My new project, tentatively titled ‘Trembling Earth,’ aims to convey the universal value of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and its need for further protection from the titanium mining industry. I am taking a two-pronged approach visually. I will utilize strict documentary photography to serve as evidence and facts to prove my case of the refuge’s value. In my opinion, the sum of this place is more than a direct factual approach can total though. There is a mystical ethereal quality of this primordial place that escapes both the written word and limits of photojournalism. My secondary approach looks capture the intangible feeling one is left with after communing with this magical space. These images will still be created fully in-camera, but will utilize abstract methods in lighting and filters to achieve unique emotive tones in a style I have honed over the past decade. Georgia’s 438,000-acre Okefenokee Swamp is one of the largest intact freshwater ecosystems in the world, and is home to more than 600 species of wild plants, 200 species of birds, 100 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 35 species of fish, including rare and endangered species. Despite designation as a National Wildlife Refuge, North America’s largest blackwater swamp is still under threat by the titanium mining industry. While the refuge may be protected, its boundaries are not. Trail Ridge, the geologic formation that forms the eastern boundary of the swamp, is currently threatened by the Twin Pines Mining Company which has proposed plans for heavy mineral sand mining that would cover an expanse of roughly 8,000-acres next to the refuge. This mining process will lower the water table and increase drought, causing greater susceptibility to wildfire, and permanently altering the ecosystem. Lowered water table and increased drought exposes more peat that can catch fire — peat that stores over 95 million tons of CO2, which cannot be recaptured once released. The swamp as it stands is fire adapted but peat dependent. Upsetting this 10,000-year-old balance could lead to the collapse of an entire ecosystem. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr00y1oOtHG/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=