The Danube Delta rewilding area team decided to make use of the emotional power of great photography in the Danube Delta. This is what happened when we did.
Over the past two years, top wildlife photographers Magnus Lundgren and Staffan Widstrand have carried out photo missions for Rewilding Europe in the Danube Delta, from deep in its waters and under its reed beds, up to flying high over the pelicans that were soaring in the skies above the delta.Rewilding officer Cristian Mititelu-Răileanu has also taken a number of pictures on his travels for Rewilding Europe here.
What they captured on camera was so amazing that we simply couldn’t keep it to ourselves, we had to share the striking images much more widely,
After selecting 40 emotionally strong images out of the thousands available, we then presented a photo exhibition we called –“Danube Delta, fresh perspectives” – as a core part of the Pelicam Film Festival in June, which took place in Tulcea, the regional capital.
News about the exhibit then traveled fast. Soon after the opening, the Romanian Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Mrs. Attila Korodi, invited us to take our expo to Miercurea Ciuc, in the heart of the country. So by the middle of August we found ourselves some 300 km away from the delta, bringing the Danube Delta close to people that were more familiar with mountainous landscapes than with sturgeons and water lilies. Most of them had never seen the Delta and, to put it in Minister Korodi’s words –“This country has a lot of valuable places, such as the Danube Delta, that are little known to people in other parts of Romania”. But if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountain. –“I hope that also the mountain areas – such as the Harghita and the Ciuc Mountains – through photo exhibits like this can be shown to other areas: to Bucharest, to the Danube Delta or to other mountain regions, because I am sure that it will have the same impact. Biodiversity shows us that (…) different areas have things to be proud of that together represent the values and heritage of Romania”, added the Minister.
Two weeks later, both the team and the expo were all back home again in the Delta. This time, we made an appearance at the Rowmania Festival, held each year on the banks of the Danube in the last weekend of August. Here, among fascinated “Wow”s and local people really expressing their pride of living in such a beautiful place, there were also several who would even have liked to take the exhibition with them back home.
–“Can I take a photo of this? I would actually like to have this on my wall, like a painting. This photo speaks to me in a very special way, it’s like the eye which can see two separate worlds”, one of the many visitors there told me.
Our aim with the exhibition “Danube Delta, fresh perspectives” was to bring people closer to the habitats and species from around where they are living and to connect them with our rewilding ideas. We wanted them to feel this strong relation between people and nature. Did we succeed, so far? Some people still can’t quite believe that the pictures were actually taken in the same Delta where they live, but many others, like the lady who wanted to have one of the pictures in her living room,were clearly and strongly enjoying and recognising that connection.
Right now, the exhibition welcomes its guests at the unique Tulcea Aquarium. If you are not there, please enjoy the full expo online here: http://www.natgeo.ro/natura/habitat-conservare/10155-delta-dunrii-perspective-noi-galerie-foto.
And maybe think about a visit to this beautiful rewilding area: https://rewildingeurope.com/visit-the-area-3/