Addressing a seminar titled ‘The Photo that Changed my Life’, at the four-day festival on Saturday, Ledoux called on everyone to protect wildlife and nature to protect themselves. “These beautiful creatures share our planet with us. As human beings, it is up to us to protect them. Else, our own survival will be in extreme danger,” he said.
His aerial images of melting ice in the region look surreal, showing swirls of blue in a white expanse. “But what is beautiful is actually scary,” Ledoux exclaimed. He reveals the seriousness of the peril facing the planet through photographs of Crabeater Seals resting on the broken ice of the Antarctic peninsula, and a polar bear leaping between large water patches and pieces of ice.
Ledoux described his visit to West Greenland where he witnessed the phenomena of tonnes of ice melting each day. “It was abnormally warm – about 15 to 20 degrees Celsius,” he said, recalling his trip.
Having witnessed first-hand the dramatic changes taking place in the poles, Ledoux has decided to consolidate a team effort with nature conservationists, explorers and photographers to draw the attention of the world to the seriousness of global warming.
“We will be attending the IUCN World Conservation Congress next year in Brazil where we will highlight the issue before the world,” he said.
Taking a step further in his effort to save the earth, Ledoux has created a video of the current arctic environment. Titled ‘I Am Fragile’, the video reveals how vulnerable polar wildlife such as polar bears, seals and walruses are to the changing topography of the region as a consequence of global warming.
Organised by the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), the festival runs until Sunday, 22nd September. From climate change to fashion, politics to nature and wildlife and human disasters as well as natural calamities, the festival covers the entire range of life on this planet through pictures.
