My Land Rover pulled up just in time to watch the lions finish their meal. What remained had once been…what? A zebra? It’s sometimes hard to tell. Whatever it was, it’s mostly gone now. “We’re too late,” I hear someone say. “Nothing to see here.” Maybe it was the voice in my head. But hang on a moment. In the …
More Interested, More Interesting
A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting on a river, happily photographing grizzly bears. After a two-day drive and a quick turnaround at home, I was off to San Francisco to sign 1,000 copies of the hardcover special edition of my new book, Light, Space, & Time: Essays on Camera Craft and Creativity. I also spent time with my publisher and …
Light, Space & Time
My newest book is just about to be released, and there are a couple of ways to get it, including getting one of only 1,000 signed special editions and even picking it up in person if you’re near San Francisco. But give me a moment to talk about the book itself. Despite the wildlife photographs that illustrate the book, Light, …
Grizzlies of the Khutzeymateen
Ten years ago, I got off a de Havilland Beaver, the quintessential bush plane of the Canadian north, and stepped into the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary for the first time—and it was love at first sight. The long inlet not far from the border with Alaska is flanked by mountains and cliffs, all covered in evergreens draped with flowing moss, and …
Postcards from Vancouver Island
Every year, off the coast of Vancouver Island, the place I call home, the herring spawn by the millions. The usually dark green water turns a magnificent chalky blue-green as the herring do the reproductive dance that makes them a keystone species, while at the same time drawing in an astonishing number of animals: gulls, seabirds, bald eagles, sea otters, harbour …
Creativity: The Missing Ingredient
We are all missing something. We are all a Gordian Knot of what we are, what we have and do not have, and what we’ve both gained and lost. The blessing of some of that is easily seen, while some of it is hard not to see as a curse or a deficiency. All of it comprises the constraints within …
Show Me Where You’re Brave
There is a scene in the 2023 Netflix series Kaleidoscope in which the lead character, played by the inimitable Giancarlo Esposito, says to his young daughter, “Show me where you’re brave.” She responds by putting her finger to her head. “Now show me where you’re strong,” he says, and in response, she puts her finger on her heart. I am feeling neither brave …
Having Not Gone Farther: On Regret & Creativity
I regret very few things in life, if by “regret” we mean the desire to undo the past, to have done things differently. I don’t regret loving with a full heart when my brain was nothing but red flags, and that same heart later fell broken at my feet for having taken the chance. I don’t regret the missteps I …
One Foot in the Grave? An Update.
Not quite a week ago, I had my right foot amputated and dropped that news on many of you somewhat abruptly. Sorry about that. As I observed at the time, there’s just really no way of easing into a conversation like that. If you missed this and you’re wondering what’s going on, you can read the whole story here to …
Amputated. A Personal Note.
I had my foot amputated yesterday morning. I wrote this a couple weeks ago knowing that my head might not be in the space to do so in the days after the surgery, so I can’t tell you how it went just yet, or how I’m feeling about it all, but I can bring you up to date. I don’t …