Un investissement des plus attachants : la perspective des Québécois(ses) amateurs de la photographie animalière
The relationship between human beings and their natural environments has been explored in various research fields using different research traditions. This qualitative research thesis draws on both social science literature and the natural sciences to better understand what connects human beings to elements of their natural environment. It focuses specifically on photography and the notion of the amateur. Using the sociology of attachment as a conceptual framework and the notions or serious leisure and amateurs, I interviewed 13 wildlife photographers in order to explore 1) the role of photography in the attachment relationship between photographers and wildlife species, and 2) how the elements of the framework of attachments (object, device, collective and human body) overlap with each other for these individuals who practise photography as a serious leisure activity. My analysis reveals a cycle of engagement in which the more amateur photographers invest (emotionally and in terms of time and money) the more attached they become to practising wildlife photography. This commitment and the value they attach to the natural allows them to potentially become engaged as concerned citizens in a context of ecological crisis. Finally, despite the amateur photographers’ strong appreciation of nature and the natural, the thesis invites us to reflect on how distinctions between the artificial and the natural may become blurred, particularly where digital photo treatment is concerned.
amateur attachment wildlife photography wildlife species ecological crisis attachment