Greta Rybus is a photojournalist specializing in editorial portraiture, travel, and documentary photography, currently based in Portland, Maine.
Born in Boise, Idaho, Greta studied photojournalism and cultural anthropology at the University of Montana. Her first book, Handcrafted Maine, about people in Maine working with art, land, and sea, is now in bookstores. She has a goal to spend one month of every year living and photographing in a new place and is currently working on an ongoing project exploring how climate change impacts individuals and communities. Thus far, she has worked on the project in Senegal, Panama, Norway, and Idaho.
IN WHAT WAYS DOES NATURE INSPIRE OR INFORM YOUR WORK?
I seek out stories of people who have deep insight about how to be a part of nature: people who can teach us how to pay attention, harvest with reciprocity, or live in ways that are appropriate in scale and substance.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO BE PART OF A THRIVING ECOSYSTEM?
I am a part of nature.
I am a recipient of the gifts of nature.
I can give back.
I can say “thank you.”
I can unlearn patterns of exploitation and extraction.
I can learn from those who know more.
I can learn from nature.
