There is probably nothing as compelling or motivating as a real life experience, but film definitely comes in a close second. And when film is devoted to bringing about positive change, we just have to applaud both the film and the filmmaker.

Evan Abramson is a New York-based photographer and filmmaker who specializes in long-term documentary projects with a specific focus on issues of social and environmental crises. His first film When the Water Ends, made in conjunction with MediaStorm,  tells a story of climate change and the semi-nomadic tribes along the Kenyan-Ethiopian border. As drought conditions worsen, they frequently come into conflict with each other as they move in search of new water sources. This pits groups and nations against one another — a problem caused by climate change and further complicated by deforestation and land degradation, and due in large part to population pressures. The biggest toll is felt by the impoverished farmers and nomads who struggle to survive as their land becomes more and more barren.

Last Stand on the Island

Currently Evan is working on Last Stand on the Island. This compelling piece is the story of Isle de Jean Charles — an island off the coast of Louisiana that is fast losing its war against the encroaching Gulf waters — and the native tribe of people who are losing their home at an alarming rate. Shrinking from 24 square miles to a mere 1/2 mile wide and a 1/4 mile long, the entire island is slowly sinking into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. For decades, oil and gas companies have been carving canals through Isle de Jean Charles allowing saltwater into marshlands and eroding everything in its path. The increasing number of hurricanes has also added to the devastation.

 The film focuses on 74-year old resident Edison Dardar’s passion for his home and his stubborn refusal to leave, even as the tribe’s Chief Albert Naquin is working hard to find a way to relocate them. 

But the clock is ticking. There is a chance this film will never be completed — and the story won’t be fully told. Evan is actively raising funds to finish this project so he can help bring awareness to the issue of coastal erosion due to industry negligence. We invite you to view the trailer. If you can, even the smallest donation could make a difference and help this story reach a wider audience. Invitations have already been received to screen Last Stand at the 2012 Human Rights Watch Film Festival and the 2012 DC Environmental Film Festival.

Good luck, Evan…

Sam is the PR and Photographer Relations Manager for Lowepro’s Worldwide Marketing team.

Imagine traveling all the way to Churchill, Canada — a tiny little town on the banks of the Hudson Bay, and finding connections almost every time you turn around. That’s exactly what happened on my trip there last November. In Winnipeg the  first night, I was having dinner and started talking with the two women seated next to me – only to find out they were on the same Tundra Buggy Adventure I was. As we talked a bit more, I discovered one of them, Val D’Elia is a videographer for the NY1 News and the other, Alison Wright, is a National Geographic photographer. It gets better. Alison is also working on a project with one of our featured 2011 Loweprofessional photographers, Ami Vitale, documenting the impact of climate change on women in under- developed countries. This project is sponsored by Ripple Effect Images. Watch for upcoming articles about the work they are doing. 

2009 Project Polar Bear Winners on Tundra Buggy 1: Top l-r: Sam Liest, Kaitlin O'Bryan, Miranda Vickery, Madison Vickery. Middle l-r: Rebekah Vickery, Rachael Vickery, Emily Goldstein. Front: Robert Buchanan, Sam Marsh

As we were chatting, along came one of the Project Polar Bear teams, There for Tomorrow — Emily Goldstein, Sam Leist and Kaitlin O’Bryan — from Louisville, Kentucky. The co-winners of the 2009 contest were here for their grand prize trip — a project sponsored by Polar Bears International and co-sponsored by Lowepro.

At lunch the next day, we found ourselves running into the rest of the Project Polar Bear team — The Vickery sisters: Rebekah, Miranda, Rachael and Madison — from Winnipeg. The last time I had seen any of the kids was at the awards ceremonies last April at the San Dego Zoo. It was great to see everyone — and to also find out that their projects are ongoing and the impact to their communities continues to grow.

To top it off, at dinner that night I noticed a women at the next table wearing a jacket with our Lowepro 40th Anniversary logo. I stopped by to say hello, and it turns out she had come all the way from the UK where she had found her jacket in a local camera shop. Not sure of it was Lowepro or the polar bear that prompted her to buy it — but it was great to see!

It was fascinating to experience the global reach this small, remote community had — and all because of the polar bears.

Sam is the PR and Photographer Relations Manager for Lowepro’s Worldwide Marketing team.

Some days are pure magic. All the elements align to create the perfect day on the tundra. Saturday was like that. The air was crisp, cold and clean. The skies were clear. And the polar bears were both plentiful and active. It was a day that had even the tour guides excited.

Our Tundra Buggy experience started with a bang. A couple of curious bears had come right into the staging area while the guides were trying to load all the Buggys. While they seem to move slowly and nonchalantly, this was nothing to take lightly. When they want to, polar bears can cover quite a distance in just a matter of seconds. So we waited while they were encouraged to move back to a safe distance and then set out. Not more than a minute or two out of the yard, we had our next encounter — which set the tone for the entire day.

We were blessed with sightings of over 30 bears that day and even saw one bear actually swimming in the water. This is rare for this time of year as the bears are still conserving their energy and fat stores while waiting for the ice to freeze and the opportunity to hunt. We saw two bears sparring — or play-fighting — in the distance but missed seeing the action up close. Fortunately we have one more day out on the tundra and hope to see some more of this socializing behavior.

The thing is, though — the bears shouldn’t still be here. With the changing weather patterns, the ice is forming later and later. The fact that both the river and the Bay remain unfrozen is serious as it means the long fast for the bears continues. So while it was a treat to be able to see so many polar bears, it would be much better for them if they had already headed out onto the ice.

The end of our first day on the tundra was truly the icing on the top. We were treated to a magnificent sunset that escorted us all the way back to base. We haven’t seen the Northern Lights, but these colors were spectacular, turning the sky into an amazing artist’s pallette and tinging the snow and ice with pastels.

This has definitely been a trip to remember. The people of Churchill have been wonderful and the folks from Frontiers North Adventures (aka the Tundra Buggy team) absolutely outstanding. I believe Buchachon has enjoyed it every bit as much as I have.

So the only question is — what do we do for our next photo contest????

Today I’m headed to Winnipeg, Canada, where I’ll be meeting Buchachon Petthanya, the winner of our My Favorite Things photo contest. He’s coming all the way from Thailand — and here’s a little travel alert that made for a bit of excitement on our end. If US visas are required to visit the US, then they are now also required for any connecting flights through the US. This was something we didn’t discover until Buchachon was checking in at the airport. Argghhhhh!

Thanks to a great ticket agent at United Airlines, we averted disaster and got Buchachon rerouted through Tronto instead of Seattle. Here’s a picture of him receiving some of the other prizes from Dejchart Buranabunpot, our distributor in Thailand.

During the trip, we’ll be spending a couple of days on one of the Tundra Buggys, operated by Frontiers North Adventures. These are really cool, monster Humvees — and should give us some great photo ops with the polar bears. We’ll also be catching up with the kids from the Project Polar Bear Contest and the folks from Polar Bears International. To say that I’m excited is an understatement!

For this trip, I’m packing my Fastpack 350 — and it’s packed to the gills. I have a Canon T1i with two lenses — a 28-300mm and a 16-35mm; a Canon SD1200 IS point & shoot, an Exacti compact camcorder, a laptop, card reader, extra batteries and chargers, cords, cables and adapters — plus all my personal stuff. Did I mention before that I never quite learned how to pack light?  Amazingly enough, with the padded waistbelt, it doesn’t feel heavy at all.

So watch this space over the next few days. I’ll be sharing pictures and hopefully video of our adventure up north.

The results are in — and we were absolutely blown away by the entries we received in our My Favorite Things photo contest.

There were over 4,000 image submissions, from every continent and over 80 different countries. It’s obvious the passion for photography is alive and well all over the world. And the subject matter was equally inspiring — everything from insects to carnivores, deserts to oceans, mother nature to newborn babes.

© Buchachon Petthanya 2010

One of our judges mentioned he ran the gamut of emotions while he was reviewing the entries, saying it was “fun, moving and humbling all at the same time.  I found myself experiencing  joy at the amazing beauty of our world along with a sense of dread and urgency that we need to protect it.” You can imagine how tough it was for the entire panel of judges to finally pick just ten winners!

We’ve posted a gallery of the winning images on our web site — so please check it out — but in the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at the top three. Our grand prize is going to Buchachon Petthanya of Thailand. His image of migrating butterflies is really stunning — true artistry! 

©Yilmaz Dincer 2010

We’re looking forward to taking him to Churchill to photograph the polar bears next month — and can’t wait to see how he does with our favorite, furry critters!

The First Runner Up is Yilmaz Dincer, a photographer from Turkey. His image of brown bears is truly amazing. Can you image being this close to the action — and still having the concentration needed to achieve this kind of composition and quality?

© Toa Zhang 2010

And then there’s Tao Zhang from China, our Second Runner Up. We’ve seen a lot of pictures of the cormorant fishermen — some of them from the top photographers in the world. But Zhang’s version offers a little different perspective. The play of light on the fisherman’s face and the rapt attention of the bird — it really tells a story.

Make sure you take a look at our gallery with all the winning images — and then start building your portfolios for our next photo contest!

If you own a camera of any kind, that’s all you need to enter our photo contest. You don’t have to be a pro photographer – in fact, we’re hoping to get entries reflecting all walks of life and every level of photography.

We’re really interested to see what you treasure. And there are some great prizes being offered, too. Here’s how this all started…..

In 2007, we partnered with Polar Bears International to help fund the scientific research and education programs they underwrite relating to climate change and its impact on the polar bear habitat. We feel the work they do is really important, and what we’ve learned is that the polar bear habitat is sort of a barometer for what’s going on in various ways around the world.

Now, you don’t have to be a big fan of polar bears to appreciate the fact we are losing some really wonderful parts of this planet we call home, as well as some of its inhabitants.

Our Board Chairman, Uwe Mummenhoff, was quoted many years ago: “What’s the use of making camera bags that last forever if the subject matter keeps disappearing?”

That, in a nutshell, is the premise of our photo contest. We live in an amazing world. But sadly, some of its treasures are slipping away….

Think about it this way, if you were to leave a time capsule for your children’s grandchildren, what would you like to share with them. It could be clear coastal waters with beautiful sand beaches — or it could be clear skies above the horizon. Animal, mineral, vegetable — landscape (urbal or rural), wildlife or culture. What makes you smile? What makes you sit up and take notice? What would you miss if it were to suddenly disappear?

Oh — and about the prizes….the grand prize is a trip for two to Churchill, the polar bear capital of the world, and a chance to see these majestic creatures up close and personal.

To learn more — or to enter, visit My Favorite Things. We can’t wait to see your pictures!