Oscar Stanley

Photography - BA (Hons)

Oscar Stanley is a Cambridgeshire-based environmental and nature documentary photographer who works with both digital and analogue photography. Due to being always in touch with nature from a young age, thanks to his grandparents' great love for nature, this has influenced many of the projects and works he creates within the uni environment and outside in his free time.

From working with projects looking into the environmental issues which affect all of us Oscar tries to communicate the importance of preserving nature. He shows others the harsh reality of environmental issues, such as this project about deforestation, as well as landscapes showing the beauty of the world we live in. If a small number of people are affected by the work he creates, Oscar feels like his work has succeeded in what it was created for.

Project rationale

Deforestation is a reality in the UK, and it is happening amidst a lack of media attention and people's awareness. This issue affects forests and woodlands across the United Kingdom, destroying natural habitats for animals and endangering rare and native plant species which can only be found in forests.

Austin Brady, the conservation director of the Woodland Trust charity says 'We are only planting 700 hectares (1,730 acres) a year, almost certainly less than we are felling’. Statistics show that 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions are the result of deforestation worldwide, which can contribute negatively to climate change and environmental degradation.

Through his photographic work, Oscar explores this issue and questions that if the current tendency does not stop, the UK forests and woodlands will face extreme decline as other more talked about forests in the Amazon and Borneo. This project shows felling, processing and the devastation left after the logging industries leave the places. Through this project, he draws attention to extractive practices and greed as the source of these issues and points out that a more balanced stewardship of the forests in the UK is the only solution.