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Holt Webb: Man, Camera, Action

by Katie Hart
04/05/2009

If you see the Okefenokee Swamp on wheels, do not turn and run; it’s just Holt Webb in his veggie oil Winnebago.

Webb, who graduated from University of Georgia with a bachelor’s in photography, is traveling the U.S. in his Winnebago, which is wrapped in a vinyl photograph of Okefenokee Swamp.

Webb, 39, is photographically documenting America’s changing landscape, ecology and environment.

“I had to get out there and see the county before it all became a shopping mall,” said Webb.

Webb’s project entitled “Vanishing America” is a five-year venture capturing environmental change.

“He has a unique vision of where the country is going and where the country has been,” said Bart King, curator of the "Running on Empty: The Fossil Fuel Addiction" exhibit at ATHICA.

Some of Webb’s work includes:

• Dying fish of Salton Sea, Calif.
• Wild animal habitats including Mustang horses
• The airplane graveyard at Davis-Mothan Air Force Base
• The disappearance of locally owned businesses and ways of life like the decline of the shrimping industry in Fernandina, Fla.

While speaking at ATHICA, Webb showed pictures of Mission Bay in San Diego. These photographs captured the effects of “refuse and sewage going into the bay,” said Webb.

One of his photographs of Mission Bay captured a caution sign that said, “Warning: Runoff/storm drain water may cause illness. Avoid contact with runoff and area of discharge, especially 72 hours following rainfall.” However, even after three days, Webb’s friends who Jet Ski in the bay come back with rashes.

Steven Milsap and Anthony Wilar, art teachers at Cedar Shoals High School, brought the high school’s art club to hear Webb speak.

“The students are very interested in the environmental problem,” said Milsap. “It’s kind of exciting that the art community is pushing these ideas.”

Webb not only documents ecological change, but also the corporatization of local economy.

“It’s so easy on your daily drive or while riding the bus to see your mom-and-pop store or the streams that run through the trees where you love to walk and take it for granted,” said Webb. “One day it will be gone.”

Josh McElroy, a librarian assistant at the University of Georgia, agreed with Webb’s sentiment.

“They’ll find a parking lot or a little woods and then they’ll build a Target,” said McElroy, 28. “The places of my grandparent’s stories don’t exist anymore. It’s saddening.”

Webb is determined to document these places of stories before they are gone.

Webb travels America in BABS, his Winnebago, and a Land Rover hitched to the back. BABS and the Land Rover both run off of diesel and veggie oil.

Veggie oil is a biomass fuel, meaning it comes from organic material.

“You create; you use it; you grow some more,” said Webb.

Webb stated three main reasons for converting his transportation to veggie oil. First, he could theoretically obtain free fuel. Secondly, it is environmentally friendly. And finally, it’s great publicity since he is funded by sponsors who also like the publicity.

Webb collects veggie oil from restaurants and then purifies the oil. Once the oil has been refined and cleaned it is ready to be used.

Restaurants used to have to pay companies to pick-up the veggie oil, because it was considered a biohazard. Since the increase in popularity, people who want to acquire veggie oil pay $1 a gallon, said Webb.

Using veggie oil is not new; its use peaked in the 1970s because of the oil crisis and recession. Webb expects an increase in cars using veggie oil because of America’s current recession.

“When it becomes monetarily advantageous, people will use it,” said Webb.

Webb has also equipped BABS with solar panels. The solar panels charge the batteries that run the house part of the Winnebago, such as the air conditioning and appliances. On a sunny day, he can run his laptop, refrigerator and toaster all day.

Furthermore, BABS is able to hold 90 gallons of fresh water. “If I don’t have to meet with people, I shower judicially,” said Webb. “I can go three weeks without having to refill the tank.”

Webb documents the changes in America, but he also has made changes in his own life to help slow environmental change.

He encourages people to make adjustments in their own lives in order to preserve the environment and to protect local, mom-and-pop businesses.

“Now, I’m inspired to do things on the small and big levels to effect where I’ll be in the future,” said McElroy.