Blue Marble

• Prize
• Photographer
  John Bernhard, United States
• Studio
  Bernhard Associates
• Website
  http://www.johnbernhard.com

Environmental Destruction Through the Eyes of Children

Climate change, pollution, and the way we are treating our planet
have become a global issue, and this series is my personal
crusade in bringing awareness to it. Once I recognized that we
were facing a crisis I wanted to use my photographs to voice my
deep sense of concern for the next generation. As a father I
strongly believed that I had a moral duty to take action and as an
artist I wanted to be a humble catalyst.

The background images of environmentally endangered area of
the earth originated from NASA, astronauts took them from the
International Space Station. I digitally enhanced these images and
superimposed portraits of children from around the world that I
photographed over the years. I wanted to merge their innocent
faces into these perilous landscapes.

In a world fraught with war, pollution, and the danger of
environmental destruction, I hope that this Blue Marble series will
serve as a reckoning and an awakening for the coming time.

A native of Switzerland, John Bernhard traveled North America extensively before settling in Houston, Texas. For more than two decades he has chosen the medium of photography to explore the everyday world from new perspectives, breaking away into different pathways of artistic expression. He continues to devote all his energy taking photographs and bringing them together to enhance their meaning with visual interplay. His work has been published in numerous books and magazines and he has had many collective and one person exhibitions throughout the U.S. and Europe. In addition, his photographs are included in museums and private collections. Bernhard resides in Houston where he has designed and built his studio and an art gallery.