Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2015

111 works of outstanding photographic art shortlisted for the 2015 Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year will go on show at the Royal Geographical Society in London from 22 June to 10 July 2015. An opportunity to see the theme of the environment in photos of rare beauty.

Rizalde Cayanan, Sandstorm in the city, Kuwait 2011

111 photographs were shortlisted for the 2015 Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year. This year's award for environmental photography broken down into a number of categories received submissions from more than 10,000 photographers and filmmakers from across sixty countries.



Images that, as Nigel Hendley, CIWEM Interim Chief Executive says "challenge us to question the impact we are having on the planet, both as individuals and human society." CIWEM, the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, is the only independent, chartered professional body and registered charity in Britain with an integrated approach to environmental, social and cultural issues. 

Organised by CIWEM since 2007, the Environmental Photographer of the Year competition is open to competitors of all ages; the pictures need to show the dynamic link between environmental and social issues in a way that makes us think differently about the increasingly delicate and precarious balance of the world around us.

This precariousness of the human condition can be clearly seen in some of the shots selected, which we share with our readers: a lost-looking woman in the supermarket of Fukushima, the family in Bangladesh resigned to the frequent tidal floods or the man collecting crabs.

Eduardo Leal, Plastic tree #20, Bolivia 2014

Photographs instead of words, photographs whose beauty and lack of easy controversy touch whoever sees them and create increased awareness of our environment. In the words of the great English romantic poet, John Keats: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”. 

Simon Norfolk, Glacier 1987, Mount Kenya 2014

After the exhibition at the Royal Geographic Society, the exhibition sponsored by Atkins will then set off on a tour of British forests thanks to its new supporter: Forestry Commission England.

Christiane Bürklein

Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year Exhibition 2015
Royal Geographical Society, London
22 June - 10 July 2015
Grizedale Forest Visitor Centre, Cumbria from18 July - 7 September 2015
Images Courtesy of CIWEM authors see captions
http://www.ciwem.org/