As the New England air grows colder, the tension and stress on my college campus is palpable. Our semester is drawing to a close, bringing me and my fellow seniors that much closer to the looming, unknown future. 

Despite my fear of the daunting task of being an adult, I find that speaking to people in the workforce is surprisingly comforting. They know the struggles of the job search, and many started out in wildly different places than they are now. My conversation with Lauren Owens Lambert revealed that she is no exception. A freelance visual journalist with a focus on the environment, Lauren and I discussed how she got to where she is now and the importance of visual imagery in storytelling. 

Masterful at multiple mediums, Lauren makes videos or pieces together photographs to create visual essays; illuminating intimate details typically unseen by the average person. Though she holds the camera, Lauren’s visual work provides space for her subject to share their own story, in their own voice. Featuring crowds of fish traveling through murky waters or fishermen sitting at the water’s edge, each voice helps to reveal environmental controversies previously unknown to many.

Enthralled by nature at a young age, Lauren knew she wanted to pursue a career in the environmental field. In college, drawn to find a creative outlet for her interest, she found herself working for the publication Planet. There, it “wasn’t about composition or wasn’t about technical photography, it was about visual storytelling”

With a keen eye, Lauren captures stories about conservation and human action in the age of the anthropocene. She has partnered with groups such as the Audubon Society and many more to educate and raise awareness about the importance of the environment and how we humans treat it. Communicating these intangible and distant struggles to a broader audience allows the viewer to recognize their own role within the environment and contextualize their personal experiences.

Through Lauren’s unbiased lens, viewers are exposed to a variety of issues and causes. Documenting the daily life of otherwise invisible Americans, she helps share their story with a broader audience. Photographs of turtle rescuers or Boston Harbor’s workforce reveal the day to day life of people combating environmental changes and degradation. 

People, Lauren asserts, inherently have an impact on those around us and the broader world. The human aspect of stories is what draws us in. We want to learn more and understand how other people exist in the world. Learning about the personal stories of a fisherman humanizes the otherwise intangible impacts of global warming and sea level rise. Lauren identifies her role as a visual journalist as particularly well positioned to expose issues of climate change. Afterall, “we’re very visual creatures”. 

Though primarily motivated by her own excitement, Lauren’s audience still plays a

significant role when developing her projects. Assuming that the audience “know[s] nothing… helps you clarify the project”. This mindset pushes her to establish a well rounded foundation of information to ensure the viewer understands the story that is being

 communicated. She offers: “they might not even know the salt marsh sparrow exists!”

I, for one, did not know the salt marsh sparrow existed!

As technology and visual media become more and more prevalent in our daily life, we are exposed to a broader range of information. Though it is easier to disseminate this content, it becomes more difficult to galvanize action against climate change. Despite this, Lauren hopes to use her platform and visual imagery to help the public move in a more sustainable direction. 

Lauren’s advancements in the professional visual world are inspiring. Her passion for her craft and her desire to share stories about the environment is evident throughout her public work and she is still so excited to learn more and show more. I hope that I, like Lauren, can chase what excites me while creating an impact through visual storytelling.