[August 13, 2020]

In midsummer, the international documentary image competition Earth Photo announced the finalists (54 photographs and videos) for its 2020 edition. Divided into five categories (Changing Forests, Nature, Place, People, A Climate of Change), the environment-related selection had no lack of both surprises and relevancy, such as the image of a mask that seems to be floating in water. Somewhere between reportage and conceptual essay, Aindreas Scholz’s series Seasick offers a reminder of how badly humans manage their waste. Sholz made these images using cyanotype, a process that “respects nature,” after a stay in Kuwait, where he noted that the sea was polluted with plastic. The winning projects in Earth Photo, a competition run by the Royal Geographical Society in the United Kingdom, will be announced this fall, and a touring exhibition will be launched in late 2020.