A Spotlight on Photographer Daniel Beltra
The Spanish photographer Daniel Beltra, who now lives in Seattle, Washington, has focused his talent toward creating images that present evidence of our environmental predicament, with an eye toward conservation. Through large-scale images shot from the air, Beltra presents the viewer with the larger picture to reveal both the beauty and the detestation that is witnessed from above.
Trees litter the construction of a flooded canal for the Belo Monte Dam project, near Altamira, Para State, Brazil, February, 2012. © Daniel Beltrá.
Over the past several decades the prolific photographer has been on all seven continents, including several expeditions to the Brazilian Amazon, the Arctic, the Southern Oceans and the Patagonian ice fields. He has received numerous awards including the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award and the Lucie Award for the International Photographer of the Year for his photos of the Gulf Oil Spill, the prestigious Prince’s Rainforest Project award granted by Prince Charles, the BBVA Foundation award, and the inaugural “Global Vision Award” from the Pictures of the Year International, among others.
Nyiós stream, July, 2014. © Daniel Beltrá.
Beltra’s work has been included in The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, Le Monde, and El Pais, and many other prominent publications.
September 2019, Scoresby Sound Greenland. © Daniel Beltrá.
What has been the most memorable project or experience for you?
There are so many, but if I had to choose one, my work in the Brazilian Amazon. Since 2001 I’ve been there pretty regularly. It is crucial to protect the forest, its biodiversity and the indigenous populations that inhabit the region. Having spend so much time there, Brazil is almost a second home to me.
What impact do you hope your work will have on climate awareness?
I believe in education, being well informed will help us find solutions to the many challenges we are facing. Hopefully conservation photography can play a part in that.
How do you choose the subjects for your projects, and what criteria do you consider?
There are so many issues to tackle, I get asked a lot when will you be done documenting tropical deforestation, or global warming. Unfortunately, unless we managed to solve those issues there is plenty work ahead. I try to work on the main environmental issues that we face, but finding funding is a big hurdle (I work in remote locations, mostly from the air…), occasionally it is the availability of funds that makes a project viable.
How do you see your role as a photographer evolving in the context of ongoing environmental challenges?
I think being a good communicator is very important, I regularly give conferences, I also try to make the work visible on many levels. From the disappearing print media, to social media, exhibitions, books and the aforementioned lectures.
Pinnacle iceberg in the Southern Ocean, February, 2007. © Daniel Beltrá.
A ship drifts amidst a heavy band of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead, May, 2010. © Daniel Beltrá.