2026 SDN Visual Storytelling Festival Speaker Series

Land, Power, and Consquences
Stories of a Changing Environment

Tuesday, April 7, 1:30 pm ET via Zoom

Panel discussion with:
Peter Essick, United States 
Pat Kane, Canada 
Sara Hylton, Canada

Moderated by:
Justin Dalaba

No cost for program but registration is required.

Construction Site, Decatur, Georgia (Photography by: Peter Essick)

Join us for an inspiring virtual panel discussion around impacts of industrial development on the environment and climate. Through the lens of documentary photography, this panel brings together three acclaimed visual storytellers whose work explores how modern industry is impacting both the environment and climate and reshaping communities and identities. This conversation will explore their stories as both witness and catalyst for understanding our evolving relationship with the land in a new era of climate and industrial transformation.

Sara Hylton

Sara Hylton is an award-winning Canadian National Geographic photographer and explorer, renowned for her compassionate and intimate approach to documenting environmental and human rights issues. A graduate of the International Center of Photography, she holds an MA in International Conflict Studies from King’s College London.

Her work focuses on gender, Indigenous rights, and the environment, and has appeared in outlets such as National Geographic, TIME Magazine, and The New York Times. Sara is a National Geographic Explorer and has received prestigious grants from the Magnum Foundation, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and the International Women’s Media Foundation, among others.

A recipient of a National Magazine Award, Sara is also a faculty member at the International Center of Photography and an instructor with National Geographic Society’s Photo Camp. Based in Brooklyn, New York, she is represented by Redux Pictures.

Pat Kane

Pat Kane is a visual storyteller based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, on the traditional land of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. He takes a documentary approach to stories about life in Northern Canada, with a special focus on issues important to Indigenous people, including the relationship between land and identity.  

Pat is a National Geographic Explorer, a 2020 World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass mentee, and the recipient of the 2024 Dr. Jane Goodall Vital Impacts Environmental Photography grant. His work has been exhibited in galleries and at festivals internationally, and published by National Geographic, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, and other publications worldwide.

Pat is of Irish-Canadian and Algonquin (Anishinaabe) ancestry, and is a member of the Timiskaming First Nation.

Peter Essick

Peter Essick is a photographer, author, speaker, and drone pilot with 30 years of experience working for National Geographic Magazine. He specializes in nature and environmental themes.

Named one of the forty most influential nature photographers in the world by Outdoor Photography Magazine UK, Essick aims to make photographs that move beyond documentation to reveal in careful compositions the human impact of development as well as the enduring power of the land.

Essick is the author of four books of his photographs, The Ansel Adams Wilderness; Our Beautiful, Fragile World; Fernbank Forest; and Work in Progress. He has photographed stories for National Geographic Magazine on many environmental issues including climate change, high-tech trash, nuclear waste, and freshwater. Essick now focuses his work on a more personal documentation of the environmental and cultural changes in his hometown of Atlanta.

Justin Dalaba, Moderator

Justin Dalaba is a multimedia producer and editor telling stories through documentary photography and video. He currently works for Preserving Legacies, A National Geographic Society funded project and the largest global initiative dedicated to safeguarding heritage places and practices by advancing climate adaptation solutions. He is driven by curiosity and collaboration to advance our understanding of climate challenges and relationship with the natural world. Originally trained as a conservation biologist, he embraced visual storytelling to share impactful stories that inspire action. While pursuing his Master’s in Multimedia, Photography and Design at the Newhouse School in Syracuse New York, he became the first recipient of The Alexia student conservation grant and the Alexia climate change grant.

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