
In its Fall 2023 issue, Southern Cultures featured photos and essays highlighting the many ways in which climate change is affecting the southeastern United States. Wayne Community College is partnering with Southern Cultures and UNC’s Carolina Public Humanities to look at this subject on a local level, by sponsoring a photo contest that people are invited to enter by submitting their original photos showing the effects of climate change both in Wayne County and in the broader region. The deadline for photo submissions is February 28. (Carolina Public Humanities|Courtesy photo)
In Greenland, climate change looks like a rapidly melting ice sheet. In Southern California, it looks like raging wildfires. Off Australia’s coast, it looks like degradation of the Great Barrier Reef.
But climate change isn’t limited to some faraway place. It isn’t “somewhere else.” It’s here. In Eastern North Carolina. And Wayne Community College — in conjunction with Carolina Public Humanities and Southern Cultures journal, and with support from the North Caroliniana Society — is inviting local photographers (amateurs welcome!) to take photos of what climate change looks like here, for entry into a photo contest.
The photo contest — with a submissions deadline of February 28 — is open to the broader Wayne County community (meaning folks in neighboring counties are welcome to participate), and, while photos taken in Wayne County are encouraged, photos from the broader region are also eligible.
The contest is an offshoot of the Fall 2023 issue of the quarterly journal Southern Cultures, entitled “Snapshot: Climate.” Photos in that issue highlighted the diverse ways in which climate change is affecting communities throughout the southeastern United States.
“Climate Change isn’t just a scientific challenge — it’s a humanistic challenge, too,” says Joanna Flynn, Associate Director for State Outreach with UNC’s Carolina Public Humanities, which is co-sponsoring the contest. “This photo contest invites people to reflect artistically on their personal experiences with climate change, with the intention of sparking connection, reflection, and conversation on a local level. We believe that’s a critical step in building community resolve to take action.”
The culmination of the contest will be a gallery show featuring the winning photos, alongside photos from Southern Cultures’ “Snapshot: Climate” issue. Southern Cultures has already held similar exhibits on North Carolina campuses in Chapel Hill, Greenville, and Elizabeth City, and on campuses in Virginia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
In addition to having their photos framed and displayed, the first-place winner will receive $175 and two runners-up will each receive $100. Photos from three honorable-mention winners will also be framed and displayed.
The gallery opening event — where winning photographers will have an opportunity to speak, if they wish — will take place Monday, March 31 at 2 p.m. in Moffatt Auditorium in the Wayne Learning Center (WLC) building on WCC’s campus. The photo exhibit will be staged in the atrium outside the auditorium for approximately 10 days and will then move to the library. At the exhibit’s conclusion, photographers will be allowed to take their framed photos home.
In describing the importance of the photo contest and exhibit, WCC’s Nathan Johnson explains, “Global Climate Change is quickly changing the landscape of our planet. We face an impending emergency. We need to make changes in the way we interact with our environment or we will face very serious consequences. This event showcases photographs of climate change from around the American Southeast and clearly demonstrates the effects of Global Climate Change on our local environment.”
Anyone wishing to participate in the contest can submit up to three original photos that portray climate change from his or her point-of-view. A statement of 250-400 words, telling the story of each photo, must be included.
Photo submissions will be made online, and image files should meet the following specifications: resolution, 300 DPI; size, at least 7 inches wide; format, TIFF, CMYK.
For amateur photographers who may be intimidated by these requirements, Carolina Public Humanities’ Flynn offers this reassurance: “Most smart phone cameras are able to take photos that will work for this contest!”
She provides these tips: (1) Set your phone camera to “pro” mode if it has one. (2) Many phone cameras are automatically set to 72 DPI. You can adjust this after a picture is taken by downloading it to a computer and manually adjusting the DPI (or pixels/inch) setting to 300. (3) On a computer or in Photoshop, you can export your image as a TIFF.
Those who would like to see the climate change photos that appeared in Southern Cultures can view 14 of the 60 photos at https://www.southerncultures.org/article/snapshots/.
Also, WCC’s Johnson has 25 print copies of the “Snapshot: Climate” issue that he is happy to provide free to anyone who is interested, on a first-come, first-served basis.
For full details about the contest and to submit photos, visit https://humanities.unc.edu/climate-change-photo-contest/.
Anyone with questions is encouraged to contact WCC’s Nathan Johnson at ngjohnson@waynecc.edu or Carolina Public Humanities’ Joanna Flynn at jsflynn@email.unc.edu.