During this project, I wanted to question what personally makes an image sublime, why do we heavily associate natural landscapes with the sublime and as artists, why are we drawn to romanticising nature? While images of nature express gratitude and admiration for our environment, our actions towards nature continue to be selfish. The rate of climate change becomes more of a pressing matter each year, however we still choose to be ignorant, taking more than what we give back to the environment.

Considering my connection with nature and climate change, I approached this work by walking through various locations, capturing what I was fascinated by. I found myself drawn to photographing landscapes involving water, studying how different lighting can manipulate the appearance of water, presenting a sublime landscape to the viewer. I noticed water can provoke multiple emotions, and not only from looking at it - all of our senses have an instinctual response to water. Depending on the pigmentation, intensity of light and the water's movements, it can influence us to feel a range of emotions such as chaos, vastness, obscurity, and beauty, which are all characteristics of the sublime.

Water personally stirs emotions of the sublime, because it is a resource that we need to survive and what the planet relies on to grow, holding a more powerful presence over ourselves. Water also presents uncertainty due to not knowing what it potentially contains, which is intimidating yet intriguing. Humans have always been drawn to the unknown, desiring to understand and as we engage with water, there is an aura of endless possibility, which may contribute to our desire to romanticise the environment through art. 

Creating beautiful imagery of nature could persuade us to make better choices in protecting our planet or perhaps it helps us stay in denial of the reality that is our current climate crisis. Moreover, my exploration of the sublime made me observe how we take our natural resources for granted and as a society, we can’t afford to only show gratitude towards the environment through art and media, we need to change how we treat our planet.