The forest nourishes me energetically
Last year’s Photo Contest was the first of its kind: a Best of the Best contest, looking for the best photo among winners and finalists of the past six years. For every month of 2024, we are presenting a different photo. Our photo for January is ‘The Man and the Forest’, taken by Vitalii Popkov in Ukraine.
The forest nourishes me energetically
11 January 2024 Forests in photos
Last year’s Photo Contest was the first of its kind: a Best of the Best contest, looking for the best photo among winners and finalists of the past six years.
For every month of 2024, we put one finalist in the spotlight. In short interviews, the photographers will give us more insights into their photography and what has changed since they first participated in the PEFC Photo Contest.
Our photo for January is ‘The Man and the Forest’, the winner of our 2021 Photo Contest, taken by Vitalii Popkov in Zamagora Verkhovyna, Ukraine.
How does the forest continue to inspire you and your photography?
A visit to the forest gives me new subjects for photography. The forest nourishes me energetically.
How has your photography journey continued since you first participated in the PEFC Photo Contest?
Unfortunately, due to the war, my travels are limited. I try to visit the forests available to me.
What can each of us do to safeguard our forests?
We can do a lot to protect and conserve forests. An unprecedented catastrophe of the 21st century is unfolding in my country. Thousands of people are dying, cities are being wiped off the face of the earth.
At the same time, an unprecedented ecological catastrophe is taking place. According to official data, since 24 February 2022, because of the war in Ukraine, 1.24 million hectares of protected areas, including forest areas, have been affected.
The Russian invasion destroyed the Ukrainian nature. However, this damage goes unnoticed and largely ignored; the environment becomes a silent victim. I want humanity to know this.
Have you discovered anything about PEFC and/or certification over these past years that you didn’t know before?
Looking through the materials of PEFC, it is pleasant to note that there is an organization that treats the forest resource responsibly.
Let's re-watch the video Vitalii sent us in 2021, after winning our Experience Forests, Experience PEFC Photo Contest.
“My photo is like a window in the portal of time. Looking at it, you are immersed somewhere in the middle of the twentieth century, at least,” Vitalii explains in the video.
Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia a few months later, the photo has since taken on even more significance, as it has indeed become a window into a better time.