A Look At ‘Dark Seas’, a new Book By Nick Green

John Miur, the American naturalist writer and environmental activist of the 1800s was perhaps best known for his co-founding of the Sierra Club as well as the establishment of Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks.

‘In God’s wilderness is the hope of the world,’ he said. ‘Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.’

There is something in the immensity of the sea or the ruffling of leaves in the breeze - their eternal serenity or perpetual unease - that seems to comfort the soul. Dark Seas, the new two hundred and fifty six page book of photographs by Australian photographer Nick Green accompanied by an introduction by Bob Brown, explores these ideas as they draw connections between nature’s calm and the necessity for maintenance of mental health. ‘For the past ten years I've been returning, often alone and in difficult conditions, to photograph the wild coastline of Tukana [and] Tasman Peninsula in southern Tasmania. What began as photography gradually became something much more personal. During some of the hardest periods of my life, these wild places became somewhere I could slow down, find perspective and reconnect with the world around me,’ explains Nick Green.

‘The project isn't simply about landscape photography. It's about our relationship with wilderness, why these places matter, and how time spent in nature can restore us at a time when many people feel increasingly disconnected.’ says Green.

The book launched in Hobart last weekend, with more than seven hundred people attending the opening exhibition, and the first shipment of books selling out before the speeches began. The response has been incredibly moving, with so many conversations centred not on photography, but on mental health, solitude and the importance of protecting Australia's remaining wild places.

We were able to have a glimpse into Dark Seas, and you can get your hands on the whole dang thing, here.