Absolutely floored by the warm welcome from the NFT community in the last week. This has always been one of my favorite photos, and mere minutes after listing it I was blessed with a 5 ETH bid. I am speechless, humbled and blessed. Thank you, all. If you’re curious to see more of my work for sale, search my name on OpenSea or Foundation.
Yes, it’s photoshopped.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, this is a shot I’ve been dreaming of for years, but there’s a few issues that prevent me from capturing it:
1) I don’t really want to be outside in polar bear country in the pitch black
2) polar bears move, and so it would be hard to get a photo of one at night that isn’t blurry
3) polar bears are hard to find and the northern lights are unpredictable so two of them together is very tough
Anyhow, if any of you happen to be the owner of like…Tesla, or something, and feel like chipping in some funding for me to spend an entire winter in the Arctic let’s party.
One of my New Years’ resolutions is to be a more outspoken advocate for our environment. It’s a subject I’m very passionate about: that’s what my college degree is for, and I even worked as a conservation scientist for a bit. It’s always been a goal of mine to use my photography and social media platforms to push for decarbonization, public land conservation and natural resource protections but I haven’t really quite lived up to my goals in the past. It’s easy to get distracted by life and sort of focus on creating pretty pictures rather than focusing on WHAT those pictures can and should be used for.
So here I am publicly stating it: in 2022 I’m going to be Captain Planet. If, for some reason, you think clean air and water are bad ideas then I guess go ahead and unfollow me (and stop breathing?), but for the rest of you, let’s make this the year we finally stop letting greedy corporations destroy our permanent home for temporary profits. We can do this, together.
I knew I was excited to see penguins, but I didn’t expect to love them as much as I did. Easily one of my absolutely favorite animals now, they’re just the cutest little ding dongs I’ve ever seen.
Also you may have seen this on my story, but it’s worth mentioning here: the IG algorithm rewards (or punishes) your behavior. If you see a post like this that you (hopefully) like and you scroll by it and think “hmm, that’s nice” but don’t interact, the algorithm will assume you don’t like it, and you’ll see less of it in the future. I’m SUPER guilty of this. I’ll see an incredible photo that I absolutely love and I’ll scroll by after enjoying it, and then I’ll DM a dozen stupid memes to friends. The algorithm thinks I only like memes and don’t like mountains. That’s the opposite of the truth, but that’s what I’ve told it through my actions and my Instagram is a dumpster fire these days.
All of this is to say that if you like this post with your heart, then PLEASE like it with your thumbs also. It goes a long way towards helping me become/stay visible and relevant in this overwhelmingly enshittified industry. Love you.
Beyond excited to be heading back to the Cypress Swamps this coming October/November! Truly one of the most otherworldly and beautiful places I’ve ever seen. Send me a message if you’re interested in joining and I’ll get you more info!
It’s starting to warm up out there so I’m reminiscing on icy Antarctic waters in the southern ocean. I’m beginning to outline my new bucket list. What’s the number one spot you think I should check out???
Yesterday was @autpops birthday! I didn’t post because we spent the entire day playing outside, eating delicious food, and otherwise living life. It was beautiful, and we had just an absolutely excellent time. She’s a little adventure queen who looks cute even when backpacking, that’s how you know she’s a real catch.