Vulbus Incognita Magazine

MSc Thesis by Seth F. Spencer

University of Minnesota Duluth| 2012

 

Digital photography can be an enjoyable and exciting activity for children. It may also increase connectedness to nature levels. Questionnaires were sent to four different Duluth, MN area 4th grade classrooms. The questionnaire was comprised of the Connectedness to Nature Index (Cheng & Monroe, 2010) and one open-ended question. The questionnaire was given as a pretest and a posttest, after two of the schools participated in a program using digital cameras. Eight-five percent (n=99) responded to the questionnaire.

 

Findings of the study revealed that the respondents generally had a strong connectedness to nature before and after their use of digital cameras. While quantitative data showed no significant change between pretest and posttest connectedness to nature levels, qualitative and anecdotal data suggested that the use of digital cameras can influence connectedness to nature levels in children. The results may be used to emphasize the importance of finding new and creative ways to connect today’s children with a sense of connectedness to nature

 

Download the thesis report: http://hdl.handle.net/10792/325 or

http://d-commons.d.umn.edu:8180/jspui/handle/10792/325

Via Rebekah Tauritz

Katarina Stefanovic is a 34 year old female photographer from Lauderhill, Florida. You can check out the complete collection of the photographer at Flickr.

Via Tiaan Jonker

Shen Shaomin: "Bonsai-NO.39", Eli Klein Fine Art, 2007

size: h: 36.6 x w: 54.4 x d: 27.5 in / h: 93 x w: 138.2 x d: 69.8 cm, materials: Plants, iron tools

 

Shaomin's bonsai works use the manipulation and torture of these plants in order to question our current attitudes towards consumption and nature whilst examining Chinese culture. The intimately scaled, beautiful and ancient looking trees are twisted and buckled using metal instruments reminiscent of dental equipment. Accompanied by text these small objects question the viewers sense of their own environments and the concerned yet oblivious perspective the majority of us exercise on a day-to-day basis.

Aesthetically these small scaled works conjure ideas of destruction versus nurture and traditional versus industrial, awakening the uncanny.

 

http://www.shenshaomin.com/

Via Anne Bak