STANDING FOR US ALL
Using a Century-old Technique to Capture Greta Thunberg TEKST: ISMAIL ACAR
FOTO: CHAD NODLAND
While looking for an impactful cover photo for this edition of
“To me, these are probably the most significant wet plates of
Pedagogisk Profil, I came across a photo of Greta Thunberg
our generation. Who else is bigger than this young lady.
that really made an impression on me. After seeing countless
She has concerns, valid concerns, and all she is doing is
photos of Greta, I had never seen one quite like this. It looked
telling people to pay attention to science and start acting
like nothing I had seen before. With zero expectations, I
on the science.”
contacted the artist who produced this photo, asking if we could feature it on our cover page. Surprisingly, I was
Greta´s activism has not been free of criticism, some often
contacted by Shane Balkowitsch on my Facebook DM,
targeting her personally, rather than her message. Just doing
saying “Let´s do this!”.
work with, and about her in a positive manner could be considered controversial.
Along with his photos, Shane sent me two digital voice memos, sharing his backstory and thoughts of the photo
“The backlash she has been getting is extremely harsh, I´m
shoot. The quotes below represents a portion of the memos,
expecting to get a lot of backlash about this work too, but I
raw and unedited, similar to the photos he takes himself.
could give a fuck.”
“I´m talking to you on Tuesday, October 8th 2019 about
In contrary to the likes of Piers Morgan and Donald Trump,
plates 3327 and plates 3328 of Greta Thunberg from
who have criticized her based on her personality, Shane has a
Sweden, the environmental activist”, reads Shane
different impression of Greta Thunberg.
into his recorder. “She is sixteen years old and she is such a sweetheart. I could Clearly influenced by his meeting with Greta, Shane states
not say more nice things about the experience I had, and
that this is the most important work he has ever done.
her father. How humble they are. They are doing this not for
