The collaboration will strengthen the documentation of the botanical collections, promote specialised training in nature photography and explore new lines of research
The Carl Faust Foundation and the Blanes Photographic and Cinematographic Association (AFIC) have launched a new line of collaboration that places photography at the service of the conservation, research and dissemination of the plant heritage of the Marimurtra Botanical Garden. This initiative is being developed through a specialised volunteering programme in which people with experience in nature photography will help visually document the Garden’s living plant collections.
The first volunteers have already joined the project and have begun their initial working sessions following specific training delivered by the Garden’s scientific team on photographic documentation protocols.
Photography in the service of botanical documentation
Their task consists of photographing Marimurtra’s plant heritage according to standardised criteria for framing, lighting and image quality, correctly identifying each specimen and submitting the photographs in the appropriate format so that they can become part of Marimurtra’s biological collections database. This documentation will be particularly relevant for recording seasonal processes such as flowering, fruiting and other phenological changes in plants.
The collaboration goes beyond the creation of a photographic archive. It is also conceived as a space for the exchange of knowledge between the Garden’s professionals and AFIC members, where photography becomes a tool supporting plant conservation, research and scientific outreach.
In this regard, the project has a clear educational focus. Over the coming months, various specialised sessions on photography applied to nature are expected to be organised, covering disciplines such as macro photography, botanical photography and other technical aspects that will help to further improve the quality of the Garden’s visual documentation.
New photographic techniques applied to research
This collaboration also opens the door to rigorous scientific projects involving the application of photographic techniques that are not usually used. Among the planned lines of work, the photography of flowers and inflorescences using ultraviolet light stands out, particularly involving stonecrops and related groups of the family Crassulaceae from Europe, North America and the Canary Islands. This approach makes it possible to reveal petal colour patterns that are invisible to the human eye but can be detected by pollinators.
Through this initiative, the Carl Faust Foundation continues to strengthen the role of volunteering as a tool for active participation in the conservation of natural heritage. At the same time, it consolidates its commitment to establishing partnerships with local organisations that contribute specialised knowledge and help generate new projects in the service of science, biodiversity and society.
