\u201cThe second and third day in the trip, I had a cold or the flu, or something,\u201d she said. \u201cI remember being so hot. We would go in the water and get our shirts wet just to cool ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Distracting at best, and debilitating at worst, the hardships of the trip led Claire to see discomfort as a welcome teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have to go to this place where you compartmentalize and focus,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy am I here? What am I learning?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Claire, those answers came through the enormity of the landscape. Open and wide, it held space that could evade capture even from a week\u2019s worth of photographs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Claire seeks to raise consciousness about human impacts in the area: \u201cIt’s not just taking pretty pictures, for the sake of pretty pictures, but it’s what are you trying to say? The species that typically live there are dying off and going extinct,\u201d she said. \u201cThere’s an undeniable feeling that comes with being outside. Creating art in nature takes it another step further. You’re connected to something greater. There’s a lot to be gained that you can’t get looking at that photo or learning about a place. It hits differently when you’re actually spending time in that area. Engaging with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Things really changed for Claire when she joined a group that boated up to Glen Canyon Dam. Outside of photographs, this was her first time seeing the dam, and the sight presented a discomfort of another sort. She found it impossible to ignore. \u201cLooking at this giant concrete plug we put in the river that has created a massive lake and completely changed the ecology and biodiversity downstream, it\u2019s just undeniable,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can see exactly how that changed everything about the environment we were spending time in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The more time she spent in the field, the more she saw the impacts of the dam. She saw it in water levels that fell and rose with the dam\u2019s hydroelectric generation and in the strangely cold water released from the bottom of Lake Powell. By the end of the trip, she felt closer, more connected to her environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWaking up in the same place taking photos, you get to know an area very intimately,\u201d she said. \u201cI could draw a photo of that area. I know exactly where the reeds are and how the light hits in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her first trip with the Canyon Aesthetics course was not her last. Through it she developed a relationship with Dawn Kish, the course professor, and returned to the canyon bottom as an assistant leader. Their relationship continued to grow. Dawn offered Claire an internship, which immersed Claire in the busy life of her professor, a National Geographic photographer, and engaged her with a rich, hands-on educational experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/179\/2021\/11\/2664_glen_canyon_workshop_20170916.jpg\")
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