There are very few writers who thought as deeply and wrote so eloquently about the natural world and the relationship of humans to it as author Barry Lopez, who died on Christmas Day, 2020. A short film titled Horizons has been put together by award-winning filmmaker Jeremy Seifert in honor of the first anniversary of Lopez’s death. The loss of his voice is profound, but the gift of his writing will continue to resonate for generations to come.
Lopez’s ability to create visual metaphor in the reader’s mind was extraordinary, his storytelling equally so. His writing immerses me in the places and states he describes, and I ask myself whether or not I could do them justice as a photographer. Part of me feels like I would never need to pick up my camera, though, because the richness of his words so perfectly creates a picture of what he wants you to see. What a gift. What a loss.
If you haven’t yet read anything by Barry Lopez, a good place to start would be Arctic Dreams.
