Working on the frontlines of marine conservation can be a lonely, frustrating and often depressing experience. With a decade of environmental investigation experience , I have seen just about every imaginable act of cruelty and wanton destruction. Through these hard experiences I have learned to separate myself, developing an alter ego as it were, to cope in the heat of the moment and not subject myself to increased danger.
In the face of such destruction, I walk a fine line between bitter reality and hope. My job is to expose the destruction as a wake up call to the world, but also to preserve hope in the future; that mankind will wake up, will change and things will get better. I call this approach ‘strong medicine in small doses’. The problem is, in the process of collecting these ‘small doses’ I have had to expose myself to massive and prolonged doses. And as no surprise, this extreme exposure can take its toll on the soul.
I am obsessed with the visual sense and addicted to the process of capturing powerful media. I am a storyteller and imagery is my medium. My ambition is to capture through my lens what my soul experiences through my eyes, an enhanced version of reality, order in chaos, focused, isolated and profound.
Watch the Dan Rather Report on Shawn’s work: For a Bowl of Soup
Watch Anderson Cooper – Planet In Peril featuring Shawn’s work: Battle Lines – Sharks