The paradox is that I cannot observe and photograph without intruding. Without leaving my mark. It does
not matter how careful I am. Even if I succeed to obliterate all evidence of my intrusion, the mere fact
that I return with a photograph is proof of my intrusion. I have changed the scene’s status forever. I am
taking away something and I am also giving something.”
Paul van Schalkwyk, June 2012
How will we ever manage to make sense of our presence on this planet? This one planet, to our
knowledge the only in our solar system with an absolute perfect combination and balance of elements to
sustain life, as we know it.
Would the wonder, the beauty and magnificence of nature in all its complexities have had significance at
all if not appreciated and enjoyed by intelligence that can comprehend context? Perhaps we do have a
contribution to make, to close the circle of life that is earth.
And yet, should this be so, the contribution would lie in our being. And in being human, we are what we
are. Inquisitive explorers, programmed to test the boundaries, to apply ourselves, to secure our existence
through conquering of the natural elements that could have wiped us off the face of the earth without it
having any effect on the earth other than preventing the harm and destruction that we cause by being,
had we not conquered it. Would the circle have remained open? Would the system have been out of
balance, or are we the ones disturbing that very balance that earth is so dependent on? Trees might have
fallen in forests, but with nobody there to hear it, or see it – would it really have happened? Perhaps it is
arrogant and maybe we will never really understand the paradox of the human race, at the same time
parasites and patrons of the earth.
The fact of the matter is: we are here. A leopard cannot change its spots. The lion will not lay next to the
lamb on this earth and Paul van Schalkwyk will not ever be able to stop his quest to find, capture and
contemplate the nature of earth from the cockpit of his aeroplane, struggling to reconcile his desire to
preserve with his passion to record from this godlike perspective, though the lens of his camera.
Sand. Stone. Rock formations, canyons and dunes. Riverbeds, plains, pans and savannahs. The evidence
of energy in action over millions – no, billions of years. With each click of his camera, the history of the
world, our past, present and future is framed. It is the physical evidence of the inevitable and the
dispensable. It simultaneously reveals our recklessness and our insignificance. It celebrates and mourns
our presence on earth.
What Paul captures is not merely a photograph. It is a thriller of nature in full force, condensed into an
instant. It is evidence of all existence from beginning to end, in an instance.
Often the interruptions are only temporary. For instance a car track which may disappear with time. Most
of the time it is permanent and the only remaining record of its "unspottedness" would be my
photographs. Perhaps one day they will stack up to accuse collective humanity for the reckless way in
which the landscape was colonised. Or increase the mourning of our permanent loss and strengthen the
resolve and desire to preserve and protect whatever small patches are left…”
Paul van Schalkwyk.