Why even try? You’re just a photographer.

I’m sure we’ve all fallen victim to the “you’re just…” mentality at some point. It’s even a meme, “I’m just a girl.” Of course, that’s silly and mostly harmless, but what does that come from? To me, it feels like invalidating our impact for emotional survival. We say it to ourselves, or we meet those vocal nihilistic pessimists, as a way of justification for the way things are. In the name of ‘focus,’ we devalue our abilities, minimizing ourselves to make life easier to handle. But in the process we limit ourselves, putting our capabilities into a box.

It’s really so hard to put effort in when they’re are deemed wrong, not enough, or insignificant. The amount of problems is so overwhelming that solutions can be so foggy to focus on. But when we readjust our lens (haha get it), there can be so much evidence that solutions do exist, we’ve just yet to find them, and bring them to life. In my opinion, any effort is commendable, a great big picture only exists through smaller details.

So what are photographers doing already?

For one, there’s a global movement to make the process of film more environmentally conscious called the Sustainable Darkroom. On the market there’s now a few plastic-free, paper film-back alternatives called Washi film by the Smallest Film Co. and Hahnemühle’s Natural Line of eco conscious inkjet papers, made from more renewable resources than trees and with plastic-free, plant-based resin coatings.

As photographers, we’re also humans and consumers. Outside of the photo world I see accomplishments like the (widely unknown) Green Bin LA ordinance that all residential houses and complexes in Los Angeles County must have access to a green bin, or the new Plenty urban vertical greenhouse in Compton, an urban vertical greenhouse, the future of agriculture (in my opinion). They all inspire me, reminding me that the only way through the climate crisis is in integral steps, no matter how big or small.