I am currently home and in the office for a stretch after six months of being on the move with projects everywhere from North Carolina to Nepal.

            On a typical office day, I will spend absurd amounts of time sitting and staring into the digital abyss of endless workflow, emails and Internet.  To break it all up and attempt to stay current on major issues, I’ll check out a few different news outlets as I try to enjoy my lunch.

            Unfortunately, most of the time I am deeply saddened by what I read and watch.  We all know there are a lot of bad things happening out there, and that is mostly what gets reported.  Sometimes I can’t even finish my meal because what I see and hear is so horrific.

            Today I was on the verge of subjecting myself to the same brutal routine of finding out just how rough things are when I realized that I was REALLY hungry and that I REALLY wanted to finish my delicious frozen pizza.

            So instead, I did a quick search on the interwebs of places where I get inspiration; places that make me want to do more with myself.

            First stop, Patagonia’s blog, The Cleanest Line.

            My buddy, who I spoke of in my last post (Life IS Short Pt. III), was the main man for The Cleanest Line and ever since our chance encounter and immediate friendship years ago, I have made it a habit to read whatever is new in the Patagonia blogosphere, both for inspiration and to read my friend’s ninja writing skills.

            Since Mike’s passing last month it is obviously a much different experience when I visit the site now, but that won’t keep me from checking in here and there.

            Today’s post from climber Kelly Cordes is all about the value of good storytelling.

            “I love good storytelling.  I don’t care so much about the medium, though the differences intrigue me,” Cordes writes.  “Combine great imagery with great story, and you create incredible art.”

            Well put.

            The great thing is that even though I have never met Kelly, I can hear him saying these words.  I can do so because I remember listening to one of his stories on the Dirtbag Diaries podcast more than a year ago.

            One more storytelling medium.

            This all got me thinking, and when that started, there was no stopping it.  I had to write this post even though I really didn’t have the time.  I do believe that inspiration should never be pent up, so when it shows its upbeat and smiling face, you just have to let it rip!

Good storytelling can really be done in any medium or any combination of mediums.  It’s all up to the creator, and that is where inspiration steps to the plate. 

What inspires us?

What inspires others?

I don’t know about you, but I get inspired by seeing really cool stuff.  That is a very elementary way of putting it, but I think the more we simplify this, the better.

A perfect example is the slideshow of the Alaskan Bike and Packraft trip that Cordes uses to highlight his point.  It is a photo story.  It is simple, and it is the way we have relayed stories through images since the beginning.

Here’s the kicker.

The images are great, but more than anything, I wish I was on that trip.  I have a deep love for Alaska and have had a few of my own packrafting missions up there, but this one would have been amazing.  On top of that, it is the kind of trip that embodies everything I stand for as an adventurer:  using old methods with modern technology, or a modern spin, to create new access.

That trip would not be possible without a packraft or the modifications to regular mountain bikes.  Add them together and you can travel independently from Yakutat to Cordova, Alaska.  That’s amazing!!!

I always laugh when hard-core skiers bash on me for my board-riding background (even though I ski now too), or hard-core snowboarders bash on me for putting Alpine Touring ski boots on my splitboard (a snowboard split down the middle for backcountry touring). 

I laugh because in their unyielding solidarity to their sport, they don’t even know what they are missing.  The same goes for inflatable standup paddleboards or fold up kayaks, etc…  I just want better access to cool stuff, and if that means putting a new spin on an old method, then so be it.  To me that is adventure, and that is why Cameron Lawson’s Bike Packraft photo story is inspirational.

So there you have it, inspirational on two levels.  One, the actual medium in which the story was told and two, the content of the story struck a cord deep enough within me to make me feel sheepishly jealous of the two adventurers on the trip.

Back to storytelling mediums.

Cordes’ other example is a video comprised of still images, video, timelapses, narration, ambient audio and music.  It combines all mediums (that I know of) into one very moving piece that speaks for itself.  Sharing the photographer’s perspective, I feel it speaks for me too.  Check it out, Dark Side of the Lens by Astray Films and Mickey Smith.  If this doesn’t give you goosebumps, nothing will.

All of these mediums are also now spread primarily through the internet.  Sometimes it can all be a bit too much, but if you can manage to slim down your email subscriptions, notifications, Facebook apps and so forth, you can actually just be told about cool stuff that you care about.  A perfect example is that while writing this post, my inbox dinged and I saw my 5-1-1 Weekly Update from the High Fives Foundation.

            If you don’t know who these guys are, check them out.  They are a regular source of inspiration for me, the Tahoe region and the winter sports industry as a whole.  I have been fortunate enough to document some of the GOOD work they do as well as involve them in a personal project that I cannot wait to show.

            The first two headline stories of the update included the release of the video, “Moving Forward,” about snowboarding athlete Danny Toumarkine’s Traumatic Brain Injury and his return to riding, as well as Grant Korgan’s successful PUSH to the South Pole.  Yes, you read that correctly, he pushed his way to the South Pole in a sit ski.  In doing so he became the first adaptive athlete in history to reach the South Pole.  Not only that, but he made it there as planned, on the 100^th anniversary of the first humans to reach the pole.

True inspiration shared through different storytelling mediums.

The point of all of this is that I decided to look for inspiration and within a minute of starting my search, I felt compelled enough to write this post.  And while doing that, more inspiration showed up in my inbox.

It’s out there folks.  It’s everywhere, you just have to decide what you want to experience, and hopefully you also decide to add to the pot.  Just like opportunity begets more opportunity, positivity and inspiration (one in the same to me) create more positive and inspirational energy.

I find inspiration in different storytelling mediums, and specifically when they share really cool stuff, as defined by my interests.  It also helps if I can check it out AND finish my lunch at the same time.

So what inspires you?

            Life IS short, but for some, it is far too short.

            If you have followed this blog for a year or longer, you will know that I write about this every year.

            It wasn’t supposed to be that way.

            I never planned on making this post a continuation of thoughts, nor did I ever imagine I would have to write about the loss of my friends every year.

            I never thought that life and friendships would feel so fragile, and that one could feel so helpless.

            I certainly never felt this strongly about the same message as I do right now.

            Life IS short, make your time count.

            On December 7^th, I received the kind of phone call that brings you to the most shattered version of yourself.  It was a call informing me that a good friend and someone whom I truly looked up to had unexpectedly passed away.  And it never hit me as hard as when the soft, sad voice on the other end of the line said, “He’s gone, Trevor.”

            He’s gone?

            The words echoed in my mind.  How could he be gone?  That’s not fair, I never had the chance to catch up with him like I had promised.  And forget about me, what about his amazing wife?  What about all of the people who love him?  What about all of the things he wanted to do?  What about all of the good times we were going to have this winter?  What about… and the list of rushing, out of sequence and out of control thoughts went on.

            And that is how we tend to feel about loss, we tend to look at what we wish we would have done, could have done or should have done.  We do so because we get wrapped up in our own worlds and we put stuff like that aside.  We put the important stuff like that aside.

I certainly wish I would have taken more time to catch up with my friend, and I will carry that feeling for the rest of my days.

            The only way around that feeling is to live our days in a way that we can appreciate the people around us, and appreciate what really is important.  It is a way of living that happens right now, and not sometime in the future on some undetermined date which will most likely never become a reality.

            We have to live right now, we have to live like Mike Colpo did.

            At 36 years old, he had already shared a few lifetimes worth of adventures and personal connections with others.  That is just how he was, always getting after it, always up for an adventure and always making you feel like you were the only thing that mattered at that point in time.  I say, “that point in time,” because to Mike there was no other time. He lived in that moment and if you were there with him, you felt a very strong bond that can otherwise not be explained.

            “He was engaging.”

            I have heard that said a few times now by others who knew Mike as well. 

            Mike didn’t just connect with people; he moved them.  In fact, the first words Mike spoke to me changed me forever, and for the better.  That was when I learned you could transmit a true feeling with only a few words and a look, or tone of voice.  To read more on that story, please go to, “Hero Status,” on Mike’s Memorial Website.  And while you are there, read some of the other stories his friends and family have posted.  You will probably be better for it.

            Mike was introspective and you could tell that his own character and wisdom had been shaped by a lot of searching within.  Through reflection and intense thought, Mike seemed to have found something the rest of us haven’t, and had the undeniable ability to put it on paper.

            Mike was a writer, a real writer, one who could put himself out there in a way that could show vulnerability and strength at the same time, one that could bend and knot metaphors like the climbing ropes he used so often.  Mike wrote for Patagonia’s Cleanest Line Blog and quickly became the voice of the company as a whole, but I have most enjoyed hearing the notes, poems and journal entries that others have shared over the last few days.

            He was a lover of all things, especially cooking and food, and I know that if he saw the stack of frozen pizzas in my freezer he would probably sit me down and give me a good long talk.  Actually, he would probably just start making me pizzas from scratch.

Most importantly, Mike loved his wife Liz.  In his closing thoughts on a podcast called, “The Dirtbag Diaries,” Mike made that very clear.

            “Searching for freedom in distant lands and wild places is a distraction.  There is no wilderness more vast than our heart and there is no freedom like learning to trust it to another.”

            It gives me comfort to know that I can always go back to that podcast and listen to the voice and the earned wisdom of my friend, of someone whom I looked up to so much.

Mike, I always thought we had more turns to make together, more tartiflette on the menu and more conversations about the important stuff.  I had so much left to learn from you.

In your memory, I will do my best to make my time count like you did.  I will appreciate the time I have and the people I have it with.  I will reflect on myself as often as possible in efforts to be the best version of myself that I can be.  I will live right now, engage in right now, and my hope is that everyone reading this will do the same.

We love and miss ya buddy.

(Mike serving up his famous Tartiflette and making everyone laugh at the same time.)

(Mike always teaching us something.)

(Mike getting after it.)

“So… I never realized photography is such a contact sport.”

            These words were spoken to me with a sense of both intrigue and astonishment by my new friend, Antonio, while on a mountain biking trip in the Sierra Norte in Oaxaca, Mexico.

            “Haha, no kidding,” I said humbly while surveying myself for injury and picking up my bike after one of many theatrical crashes.  Seriously, I went through a barbed wire fence, slipped off of a wet footbridge in the dark, landing upside down in a creek and spent countless hours pulling thorns out of my fists.

            It was the start of one very multi-faceted trip shooting three different adventures in three different states of Mexico with one big conference at the end. 

            It was a little crazy, but it all added up to one amazing experience.  As always, it is the people along the way that truly make the adventure.  Having spent so much time lately on the move between assignments and planning logistics for future endeavors, this trip gave me the opportunity to finally just do my thing.  During my three-week stay, I may have spent a combined hour online and zero time on the phone, living very much on the “local” side of things.

            From eating tostadas in a three-walled cinder block kitchen, dining room and general store combo to sleeping under thatch roofs and trying fried grasshoppers, this trip allowed me the chance to just be in that place. 

(Side note, Oaxacan cheese is incredible.)

            Back to the people.  In my opinion, places make the trip / itinerary, but it is the people that make the adventure.  I had the fortune of spending four days in the cold rain, covered in mud while laughing hysterically at three soulful Argentineans dancing and singing through every seemingly miserable situation.  I say “seemingly miserable,” because standing in the cold rain for hours with insufficient clothing (not our fault) and no immediate option for warmth somehow became fun.  If all of Argentina is like those guys, I may have to think about a longer-term trip south!  Thanks for the uplifting spirit Eduardo, Fernando and Pablo!

    On the rainy note, I also spent a lot of time mountain biking in the rain, on steep, slippery singletrack with new friends whooping through the woods like kids on the first day of summer vacation.  Again, what could have been scary, stressful and uncomfortable turned into one of my favorite memories from the entire trip.  At one point, all of us were bombing wet, clay-covered singletrack at mach speed, then hit some really slippery track and started flying like ragdolls into the woods in all directions.  I think we were all laughing uncontrollably before our feet even left the pedals.  Maybe it sounds crazy, but it goes to show that it really IS all about your attitude.

            Make no mistake, I was still hustling like usual, but this time I was permitted the focus to hustle with one thing at a time and have quite a few laughs along the way.

            Looking back on it all, I would say that was probably the overall theme of my three weeks in Mexico: hustling and laughing.  And when I hold that up to my list of key ways I choose to live, they are right there at the top.

            It all ended with a bang as I rolled into San Cristóbal de las Casas, beaten, battered and bruised, to shoot and participate in the Adventure Travel World Summit.  It kicked off with a visit from the President of Mexico, and not surprisingly, I found myself surrounded by smiling people from places I can’t even pronounce.  Of course, everyone greeted me with open arms and I made really strong connections with people whose language I cannot speak.

            So in response to your comment Antonio, yes, photography can be a full-contact sport (and in my case it is exactly that very often), but it is all in the pursuit of these pure moments of happiness, acceptance and the overall feeling of just being there.  Whether it’s lying in the mud with a new buddy after a hilarious crash or hugging a delegate from a far away country in a conference room, it’s all about making those connections with people.

    People truly make the adventure.

            I guess what I’m saying is, I’ll take the full-contact part in order to connect with people any day.

            One year ago last week I decided to give El Guapo (the van) the rest he deserved and set up shop in South Lake Tahoe.  The decision was based equally on business reasons and personal reasons, and if you have followed along on this adventure over the years you will remember the post, New Homebase / Road Reflection.

            The funny part is, I didn’t even realize it had been a year until I started to think about this post and all that has been going on lately.  When I did realize a year had passed, I was already smiling from ear to ear.

    And that is when you know you have made a good decision :-).

            When deciding the course of our lives (yes, DECIDING), it is very easy to get caught up in the tricky details.  Our heads can fill with questions like, “well, if I do this, then what if this happens, or that?”

            In the end, it is actually very simple.  All we can ever do is make rational decisions based on the amount of information we have at that time.  If something changes, then change with it, but never hold yourself from something because of the nagging “What If” thoughts.  It is not always easy (maybe it’s never easy), but if you can hold yourself to those parameters, big decisions become less daunting.

            This was the same process for me getting into the van full-time as it was getting out.

            It may sound crazy, but exiting the van-dwelling life was a little scary.  At that point it was what I knew, it was how I had lived my life for a long time.  Suddenly, I would be tied to one place, have to start over with making friends and becoming part of a community.  I would need to re-shape the entire business, put my name to a place.  Again, it sounds crazy because people think that moving back into a home is a return to normalcy, but it has nothing to do with social norms.  It has everything to do with making a big life change, which is scary every time.

            The long-winded point of all of this is that I cannot believe a year has gone by.  This has been, by far, the fastest year of my life and I think it is due to the types of projects I have chosen to get involved with.

            From working with Soft Power Health and Jessie Stone in Uganda to working with the High Fives Foundation based locally here in Truckee, CA, and everything in between, there has just been a very GOOD vibe during the last year.

            This also goes in line with the point made above about deciding the course of our lives.  Working with these groups on these projects was no accident or shift of luck.  There were very direct steps taken to make these possibilities a reality.

            Having just returned from an adaptive waterski program with the High Fives crew in Mississippi, I can say that I am glad those steps were taken.

            Last week it was my job to document this amazing group of adventure athletes with life altering injuries learn how to waterski.  They pushed each other, displayed the most positivity I have ever seen, overcame huge obstacles and, of course, gave out a lot of high fives.

            Being someone with a longstanding background in wakeboarding, I couldn’t believe some of what I was seeing and shooting.  For these athletes, everything is more difficult and they were showing me that they are up for the challenge, and that they will surpass every expectation, every time.

            The entire experience was amazing for everyone, and in my silent reflection behind the shutter, I know that I grew a lot personally from this trip.  My only hope is that the images do the story justice.

            I want to thank High Fives for bringing me along, but I also want to send out a HUGE Thanks to Bill and Denise Bowness of Unlimited Skiing and the Holland and Dunnaway families for their unbelievable hospitality.  You all made this experience what it was.

            In the end, all decisions lead us to something else.  If I had not chosen to set myself up in Tahoe one year ago, who knows if I would have ever had the chance to go to Mississippi last week.

(Nik Sullivan and Steve Wallace giving Landon McGauley a little extra encouragement.)

(Landon McGauley carving up the evening glass.)

(Some of the hilarity of the trip. Roy Tuscany and Steve Wallace deciding a spray tan in Mississippi would be fun, haha!)

(Mark Urich doing the impossible and slalom skiing on one leg. Mark, you are a BEAST!!!)

(I even got to do some riding. Sending a HUGE Thanks to Mark Urich for shooting the image!)

            The other night I heard a new song that struck me in a way that only something good can.  Whether it comes down to the timing of the lyrics with one’s own life, the creativity of the artist(s) or just the sound, hearing the right music at the right time can feel nothing short of magic and it certainly puts a time stamp on that moment for me.  It’s like folding the corner of a page when you read something you really like, it makes that moment easy to find if you want to go back to it.

            “Walking On A Dream,” by Empire Of The Sun was that page folding song for me on Sunday night.

            I heard this ‘new to me song’ at the exact moment when everything felt like it was where is should be; like it is in a good dream.  For a second I actually wondered what that feeling was, then I started reflecting and I realized that I spend most of my time looking forward and moving forward and that I sometimes forget to be in the present.  I bent the meaning of the lyrics a bit based on my first listen, but focusing on that present moment and everything that had led up to it truly felt like walking on a dream.

            Ten years in the making, it is a dream that I feel is only beginning.  The point is, I am very excited about the direction that my hard work has taken to this point, and for now, I am just going to enjoy that and share some news and publication updates.

            In thinking about my beginnings and the path I have taken to get to this point, it seems appropriate to announce that I have been asked to be one of four panelists discussing Strategies for the Emerging Outdoor and Adventure Photographer at this year’s first annual Outdoor Photo Expo hosted by PDN (Photo District News) in conjunction with Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, Utah.  I don’t want to give away too much of what I will be covering, but my journey to this point, including the ups and downs, the hard lessons, the victories and everything in between will be open to questions.

            This has been the story of my life for a long time now, so presenting on this subject feels like the perfect fit.  Thank you to the good folks at PDN for this opportunity to share more of what it takes to get started in this field, I really can’t wait!

            On a completely different note, I am very excited to share this new video shot for Polartec.  When I was asked to join in the shooting with heavy hitter adventure photographers Corey Rich, Greg Von Doersten and videographers Rex Lint and Josh Lowell to shoot stills and video for this amazing piece showcasing Polartec’s new line, I of course said yes!  This was my first forray into video with my primary responsibility being still images of skiing and snowboarding.  I did everything I could with my part of the assignment and ended up with a few video clips in the final edit after all.  Like I said, I was a very small part of the overall video, with the bulk of the credit going to Corey Rich, Rex Lint and Josh Lowell of Big Up Productions, but it was still quite the experience.

            I want to send out a BIG Thank You to Polartec, Aurora Novus, the above mentioned photographers and videographers and all of the athletes, spanning three states, who helped in pulling this off.  It looks great everyone!

            On the publication end, here are a few tearsheets since the last update.

(Top image used in Patagonia's June email marketing.)


(Double-page spread of Luke Hopkins, of Stride Standup Paddleboards, in Standup Paddler's Photo Annual.)

(Canoe & Kayak step by step instruction of a Blunt to McNasty shot with Eric Jackson on the Nile River in Uganda.)

(Image with a Canoe & Kayak story on safety at the Skookumchuck wave in British Columbia, Canada.)

            A few weeks back I shared a link on Facebook to an article that I wrote three years ago.  It was an article about heading out on the road, and on my own to create a photographic life and business from the asphalt up.

I was very moved a few hours later when I checked my phone and saw how many people had responded to my post.  It was truly humbling to see all of the comments, “Likes” and even personal messages from people I have met along this journey.  One friend even suggested I write a response post about what I have learned in all of this. 

So here it is; what I have learned.

I have learned that you can do anything you put your mind to, but that most people don’t take that idea seriously.  I have learned that the only way to accomplish anything, no matter how monumental, is to just begin.  I have learned that fear is our only enemy, and that you can become comfortable with different levels of it.  I have learned what it is to sacrifice.  I have learned I can depend on myself, but that life is much better shared.  I have learned that the world is full of critics, but that you are the one who lives with your decisions.  I have learned to always be honest in all of my dealings, but to still be mindful of others’ intentions.  I have learned more patience, humility, respect and sincerity.  I have learned to keep the people I love in my life.  I have learned about loss, about pain, about hardship and about privation.  I have learned about rejection and I have learned about disappointment.  I have learned about self-doubt and its crippling toll.  I have learned about optimism and it’s power to overcome.  I have learned about confidence.  I have learned about the sweet taste of success when it is rightfully earned.  I have learned that working hard is my only option.  I have learned to be positive no matter what.  I have learned that if things are looking grim, life is giving you an opportunity to step up and turn it all around, an opportunity to learn what you are made of and use that for the rest of your life.  I have learned that a person will show their character in their eyes, but that you must first be aware enough to see it.  I have learned about beauty and about inexplicable moments.  I have learned about happenstances that seemed too coordinated to be chalked up to chance.  I have learned about hellos and about goodbyes.  I have learned about driving away from people and I have learned about driving toward people.  I have learned about passion and I have learned about process.  I have learned about perseverance and I have learned about strength.  I have learned to live, I have learned to dream and I have learned to be.

I have learned about my own life.

Some of those lessons stripped me to my very core, while others lifted me higher than I could have ever imagined.  If there is one thing to take away from all of this, it is that I will be forever grateful for the journey that has brought me to this point, and I am really looking forward to the journey that is still ahead.  This is just the beginning.

To read the articles I wrote about my journey for Canoe & Kayak Magazine during the first four of my thirty months spent on the road, please follow these links:

Post 1 – An Uncertain Path, A Journey of Paddling Discovery

Post 2 – Do Not Ask the Question

Post 3 – Trevor’s Excellent Summer Adventure Continues

Post 4 – Birthdays, Border Crossings & Skook

“Every search begins with beginners luck, and every search ends with the victors being severely tested.”

-- Quote from “The Alchemist”

            Here we are, IT IS SPRING!!!

            I do my very best to be as content as possible with every season.   I try to never think about the weather being too cold, too hot, too this or too that because that inevitably makes you leave the present and look forward to some other weather / time combination that probably won’t be perfect when it presents itself either.

            That said, I love spring for all of the reasons that everyone else does.  There is a feeling of rejuvenation as the snow melts, valleys fill with water and you realize that healthy grass is actually green and not brown.  I feel it does the same with the soul.

            After the last few months of winter, work and travel, I found myself in a state of complete, desperate exhaustion; gas tank empty in the middle of nowhere kind of exhausted.  Then I took a look around and birds were chirping, the snow was receding from my steps and a quick glance over Carson Valley confirmed that things were happening.  Carson Valley is considered the desert, but for these precious few weeks (or maybe months this year due to record snowfall), it is full of water and life.  Calves are filling the pastures and migratory birds dot the reflective marshes of a normally brown, barren landscape.

            Even the name, “Spring,” conjures thoughts of bouncing forward with energy and enthusiasm.

            Suddenly, I am not exhausted anymore.  All it took was seeing and feeling that change and I underwent my own transformation.  Instead of feeling beat down, stressed and stretched to the limit, I feel light, nimble and able to jump the hurdles in front of me. 

            I wrote about a lot of these seasonal changes in me last fall in a post called, Transitions.  I mentioned an association of time and place with seasons and how at each turn of the year, old memories of that period in the calendar resurface.  For me, spring is about hanging out with good friends, completing tasks from the previous months (school, assignments, etc…), getting into rivers swollen with the year’s snowmelt and in general, resurfacing.  Coming up and taking a breath, looking around and appreciating what an amazing change is happening.

            One of my favorite ways to feel and celebrate that change is through kayaking.  Like I said, around here rivers are swollen with the year’s snowmelt coming down in a rush of energy, transporting new life in all directions for hundreds of miles.  It can be scary and challenging if you pick that sort of run to get on, but I don’t know any other way to completely immerse yourself in that change than to paddle through rapids with water charging all around, feeling the slightest changes in current and adjusting, reaching the lip of a drop and taking one long and calculated stroke, pulling forward out of the water and landing in a pool with your buddies laughing and cheering.

            To me, that is spring.

(Not my best image, but it illustrates exactly what I am talking about.  
Good friends on Oh Be Joyful Creek, Crested Butte, CO in Spring '08.)

            I have been truly humbled.

            Sunday morning I arrived at Miami International Airport after a weeklong shooting assignment on a remote island with no Internet or phone connectivity.  I powered up my phone as I stepped off the plane, went straight to my email and there it was, “Congrats!  Your Kickstarter project has been successfully funded!”

            I stopped dead in my tracks as the line of travelers behind me kindly pushed me aside.  I could not believe what I was reading and just stood and stared blankly.  I went numb and the raucous world around me went quiet.  All of my focus was on the subject line of that email.  I just couldn’t believe it.

            I slowly came back to the world and realized that I had another flight to catch on a different reservation, which would necessitate a visit to baggage claim, the check-in counter and security all over again in about 25 minutes.

            I didn’t make it, but that is a different story.

            I can’t remember another time in my life when I have been so overwhelmed with a feeling that I could not explain.  We know when something feels good or when something feels bad, but what happens when you don’t actually have a way to categorize what you are feeling?

            I guess it means it is a brand new one that deserves a new category.

            I think my new category is “Overwhelmed.”

            In thinking more about it, I realize that what I was feeling was this incredible rush of support from everyone who has helped this project along.  I am a lone photographer.  I work alone, travel alone and depend on my instincts.  I don’t ask for much help, and when I do, it is because it is the very last option.

            My momentary “What is this?” was me feeling completely floored about the fact that I had asked for help and that you all showed up.  My family, my friends, industry professionals, colleagues, clients and complete strangers all showed up for me, for Jessie and for this project, and for that I cannot thank you enough.

            Your support will give this project as much potential as possible and hopefully help spread the word about the GOOD work being done by Jessie Stone and Soft Power Health in Uganda.  There is still plenty more work to be done, but this is an absolutely incredible milestone!

            I would like to once again thank every supporter of this project, and in keeping with the promises laid out in the Kickstarter rewards program, I would like to extend a Special Thanks to:

Sabrina Lau                                                   Charles Adams

Jean O’Keefe                                                 Cristin

Vince E. Camiolo                                           Smith Tallant

Jonathan Greenlee                                        Ryan Grimm

Lance Adair                                                     Parker Gates

Mike C.                                                              Morgan Petroski

Jeremy Reppy                                                 Monissa

Derek Bradley                                                  Isaiah Downing

Lauren Gaines                                                 Krista Abbaticchio

Amy Marquis                                                    Marc

Morgan Heim & Joanna Nasar                     Jimmy Graham

Andrew Kuhlberg                                            Cindy Ruppenicker

Peter Dennen                                                   Karen Kraus

Cherie Ve Ard                                                   Randy White

Logan MB                                                          Mat Rick

Folia Yu                                                              Steven Rushing

Anthony & Michelle Klotz                                Kathly Trabert

Cartson Ko                                                         Andrew Luter

Jessica Stuart                                                    Biff Ramsey

Rich Kidd                                                            Alisha

Erica Willis                                                          Howard Alter

Anna Ruppenicker                                            Jose M. Rivera

Ken Gagne                                                         Martin Burns

Jennifer Chong                                                  Christie C. Salomon

Peter Hill                                                             Amanda Abegg

Charles Adams       Rose Demoret

            A few generous backers chose not to select a reward and for those reasons are not named.  Some may have chosen for anonymity so I have to assume that reason for everyone in this category.  If you are in this category and have no problem being named, please let me know.
    I would also like to especially thank the good folks at Patagonia's Cleanest Line for doing their part in helping spread the word.
    Thanks again everyone!!!

            This post is long so I want to start by getting to the point.

            For as long as I can remember holding a camera, I have wanted to use it as a tool for GOOD.  In college I really thought about documentary and war photography, but I struggled with the lifestyle and mostly with the subject matter.  To be completely honest, I found myself very depressed about embarking on a life that would not be for me.  I knew that if I went down that road, I might never see real happiness for myself.  You may think that a lifetime of good deeds could bring only happiness, but it is in fact quite different when you are the one holding back your tears and swallowing the lump in your throat because you HAVE to shoot images of what is in front of you, no matter how tragic.

            I have never been in a war zone so I cannot pretend to understand what the people in those places go through.  In my short career as a newspaper photographer I did shoot car accidents, plane crashes, wildfires and random acts of violence.  I saw a deranged husband shoot his wife and then himself and families running in terror as their houses burned to the ground.  I shot funerals and crime scenes.  One Sunday morning I found myself kneeling over the burned and lifeless body of a man who was just pulled from a private plane crash.

            It was the news, it was what was happening and I had to report it.  I had to make the photographs.  Even without looking around I could feel the disdain coming off of every police officer and firefighter in the vicinity. 

In their eyes, I was the scum of the earth. 

In their eyes, this was a good morning for me because I had a story to report.  I overheard one firefighter’s comment about how these people had families and didn’t I care about them at all.  I felt so many horrible emotions that morning that I finally walked up to the fire Chief and told him face to face that I did not want to be there.  I had no choice in the matter and that I would shoot the scene as fairly and respectfully as I could.  I had a job to do just like everyone else and if my photos could help in their investigation they would have all access.

            That move changed the tone for the scene and I was slowly accepted, but it didn’t make me feel any better about shooting it. 

An hour later I was assigned to shoot a community tennis tournament.  I showed up still down about the morning and realized I needed to be happy and approachable in order to gain access to the court and players.  It was a hard thing to do, but I put on my happy face got what I needed.

All of this is not meant to bring pity on me for what I went through.  I was not the one that died.

The point I am making is that I think some people are built to tell certain stories.  There is no mistaking the James Nachtways of the world who spend their lives in war zones or tragic natural disasters.  They do it because they are built for it. They see more human suffering than anyone else on the planet and manage to keep shooting.  They do it because they owe it to the person in the photo to tell their story in hopes of change.

In college, I applied for an internship with VII Photo Agency to work under James Nachtway and his very like-minded compatriots.  I made it to the second round of interviews but never heard anything further.  I breathed a deep sigh of relief and the world seemed to open up for me.  That was when I knew I wasn’t built for tales of human suffering.

I have since put all of my efforts into the adventure and outdoor world of imagery, but there has always been something missing.

Maybe I wasn’t built to tell stories of tragedy and despair, but I was built for sharing tales of GOOD; stories of GOOD people doing GOOD things.

I have been waiting patiently since that realization, hoping for something to come up; a story, an assignment or a project someone pays me to go shoot. 

I have waited and I have realized that you should never wait to do something GOOD. 

They say timing is everything, but it never seems like the right time to take a risk.  You can talk yourself out of it every time thinking that way.  That is why I have decided to pursue a personal project and head to Uganda to share a story about an amazing person doing amazing things.  I would love to tell more about the story, but nobody really wants to hear the ending before they watch the movie.

If you are truly interested and want to learn more about this big undertaking and how you can be a part of it, please click on the image below.  If you cannot donate, the very best thing you can do is help spread the word.

I feel strongly about this and am taking on this project whether I reach my funding goal or not.  The donations will determine how far we can go with the project or how much I am in the whole after it is all said and done.  Please help spread the word.

(Mark Wellman and Steve Wampler with their achievement awards at the Tahoe Adventure Film       Festival.)

            In-spire

            [in-spahy-uh-r] – verb – to fill with an animating, quickening or exalting influence; to produce or arouse a feeling; to affect with a specific feeling, thought, etc…; to influence or impel.

            In my life I work to surround myself with inspiring people.  I strive to use the lessons they impart and apply them to my own life, but in order for that to happen, sometimes you must first be humbled to your most basic emotions.  This has never been more true for me than when I had the recent fortune of meeting and shooting portraits with Steve Wampler and Mark Wellman at the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival.

            For those who haven’t heard of these two characters, Steve is an adult with Cerebral Palsy who recently pulled himself up the 3,000 ft wall in Yosemitie National Park known as El Capitan (literally, 20,000 pull ups).  And Mark, who has been in a wheel chair since a climbing accident in his early years, managed the same feat back in 1989.

            In spite of their disabilities, the two have pulled off incredible accomplishments and continue in their efforts to inspire others.  This year’s Tahoe Adventure Film Festival (TAFF, my favorite South Lake Tahoe event) seemed to stick with that theme, showing quite a few films about specific people who are just awe inspiring.

            Trust me when I say that the place was full of a brand of energy that only a love for mountain life can create.  As the TAFF founder, organizer and MC Todd Offenbacher said, it was “a meeting of the tribe, the mountain trib.”

    Most of the crowd in attendance will never be in one of the adventure films shown at this event, but we could all relate to being at the very edge of what you know you can physically and mentally do, and doing it anyways. 

    The energy exploded as the final scene of “The Swedish Machine” showed a man hell bent on one of the craziest missions anyone has ever seen literally sprinting to the top of the Eiger.  The crowd requested to see a wingsuiting film again after its brevity left people hanging just a little too much.  The crowd screamed and howled as Tahoe local Mike Wilson was shown launching a quadruple back flip off of a rope swing 100 feet above Lake Tahoe. 

    Then, as the short version of Steve Wampler’s El Cap mission ended and the spotlight fell on Steve and his family, the crowd jumped out of their seats screaming and applauding with goosebumps on their arms and tears in their eyes.  I say this with no embellishment.

    There was not a dry eye in the house. 

    Even typing this from my cramped seat on a flight across the country, I am having those same emotions all over again.

    Steve’s courage, confidence and perseverance truly inspired me, and it certainly humbled me to my core.  I cannot imagine what he has been through in his life, but he used every bit of his life experience to pull himself up that wall.  He is out there pushing as a positive role model for everyone with Cerebral Palsy, and everyone on the planet for that matter.  Steve, thanks for the inspiration, you are awesome!

            During the show Steve was awarded the Golden Camelot Award and Mark received the Lifetime Achievement Award (a red, white and blue Camelot) for their accomplishments on the wall, but also for what they do off the wall.  Please check out more about these two inspiring people and their work at the Stephen J. Wampler Foundation and No Limits.

            I want to close this post with a phrase that Todd emphasized throughout the night and that I try my very best to live by.

 “Never waste a day.” 

       
(Mark Wellman, Steve Wampler and the TAFF GoGo Dancers not wasting a day.)