1. Stories

In the Bering Sea, Alaska Native Peoples tell their story through photographs

A man wearing sunglasses holds a pole with an orange buoy at one end and a yellow cover at the other in front of the water

The island of Sivuqaq—also known as St. Lawrence Island—in the northern Bering Sea is home to the Siberian Yupik. In May 2024, WWF partnered with the community of Savoonga to host a week-long participatory photography workshop. We helped participants to grow their photography skills and explore the art of visual storytelling.

The workshop covered a variety of digital camera settings and techniques and worked with the very active schedules of five members of the community amid spring migration season. Walrus, geese, and seabirds like auklets and murres, were traveling by Sivuqaq. People were out on their boats navigating through sea ice every day to hunt for their food and support their families.

Our participants—, Jeri Okbaok, Derek Seppilu Jr., Derek Seppilu Sr., and Miriam Toolie—spent their free time with WWF capturing visuals of their homes, friends and family, the island, and the sea around them. At the end of the week, they shared some of those photos at an open-house exhibit which we’ve digitally replicated below. Please enjoy views of the Arctic through the lenses of people who call it home.

Derek Seppilu Sr.

"During the workshop, I played around with exposure, black-and-white settings, and different lighting through the day and at sunset. A lot of my photos are a result of good timing. There’s a photo with a humpback whale right in the middle of the image, a bird who happened to be dipping his head in the water, and capturing the birds flying across the flat, glassy water."

  • A person wearing a black jacket sits on top of an upsidedown boat looking out at the sea
  • A bright orange sunset
  • People gather around UTVs near a red building in town
  • Two giant bones sit on either side of a road that approaches the sea
  • A bird dips its head into the ocean from the shore near sea ice
  • A brown puddle in the foreground on a road with a group of people standing in the distance
  • Birds fly just above the surface of calm waters with a pastel orange sky

Jeri Okbaok

"Participating in this workshop helped me to realize that life is beautiful and taking photos of the little moments will help you realize that, too. I enjoyed learning more about editing and how to make photos stand out more. This workshop helped me to capture the best photos of life’s breathtaking beauty and the little moments that we often take for granted. I am grateful to have new skills in photography. Thank you."

  • A man stands in a boat in a blue jacket holding a black bird
  • Close up of the brown fur cuff of a green coat
  • A dark brown, smooth and bumpy shoreline with snow along the endges
  • A teacup with a floral pattern sits on a table with a spoon resting in the saucer
  • A man in a green hat leans over the edge of a boat on the shore with orange buoys

Miriam Toolie

"My backyard is the ocean, the Bering Sea. It’s so beautiful and it was fun and exciting to take lots of pictures, choose what to print, and share them through this workshop with my daughter, Faith. I know now how to change the framing, try zooming in and out, and use different angles all to get a different perspective of the photo subject. Some of these photos really tell a story, like where my husband is holding the darting gun; he’s the boat captain and him holding this gun that’s usually operated by his frontman shows that he’s strong."

  • A hand holds a glass lens that distorts a snowy background on a sunny day
  • Blue eggs with brown speckles sit in a snowy nest near the sea
  • Two women sit next to one another at a table cutting up food
  • A pencil sketch of whales and other ocean life sits on top of fur
  • A close up of a woman looking forward while sitting in a boat on the sea
  • A man wearing sunglasses holds a pole with an orange buoy at one end and a yellow cover at the other in front of the water

Derek Seppilu Jr.

"I was interested in trying different settings, adjusting lighting and colors, and showing different details, like practicing portrait photos with my little brother and showing the details on the whaling gun. At my grandparent’s house, I liked the shelf setup they had with the sukilpaq (crested auklet) head on the glass ball and the photo of my great-great-grandfather."

  • A blue glass orb sits on a shelf
  • A yellow-orange sun sets over the ocean
  • A muddy road with snow on the edges and a building and the sea in the background
  • A close up of a person with the right side of their face well lit and the other in a shadow
  • A blue tint covers a photo of a snowy shoreline and the sea
 
A framed photo of the photographer's grandfather

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