Bangor's COP26 march: Through the lens of a Stand For Nature Wales youth member

Hi everyone! Helô bawb! I’m Meg, and I’m a third-year BSc Zoology with Animal Behaviour student at Bangor University. I am currently on a placement year, where I split my time between volunteering with the North Wales Wildlife Trust (NWWT) and RSPB Conwy. Through being a volunteer with the NWWT, I was given the incredible opportunity to join the Trust's environmental youth forum on Anglesey as part of the Welsh Wildlife Trust's 'Stand For Nature Wales' project, to engage and inspire young people to protect our natural world.

Hearing about the significance of COP26, it was a no-brainer for me to head to the Global Day of Climate Action march in Bangor, with my camera of course! As this was my first experience of a march, I didn’t know what to expect or how many people would turn up (as there was quite a down-pour pre-march!)… but wow was I blown away. Hundreds of people gathered for this march, and I couldn’t help but feel overjoyed, utterly inspired, and proud to be a part of such an amazing event.

COP26 march - Bangor — Megan Stone Photography

From young children to scientists, and students to Bangor locals. We were all united with the same intentions. To save and protect our natural world.

From a photographer’s perspective, there were so many special moments to photograph – photographing the march itself, speakers at the rally, individual or group protestors with their placards, and the ability to reflect the sheer support of this march through a single shot… the opportunities were endless! It was a challenge for me as I have never photographed a protest march before (I don’t usually photograph people – my usual subjects have a lot more hair or possibly feathers!), but I was up for the challenge! I managed to capture hundreds of shots from the event… so I think it was a pretty successful day!

I did not have a perfect image in my mind that I was hoping to get from the march. I just wanted a few images that would perfectly represent the atmosphere of the occasion, and I think I might have possibly achieved that. I had a couple of moments through that march where I felt as though I really connected with the protestor that I was photographing. Looking through my photographs, my favourite images are ones in which the subject is staring directly into the lens or looking on into the distance – these particular images, in my opinion, make more of an impact as you can envisage the atmosphere and emotions witnessed within this march through a single photograph. A subject staring directly into the lens is such a powerful image and you feel as though you are really connecting with the subject’s emotions. I managed to capture a couple of photographs of two other youth forum members within the march too, and it was great to see other youth members supporting the event as well!

To have been given the opportunity to photograph history in the making is such a privilege, and one that I will remember for many years to come! I really hope that these photographs inspire people for many generations; to indicate a turning point in human history as the moment where we, as humans, stepped up to save our natural world.