustrating environmental topics such as climate change, nuclear waste and ecosystem restoration. Also, he will discuss his career as an environmental photojournalist for National Geographic.

He started at National Geographic as a summer intern while attending graduate school at the University of Missouri. Since then, he has published over thirty stories for the magazine.

In a recent interview, Essick revealed how his love of environmental photojournalism emerged.”The assignment I did for a National Geographic special issue on water in 1993 was my first exposure to photographing an important environmental issue,” said Essick “I found I liked the intellectual challenge and the work seemed worthwhile beyond just the artistic value.”

His photographs have been showcased in other publications such as Time magazine’s article “Great Images of the 20th Century,” and shown on popular television shows such as “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” In addition, the photojournalist has also authored two books featuring his work titled, “Our Beautiful Fragile World” and “The Ansel Adams Wilderness.”

He currently lives in Stonewall, Georgia with his wife, Jackie, and son, Jalen. More information and copies of his work can be found online.

The event “Can Photographs Help Guide Us Through Environmental Crisis?” is free and open to the public. The Media Innovation Center is located on the fourth floor of the Evansdale Crossing building.