Standing with Sony Alpha 7R III in hand, deep in Kenya’s Mau Forest, documentary photographer Alessandro Grassani is about to capture the portrait of Babu Maua. This 76-year-old Ogiek tribesman, pictured in traditional clothes and within the most remote and most sacred place of the forest, is performing a rite in honour of the forest spirits. The hope is this will grant the community a good rainy season and a good harvest. It’s a symbolic gesture in the face of very real challenges.

The portrait is destined for a calendar called ‘Climate Change Heroes’, promoted by an Italian NGO, and for Alessandro it’s the tip of a compelling story. Throughout their time together, he explains, “Babu Maua told me how important the forest is for the Ogiek community. It’s their home, the place where they live, and it offers more than just food and animals to hunt – it is also their most important source of medical plants.”

The Ogieks’ forest home is balanced on a knife edge between deforestation and eco-sustainable conservation. The largest mountain forest in East Africa, it’s also the most important water reservoir in Kenya with some 130 million people depending on the water from its rivers. But today, the forest occupies a quarter of its original size, mercilessly devoured to produce firewood and agricultural land for foreign multinational companies. To combat this, the NGO Mani Tese and the University of Milan are supporting the rights of the Ogiek, and are involving them in the fight against deforestation through sustainable projects, as well as agitating for their right to be respected as the owners and administrators of their ancestral lands.

Alongside his portrait assignment, over three weeks, Alessandro took the task of documenting this struggle of the heart of the Mau Forest. “For me, telling a story with a camera,” he explains, “means revealing what is happening but without ever showing reality too directly. I believe a photograph – even in the documentary field – must not try to lecture too much or it might become devoid of personality. It’s essential to intrigue and push the viewer, to deepen the meaning so they want to see more, and they want to engage with the idea.” Complementing these images with stories and testimonies from the people he photographs, Alessandro’s approach provides a complete and uniquely compelling account.

Along with his Sony Alpha 7R III, he worked with just one lens: the FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS. He standardised his view to give better aesthetic balance to the project, “but more importantly,” he says, “this lens forces you to get very close to the people you photograph. It forces you into a more human experience and exchange, so there must be trust between the photographer and the subject, and you can see it in the final images.

Added to that, the ability of his Alpha 7R III, “to lock onto subjects in those kinds of extreme light conditions without the need to use the AF illuminator was vital. I can’t risk breaking the intimacy of those moments and the effect it would have on my pictures,” he explains, “and combined with the Alpha 7R III being able to shoot in total silence, I was able to maintain and capture the atmosphere intact, without being invasive with people not used to being photographed. Features like the tilting LCD help me add depth and change the perspective of my images, too.”

Living and working for weeks on end in a tropical environment, Alessandro also relied on his Alpha 7R III’s impressive weather sealing and long-lasting batteries. “The forest locations reached up over 3000m above sea level,” he remembers, “and there was strong humidity, continuous rain showers, and nights in tents where it was not possible to recharge the batteries. I travelled with only four batteries and each lasted me from one to two days, so I was able to go a week between charging, which is something that’s indispensable for projects like this.”

Witness to the Ogiek’s struggle against deforestation, as well as the efforts of the Kenyan Forest Service, he inevitably captured failures as part of the ongoing story. Seeing smoke and flames from miles away and arriving at forest sites left with little more than scorched earth remaining, some images perfectly express the frustration of the soldiers fighting against an invisible enemy much bigger than them, and too often arriving too late.

But there is hope, too. “Photography has always been a powerful tool for raising awareness,” concludes Alessandro, “and, historically, documentary photographers have always been able to sensitize and put pressure, thanks to their images, first on the public opinion and then on the political class to push for reform and change. When I pick up my camera, I love to know I’m continuing this tradition and these ideals, even in the era of the internet and social media. It brings me to places like the Mau forest, where hopefully my pictures can play a role to make a difference.”