This Oulanka workshop is the first in a series of three annual workshops arranged through the project ‘Visualization of Environmental Change’. The topic of this first workshop was ‘Visual Angles on Environmental Change’ and during the one week intensive process different photographic methods were studied and tutored by professors in photography Walter Bergmoser (Ger), Alexander Lembke (Ger), Juha Suonpää (Fin), media artist Antti Tenetz (Fin) and research station director Riku Paavola (Fin). As an observer and participating tutor etnograf Anne Dombrovski from Humboldt University Germany gave the workshop a complementary contribution from the perspective of cultural studies.
Through collaborative teams, mixed with art students and natural scientists, we approached the surroundings in the natural park and its neighbouring area by exploiting techniques e.g. repeat photography, time-lapse photography, low and aerial photography, microphotography as well as landscape and underwater photography. International students, all together 25 from Universities BTK (Ger), Aalto (Fin), TAMK (Fin), ULapland (Fin) and Metsähallitus (Fin) developed the photographic skills and “photo thinking” of natural/human science and increased the awareness of the scientific approach and knowledge of nature and the environment.
By the year 2016 the series of the workshops in ‘Visualization of Environmental Change’- project will be completed and the results published both as a touring exhibition and an illustrated book.