2020 Micro-Grant Winner: Patrick Ryan
About Patrick:
A sense of adventure drew me into the life of a professional photographer and, finally, the life of a professional photographer drew me back into a life of adventure. This can be seen in the images I capture while on the fire line as a wildfire firefighter.
Grant Category: Photography
International Winner: South Africa
Project Title: The Line
Project Vision:
I aim to create an immersive experience by using an online gallery. This will allow for the combination of photography and video, as well as sound, to bring the experience of being a wildland firefighter from the fireline to the screen. This gallery will have two areas of focus; the first is to highlight and convey the different challenges that wildland firefighters from different areas of society in South Africa are exposed to and experience. The second concerns the risk faced in the WUI. Globally there is a need to increase the awareness of this and understand what actions (trigger points) are required to really achieve the desired outcome of communities becoming more risk resilient. Through the use of impactful visuals and interactive elements, including online forms, I am hoping that this will assist in building towards a greater understanding of what is required to get people and communities to take action before an incident occurs.
Previous Work:
Favorite thing about firefighting:
My favourite thing about wildland fire has to be the clarity and life focus that comes when operating in an environment where decisions cannot be taken lightly, and the raw power of nature is so clearly visible. Couple this with ongoing and unforeseen physical and mental challenges and this is an environment that often tests me but I always want to return to.