See some of the amazing photos from Bridget's book, Wildness Within, Wildness Without, in our slideshow. More Information Bridget's photographs will be on display at Portland's Domaine Gallery from July 25 through August 5, 2008. Read our Press Release about Bridget's photography exhibit. Special note: Bridget has generously offered to donate 10% of the sales of her book at these events to The Nature Conservancy. Thank you, Bridget!  Get Involved You can learn more and explore new places when you join the Conservancy's online community and build you own personalized nature page.

By Kate Frazer

A man stands still in a cathedral of pines. Light seems to radiate from him. A child carves her way through a wild river. Her arms disappear like fish beneath the rippling water. Through the lens of her camera, Bridget Besaw considers the interplay between Earth’s remote, wild places and the wilder places in our hearts. 

In her new book and exhibit, Wildness Within, Wildness Without: Exploring Maine's Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail, Besaw is our guide to luminous northern Maine. She captures and reveals the powerful relationships that Mainers have with the natural world. In doing so, she gives us glimpses of the magic at play when people allow wilderness to change their lives.

The photographs in Wildness Within, Wildness Without document lands and waters that Henry David Thoreau and his Wabanaki guides traveled 150 years ago. Many of Besaw’s images also depict places like the St. John River that The Nature Conservancy has worked tirelessly to protect.

Her tools — light, color and perspective — are much different from ours. But Besaw’s work shows that people can be part of the land without destroying it. In that way, our intentions are wholly aligned.

I caught up with Bridget by phone as she took a coffee break in a café in Belfast, Maine.

Kate Frazer: What was your motivation for this project?

Bridget Besaw: I wanted this project to be much more than an exhibit or a book to rest on someone's coffee table. My goal was to inspire awareness of a beautiful, wild region that I’ve come to know well in my years working as a photojournalist in Northern Maine. My hope is that people will want to step into places like the Penobscot River — even just for a moment. Such moments can be catalysts for action.
 

Frazer: What is it about the North Woods that you find so special?

Besaw: Being in the North Woods is different than being an hour from home. I love knowing that I’m really ‘out there.’ To hike amid 10 million acres of forests, mountains and lakes, or to paddle past a moose sipping water at a river’s edge — there are few places left in the world where you can have such experiences.
 

Frazer: Each of your photos shows people in the landscape — some in the forefront, some just distant figures. Was this a conscious choice?

Besaw: This project grew from a magazine assignment to document the Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail. In the process of the assignment, I found that my training as a photojournalist compelled me to photograph the human experience of the region. As the project evolved, the photos began to tell a story of the many ways people use and enjoy this area. Whether they recreate here, live here, log here or fish here, the woods and waters are part of their identity. The ‘through line’ for all of them is love of wilderness.
 

Frazer: The photo of the hiker on Knife’s Edge of Mt. Katahdin really struck me. Was this image as challenging to get as it appears?

Besaw: Thoreau never made it to Katahdin’s peak, but I was determined to make a Knife’s Edge photo. A lot of climbers never tackle Knife’s Edge; there’s a psychological barrier as well as a physical one. Still, I wanted to illustrate what is formidable — and also what is possible — in the North Woods. I summitted and then crossed the Knife's Edge four times to get this shot. 
 

Frazer: Many of the photos in your book are of Conservancy properties and preserves. How do you see art and conservation as connected?

Besaw: With this book, I am asking two questions: What would people be without wildness? And what would wild places become without our help? Remote places are a requirement for my work. If nature provides the canvas for my art, and nurtures me emotionally and spiritually, I must ask myself: how can I return the favor?
 

Frazer: You’ve worked on assignments with The Nature Conservancy in places like Colombia and Argentina. What do you enjoy most about working with us?

Besaw: When I work with The Nature Conservancy, I feel like I am working for many organizations, in many parts of the world. The Conservancy’s philosophy of working with partners who know their homelands intimately really speaks to me. The Conservancy’s expansive reach allows it to tell a bigger story. That’s what I’m trying to do as well — tell a local story with universal meaning.
 

Kate Frazer is a Nature Conservancy conservation writer based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Bridget Besaw (Paddling towards Mount Katahdin); Photo © Bridget Besaw (Portrait of Bridget); Photo © Bridget Besaw (Hiking the Kinfe Edge at Mount Katahdin).