Cultivating authentic relationships is an important component when documenting a person's story. "You have to pay someone respect and become their friend in order to understand their life," says Sofia Jaramillo, a photographer and filmmaker.

To support environmental storytelling that aims to protect land, air and water across the globe, Patagonia and Photographers Without Borders teamed up as part of the ongoing "Storytelling for Change" series. Five talented Patagonia storytellers—Keri Oberly, Sarah Stacke, Kahlil Hudson, Beth Wald and Sofia Jaramillo—spoke about the importance of creating long-term relationships, uplifting the voices of the communities they work with and shared insight into their creative processes.

Keri Oberly is a photographer, cinematographer and activist based in Ventura, California who documents stories around environmental sustainability, Indigenous rights and food security. For the past couple of years, she's been collaborating and documenting the Gwich'in Nation's fight to protect the Arctic National Refuge, wildlife refuge, food security and Porcupine Caribou Herd.

Oberly's relationship with the Gwich'in community began in 2016 when she met Bernadette Demientieff, the executive director of the Gwich'in Steering Committee. "I remember asking Bernadette where the visuals were to accompany the stories, but she said there were not a lot of stories that focus on the people." Oberly and Demientieff worked collaboratively to craft a grant proposal that uplifted the Gwich'in people, their way of life, and the community's food security. "You go to villages and a bag of small frozen vegetables is $20 in the grocery store. Nobody can afford that. The land is where they get their food and medicine," says Oberly.

The Gwich'in in Alaska live in nine communities, all of which are on the migratory route of the Porcupine Caribou Herd. "The food security story isn't just about the caribou. They believe that half a caribou heart is Gwich'in and half Gwich'in heart is part caribou. They have a spiritual connection to them, but all of their traditional foods are threatened—moose, salmon and berries. They're in the Arctic at ground zero for climate change," says Oberly. Keri's resulting photo essay about the Gwichʼin people and their food security is now used on lobbying trips to show congressional leaders about the community and what it needs.

For Oberly, taking the time to collaborate and invest in people and relationships are major components of her mentality as a storyteller. "To develop deeper relationships with people, you have to invest time, you have to be there, you have to put the camera down, you have to do other things to support them. I always have to acknowledge that I'm a guest going into these communities. This isn't my story to share, it's their story—and you need to collaborate," says Oberly.

Sarah Stacke creates photographs that look at places whose borders were formed during periods of colonization, the intersection of culture and memory, and how the relationship to the land and its boundaries has shaped the identity of the individuals who live there.

Sarah uses her connection with people to decide her assignments, "I'm drawn to a person. I'll travel someplace that interests me and will meet a person. Then, that person introduces me to their community or their family, and that's where the topic of the story comes from."

Her relationship with Danny and Joe, a young Lakota couple, took a long time to evolve. "I was interested in their relationship. As a Two-Spirit couple, they weren't interested in a love story but in how contemporary Lakota communities treat Two-Spirit people," says Stacke. In traditional Lakota culture, Two-Spirit people are viewed as regular members of the community. "Their story looks at kinship, tradition in contemporary Lakota communities, and how the contemporary Lakota community treats Two-Spirit people. It's about Danny and Joe and their relationship to each other and to their families. They're both activists and water protectors, and have had to work hard to spread the word about their environmental work. But they haven't acted as LGBTQ+ or Two-Spirit activists in their communities, because they are accepted," says Stacke.

As a storyteller going into a community, Stacke believes it's important to create opportunities for Indigenous photographers to document their own experiences. "The relationships that I have in these communities, and the conversations that I have, work in a dialogical manner. That means being in dialogue with the people who I photograph and the stories that come from them," says Stacke.

Kahlil Hudson is an Alaskan Native, a photographer and an Emmy award-winning documentary film director. He spent time photographing and directing a documentary for Patagonia about the Alaskan Gwich'in community's decade long fight to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling.

Hudson feels that whether using photography or film, the viewer needs to connect with the person whose story you're telling. "That's not an easy thing. I would say it's even harder in photography. You need to tell a story that allows the viewer to empathize, connect and really feel what you're presenting on screen. You need to find the humanity within the image or within the person's individual story. That's what we're looking for in telling the story of the Gwich'in community. We wanted to show the humanity of the people in a way that created a balance," says Hudson.

When planning a film, Hudson spends a lot of time thinking about who he wants to cast and why. He wants the audience to identify with the characters they're seeing because it can open up the discussion to more difficult topics and allow people to see a different perspective. "It’s about exposing people to stories they can actually relate to. By putting somebody relatable on screen, people can see themselves in that person—even if it's a shadow or a sliver of that person's character."

Beth Wald is an award-winning photographer who tells stories that explore human connections with land and nature. She's particularly interested in telling stories about how Indigenous and traditional cultures are working to survive in the face of environmental and societal changes.

Wald's passion for rock climbing, mountaineering and photography opened up opportunities to share individual's stories. "I started looking for projects that amplify the voices of people who we hadn't heard from or perspectives that were different," says Wald.

Her work recently led her to collaborate with Rewilding Argentina and The Tompkins Conservation Area in Argentina. "Rewilding is realizing that a landscape needs to have its full complement of animals, plants and beings—including people—back in the landscape. That's a big challenge. It gets a lot of pushback from local communities, where the animals have been killed off on purpose. Sometimes they've been hunted into extinction," says Wald. Rewilding initiatives demonstrate the role humans play in an ecosystem and the importance of remaining in touch with their environment.

For Wald, the thrill of photography comes from "being so connected, that you're feeling everything. You're seeing the light, seeing where people are moving, seeing what they might do next. You're super hyper aware of it all. I like to have fun and be involved with people, so sometimes I take a step back and let things happen," says Wald.

Sofia Jaramillo is an outdoor adventure photographer and athlete based out of Jackson, Wyoming. As a Colombian American, her mission is to uplift and tell the stories of BIPOC athletes and women. She's the first woman of colour to shoot a winter campaign for The North Face, is a contributing photographer for National Geographic, and has collaborated with Patagonia.

Jaramillo grew up in Ketchum, Idaho. "It's a very affluent, Caucasian town. I always felt a little out of place on the ski hill. All the women who I looked up to within the ski industry didn't really look like me. I didn't realize that at the time, but I always felt weird. As I got older, I processed that and realized that I wanted to see more of myself in outdoor imagery. I wanted to make the pictures I didn't see as a kid—especially in the ski world, which isn't as inclusive for BIPOC folks."

As a storyteller, there are ways to work and develop deep, long-lasting relationships with BIPOC folks. Jaramillo says it's important to do it authentically and truthfully. "One thing photo editors can do is if you're working on a BIPOC story, hire a BIPOC photographer, hire a BIPOC creative or a creative who knows that story best. I think BIPOC folks get tokenized in photo shoots. I deal with this as a photographer all the time. Clients say, "Can you get your Black friend to be part of this?" And while representation is important, there's a right way to do it. Part of being a good ally is to put BIPOC folks in positions within shoots where they're being uplifted," says Jaramillo.

In one collaboration with Patagonia, Jaramillo documented her and her friends snowboarding. "On the mountain, we started realizing how powerful it was for us to be out in that space together as women of colour. I don't think it ever happened, for any of us, where we were in this safe space where we could just be ourselves. I like my work to have purpose. I want to uplift these amazing riders of colour, but also tell the story of what it felt like for us to go out there and ride together," says Jaramillo.

Oftentimes, people in positions of power in the outdoor industry expect BIPOC folks to be at the same level as their Caucasian counterparts, "which just isn't realistic, because BIPOC folks haven't been supported in the outdoor industry the same way that white folks have. I think that's what the Patagonia piece hinted at. Representation is cool, and it's good to include BIPOC in your images. But what can you do to help us get to the level that we want to be at? How can you fully support us? How can you go beyond representation?" says Jaramillo.

To learn more about each photographer, follow along on Instagram @kerioberly, @kahlilhudson, @sarah_stacke, @bethjwald, and @sofia_jaramillo5. For more storytelling lessons from renowned photographers, join our next Storytelling for Change session.