my story is actually today it’s very
very simple it’s not science it’s not
it’s it’s very very simple and it starts
with climbing trees this is uh this is a
photo of me when I’m like 2 and my
parents are like yeah I just go get
dirty go play and people are like hit
your sons up a tree um it’s 40 feet that
that limb looks great they’re like a
spine in there’s a creature and then
it’s like ah here we are in the
emergency room again but early on what I
realized was that pushing boundaries has
consequences right like that’s part of
it but we have to push boundaries to
understand our limitations we have to
learn how far we can go and you know
that was that was ingrained in me very
early on that pushing boundaries was
something that was important to not just
where I would be where I was but how far
I could take myself and and early on I
did everything in the mountains that was
my life that was my family but pushing
boundaries became something a little bit
more it became about pushing social
boundaries for me and that ended up
becoming quite a problem I was a smart
kid I was 12 years old when I went to
high school and I was a straight-a
student and now that had its own
challenges you know that was that was
pushing boundaries in its own way
however what ended up happening was
rather than going out and climbing or
skiing or venting my frustrations as a
young kid in high school I basically
glommed onto the older kids and I
started doing all the wrong things
hanging out with people that were more
socially advanced than I was I was
pushing those boundaries and I learned
very very early on that rules all of the
rules that we follow our arbitrary
there’s only one that actually sticks
and that’s that we all die
other than that it’s all arbitrary and
when you learn that when you’re 14 and
your parents are like you’re grounded if
you don’t come home at 11 you’re like
whatever
maybe that’s not the right boundary to
push but I was pushing those and because
of that I ended up being a high school
dropout at 14 I’ve gone from being a
straight-a student to being a high
school dropout completely on the streets
I was in rehab 3 well I ran away from
rehab three times another
boundary-pushing exercise and the last
time I remember the the director of the
rehab looked at me and he said if you
leave you will end up in the gutter you
will never amount to anything and you
will likely die and and and you know
he’s actually I don’t begrudge him for
saying those things that that’s actually
fairly correct a lot of people that do
end up in that situation do just fall
into the cracks but it was because of
that time where I was homeless for the
most part that I started to learn about
the larger human struggle that story and
I wanted to tell it I wanted to tell
people what I was experiencing how I was
going through that so I used climbing I
used photography and climbing to try to
tell that story that was my early
attempt and it was beautiful because
it’s allegorical for the struggles we we
have right like this photo it looks
fantastic but the real risks there are
minimal they’re tiny
that’s a rope if he falls he’s safe but
it’s a wonderful story to tell but
really early on climbing for me was
about proving to everybody that I was
not oh I was just trying to prove to the
world that I was not that kid that was
gonna fall through the cracks I was
going to use the energy that I had to
propel myself and tell this story this
larger narrative but as I got into that
I started looking at people and
characters the people I was climbing
with how pushing boundaries is a
transformative psychological issue how
we change ourselves when we do that how
we continue to learn through our
exercise right and not just climbing
mountains but also how our world is
affected by that and as I travel more
and more and more and climbed more and
more and more I started to observe
that world so all of a sudden something
that was very very much about me a
selfish pursuit to climbing became about
telling the larger story of the planet
because I could not move through these
environments and not care that just
couldn’t happen now the mountains have
always been a vehicle to voice myself so
I continued to go back and I continue to
push myself and I continue to try but
that’s sort of taken a little bit of a
backseat in 2010 in Pakistan we went to
climb the first winter ascent of an
8,000 meter peak gas room to but what’s
interesting is that as important as that
climb was for me it was more important
for my photography because as you’ll see
here in the upper left-hand corner of
this is the border of Pakistan and India
so while I was there I was actually
talking with Sadie Quarrier who’s one of
the photo editors here and talking about
she wanted me to exercise my
storytelling capacity so climbing was
that I had that and my and my skills had
brought me there but what I started to
actually focus on was this conflict zone
it’s the highest battleground in the
world this is the Pakistani military
living on the border of Pakistan and
India and I became engaged in using my
photography to tell this larger
narrative what does it feel like to be a
Pakistani soldier fighting on the
highest battleground in the world what
does that look like texturally how do we
bring that back to people how do we
translate that experience for people
through imagery and that was what I
dedicated myself to I still keep it’s a
very small collection on my website but
I’m very proud of it I’m very proud of
it because I noticed that I was pushing
my own boundaries as a storyteller which
to me is invaluable how do you tell the
story of a broken conflict of a broken
war how do we use media to translate
that experience for people how do we use
art to do that the first assignment I
did for the magazine was another step in
that direction where we started bringing
together three I call it the golden
trifecta adventure culture and science
we were using climbing you know I had
that skill set to go into this ancient
cave complexes in the kingdom of Mustang
moose Tong is a kingdom that’s on the
border of Nepal and Tibet and we were
trying to re-examine perhaps a forgotten
path on the Silk Road so we were using
climbing to access these ancient cave
as we were looking for human remains and
we found plenty we were looking for
burial crypts because we needed the
strontium the strontium is it’s it’s in
your tooth enamel it’s an element and it
can tell you where somebody’s born based
on what’s in their mother’s breast milk
the water we drink now if where they
were born and where they died is
different you can start to paint a
picture of human migration so all of a
sudden I was using photography in a
different way it was not about adventure
it wasn’t about necessarily being in the
highest mountains in the world but it
was about communicating science to
people in a tangible way in a way that
engaged them and gripped them but it’s
never been enough for me to just stay in
one spot I’m not good at it asked my
wife asked my parents her like you’re a
mess I’m like I got to get on another
plane they’re like you got back four
hours ago just relax dude so I put
myself on assignment down in Indonesia I
went down there I wanted to expand I
wanted to push my boundaries again as a
photographer I wanted to be underwater I
felt like okay I’ve been up on the
mountains how do I expand myself more so
I went down and I wanted to you know use
imagery and media to talk about things
in a cultural context so the Basho they
were sea gypsies they always use
subsistence fishing they lived on the
ocean and from the ocean and as the
Indonesian government has started to
mandate that they stay in one spot that
has changed everything how do you tell
that story that’s a very important story
why because as people stop moving they
start to impact the area they’re in
heavily right so now that they’re in
stilt villages they start to over fish
their reefs they start to overuse their
resources how do they do that well they
use net fishing but more importantly
they use bomb fishing right so what
happens to a reef when you throw a bomb
in the water sure you get a lot of fish
out that’s great but it’s not great
because it destroys the whole marine
ecosystem in one fell swoop
it’s dead it’s gone it’s done
and I started to look at storytelling
and imagery as a way to look at some of
the harder issues the issues that our
planet is facing how do we do that it’s
not just about science it’s not just
about adventure it’s not just about
culture it’s about how we as a human
family are impacting everything and only
through pushing my own boundaries as a
storyteller and having that insatiable
curiosity could I continue to do that
what does it look like when we mandate a
way of life is different from something
that everybody is always known it
changes everything it changes everything
instantly how do you put that in
pictures how do you put it online so
that other people care so that they want
to be engaged with this culture my most
recent assignment for the magazine was
going to France Joseph Lemm but that’s
again where I’m trying to push
boundaries right I don’t know how to
tell a Natural History story I don’t
know but I’m gonna go and I’m gonna try
I’m gonna try to tell the story of a
changing landscape a landscape that is
changing because of our human impacts
right what happens when we don’t take
care of our planet when we are not
stewards of it in the right way now the
granted this is a very very impactful
photograph this is one tiny tiny piece
of Franz Joseph’s lab right it’s a tiny
but it’s very very visual and graphic it
tells you that story instantly that we
are a damaging species we are an
invasive species everywhere we go
but I want to try and expand myself
always and push boundaries of adventure
and storytelling to give people a view
that they might not expect
is this the Arctic we think of no Big
Sandy plane not at all how are we having
that impact what is going on there
what’s our interface how do I get people
excited about bird populations the
barometer of an ecosystem how do you do
that how do you make pictures that do
that that’s what I’ve changed my whole
way of thinking when once I was
completely devoted to one thing climbing
to prove to everybody that I was good
enough I’ve now changed that and said
how do I prove to everybody that we are
good enough
to change our problems it’s very very
simple art is very simple the other day
I was I was driving I’m in Yellowstone
and it’s I’m on assignment out there
trying to tell a a coexistence story and
it’s honestly it’s the hardest thing
I’ve ever done I moved up there I was a
vegan and I didn’t drink and I I’m a
carnivorous functioning alcoholic at
this point it’s like and I’m like trying
to figure out how do I bring all of this
together how do I tell this story to
this audience because you guys are
always smarter than me that’s it and and
then I saw a bumper sticker right so
that’s where my inspiration comes from
bumper stickers it was a very very
simple bumper sticker just said this
said a little bit more than this but
just this art is not a painting on the
wall art is not you know just a piece of
music it’s all of that together art is
about communicating ideas we have to
readjust how we think about art art is
everything art is science art is the
engaging our kids in science there is an
art to education art is communicating
ideas that’s what the first cave
painting was about it was I want to tell
you this there is so much information in
this room and there is so much that we
have to share with each other in order
to solve our problems that we’re facing
as a planet when you think of this word
you have to think of what is the hole
and at the heart of it right in the
center of it that in and of itself alone
with everybody in this room can change
the course of our future that’s it
that’s my message it’s very simple
taking the complex boiling it down to
something that is beautiful simple and
complete in itself so go forth and
create
you
very simple it’s not science it’s not
it’s it’s very very simple and it starts
with climbing trees this is uh this is a
photo of me when I’m like 2 and my
parents are like yeah I just go get
dirty go play and people are like hit
your sons up a tree um it’s 40 feet that
that limb looks great they’re like a
spine in there’s a creature and then
it’s like ah here we are in the
emergency room again but early on what I
realized was that pushing boundaries has
consequences right like that’s part of
it but we have to push boundaries to
understand our limitations we have to
learn how far we can go and you know
that was that was ingrained in me very
early on that pushing boundaries was
something that was important to not just
where I would be where I was but how far
I could take myself and and early on I
did everything in the mountains that was
my life that was my family but pushing
boundaries became something a little bit
more it became about pushing social
boundaries for me and that ended up
becoming quite a problem I was a smart
kid I was 12 years old when I went to
high school and I was a straight-a
student and now that had its own
challenges you know that was that was
pushing boundaries in its own way
however what ended up happening was
rather than going out and climbing or
skiing or venting my frustrations as a
young kid in high school I basically
glommed onto the older kids and I
started doing all the wrong things
hanging out with people that were more
socially advanced than I was I was
pushing those boundaries and I learned
very very early on that rules all of the
rules that we follow our arbitrary
there’s only one that actually sticks
and that’s that we all die
other than that it’s all arbitrary and
when you learn that when you’re 14 and
your parents are like you’re grounded if
you don’t come home at 11 you’re like
whatever
maybe that’s not the right boundary to
push but I was pushing those and because
of that I ended up being a high school
dropout at 14 I’ve gone from being a
straight-a student to being a high
school dropout completely on the streets
I was in rehab 3 well I ran away from
rehab three times another
boundary-pushing exercise and the last
time I remember the the director of the
rehab looked at me and he said if you
leave you will end up in the gutter you
will never amount to anything and you
will likely die and and and you know
he’s actually I don’t begrudge him for
saying those things that that’s actually
fairly correct a lot of people that do
end up in that situation do just fall
into the cracks but it was because of
that time where I was homeless for the
most part that I started to learn about
the larger human struggle that story and
I wanted to tell it I wanted to tell
people what I was experiencing how I was
going through that so I used climbing I
used photography and climbing to try to
tell that story that was my early
attempt and it was beautiful because
it’s allegorical for the struggles we we
have right like this photo it looks
fantastic but the real risks there are
minimal they’re tiny
that’s a rope if he falls he’s safe but
it’s a wonderful story to tell but
really early on climbing for me was
about proving to everybody that I was
not oh I was just trying to prove to the
world that I was not that kid that was
gonna fall through the cracks I was
going to use the energy that I had to
propel myself and tell this story this
larger narrative but as I got into that
I started looking at people and
characters the people I was climbing
with how pushing boundaries is a
transformative psychological issue how
we change ourselves when we do that how
we continue to learn through our
exercise right and not just climbing
mountains but also how our world is
affected by that and as I travel more
and more and more and climbed more and
more and more I started to observe
that world so all of a sudden something
that was very very much about me a
selfish pursuit to climbing became about
telling the larger story of the planet
because I could not move through these
environments and not care that just
couldn’t happen now the mountains have
always been a vehicle to voice myself so
I continued to go back and I continue to
push myself and I continue to try but
that’s sort of taken a little bit of a
backseat in 2010 in Pakistan we went to
climb the first winter ascent of an
8,000 meter peak gas room to but what’s
interesting is that as important as that
climb was for me it was more important
for my photography because as you’ll see
here in the upper left-hand corner of
this is the border of Pakistan and India
so while I was there I was actually
talking with Sadie Quarrier who’s one of
the photo editors here and talking about
she wanted me to exercise my
storytelling capacity so climbing was
that I had that and my and my skills had
brought me there but what I started to
actually focus on was this conflict zone
it’s the highest battleground in the
world this is the Pakistani military
living on the border of Pakistan and
India and I became engaged in using my
photography to tell this larger
narrative what does it feel like to be a
Pakistani soldier fighting on the
highest battleground in the world what
does that look like texturally how do we
bring that back to people how do we
translate that experience for people
through imagery and that was what I
dedicated myself to I still keep it’s a
very small collection on my website but
I’m very proud of it I’m very proud of
it because I noticed that I was pushing
my own boundaries as a storyteller which
to me is invaluable how do you tell the
story of a broken conflict of a broken
war how do we use media to translate
that experience for people how do we use
art to do that the first assignment I
did for the magazine was another step in
that direction where we started bringing
together three I call it the golden
trifecta adventure culture and science
we were using climbing you know I had
that skill set to go into this ancient
cave complexes in the kingdom of Mustang
moose Tong is a kingdom that’s on the
border of Nepal and Tibet and we were
trying to re-examine perhaps a forgotten
path on the Silk Road so we were using
climbing to access these ancient cave
as we were looking for human remains and
we found plenty we were looking for
burial crypts because we needed the
strontium the strontium is it’s it’s in
your tooth enamel it’s an element and it
can tell you where somebody’s born based
on what’s in their mother’s breast milk
the water we drink now if where they
were born and where they died is
different you can start to paint a
picture of human migration so all of a
sudden I was using photography in a
different way it was not about adventure
it wasn’t about necessarily being in the
highest mountains in the world but it
was about communicating science to
people in a tangible way in a way that
engaged them and gripped them but it’s
never been enough for me to just stay in
one spot I’m not good at it asked my
wife asked my parents her like you’re a
mess I’m like I got to get on another
plane they’re like you got back four
hours ago just relax dude so I put
myself on assignment down in Indonesia I
went down there I wanted to expand I
wanted to push my boundaries again as a
photographer I wanted to be underwater I
felt like okay I’ve been up on the
mountains how do I expand myself more so
I went down and I wanted to you know use
imagery and media to talk about things
in a cultural context so the Basho they
were sea gypsies they always use
subsistence fishing they lived on the
ocean and from the ocean and as the
Indonesian government has started to
mandate that they stay in one spot that
has changed everything how do you tell
that story that’s a very important story
why because as people stop moving they
start to impact the area they’re in
heavily right so now that they’re in
stilt villages they start to over fish
their reefs they start to overuse their
resources how do they do that well they
use net fishing but more importantly
they use bomb fishing right so what
happens to a reef when you throw a bomb
in the water sure you get a lot of fish
out that’s great but it’s not great
because it destroys the whole marine
ecosystem in one fell swoop
it’s dead it’s gone it’s done
and I started to look at storytelling
and imagery as a way to look at some of
the harder issues the issues that our
planet is facing how do we do that it’s
not just about science it’s not just
about adventure it’s not just about
culture it’s about how we as a human
family are impacting everything and only
through pushing my own boundaries as a
storyteller and having that insatiable
curiosity could I continue to do that
what does it look like when we mandate a
way of life is different from something
that everybody is always known it
changes everything it changes everything
instantly how do you put that in
pictures how do you put it online so
that other people care so that they want
to be engaged with this culture my most
recent assignment for the magazine was
going to France Joseph Lemm but that’s
again where I’m trying to push
boundaries right I don’t know how to
tell a Natural History story I don’t
know but I’m gonna go and I’m gonna try
I’m gonna try to tell the story of a
changing landscape a landscape that is
changing because of our human impacts
right what happens when we don’t take
care of our planet when we are not
stewards of it in the right way now the
granted this is a very very impactful
photograph this is one tiny tiny piece
of Franz Joseph’s lab right it’s a tiny
but it’s very very visual and graphic it
tells you that story instantly that we
are a damaging species we are an
invasive species everywhere we go
but I want to try and expand myself
always and push boundaries of adventure
and storytelling to give people a view
that they might not expect
is this the Arctic we think of no Big
Sandy plane not at all how are we having
that impact what is going on there
what’s our interface how do I get people
excited about bird populations the
barometer of an ecosystem how do you do
that how do you make pictures that do
that that’s what I’ve changed my whole
way of thinking when once I was
completely devoted to one thing climbing
to prove to everybody that I was good
enough I’ve now changed that and said
how do I prove to everybody that we are
good enough
to change our problems it’s very very
simple art is very simple the other day
I was I was driving I’m in Yellowstone
and it’s I’m on assignment out there
trying to tell a a coexistence story and
it’s honestly it’s the hardest thing
I’ve ever done I moved up there I was a
vegan and I didn’t drink and I I’m a
carnivorous functioning alcoholic at
this point it’s like and I’m like trying
to figure out how do I bring all of this
together how do I tell this story to
this audience because you guys are
always smarter than me that’s it and and
then I saw a bumper sticker right so
that’s where my inspiration comes from
bumper stickers it was a very very
simple bumper sticker just said this
said a little bit more than this but
just this art is not a painting on the
wall art is not you know just a piece of
music it’s all of that together art is
about communicating ideas we have to
readjust how we think about art art is
everything art is science art is the
engaging our kids in science there is an
art to education art is communicating
ideas that’s what the first cave
painting was about it was I want to tell
you this there is so much information in
this room and there is so much that we
have to share with each other in order
to solve our problems that we’re facing
as a planet when you think of this word
you have to think of what is the hole
and at the heart of it right in the
center of it that in and of itself alone
with everybody in this room can change
the course of our future that’s it
that’s my message it’s very simple
taking the complex boiling it down to
something that is beautiful simple and
complete in itself so go forth and
create
you
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