The moon is up over Tibet. Snow crunches under my feet as I wait for the sunrise to ignite the fluted ramparts of the Himalaya. I can hear the far off clanging of Yak bells and the whistle of the herders beginning their day. A lammergeier glides effortlessly on its massive wingspan over the cloud filled canyon below. I am alone, surrounded in the shadows of the greatest mountains on earth. The scene before me hasn't changed much over the last Millennia. And I feel enriched here witnessing this spectacle. I'm enriched in ways that can't be quantified or counted. Lewis Mumford once said, "Raw experience is empty, for it is not what one does, but what one realizes that keeps existence from being vain and trivial. It is the artist who realizes human experience, who takes the raw lump of ore we find in nature, smelts it, refines it, and stamps it into coins that can pass from hand to hand and make every man who touches them the richer." I take photographs to define my experiences, to encapsulate these moments and share the earth's most extraordinary places with my friends and all of the aspiring vagabonds and wilderness travelers that hope to be there one day. If you've found my website and are reading this, you're probably a lot like me. You find it difficult to describe your fascination with the wonders of the earth and the cultures most connected to it. Somehow, these feelings have defined you and how you live your life. Here within these pages, you will see the places that existed in my own childhood dreams. I realize these dreams were not mine alone. I have friends that have dreamed of climbing and trekking in the Himalaya since the day we all climbed the tallest tree in the neighborhood, tied an American flag to the top and posed like Tenzing Norgay for the 'summit' photograph. I realize that most of those friends will never make their journey there. Life gets in the way sometimes. But I have tried to share the majesty, intimacy and timelessness of these places in my photographs in a way I hope you can all relate to. I've tried to capture the reality of my childhood imaginations and share them with you. I realize that despite having grown up with these dreams, nobody needs to go on a trip like this. But as we work through the daily routine of life at home, sometimes it helps to know that we could go. That it's all really there. Better yet, I hope my photographs inspire a few of you to actually follow your dreams and take your journey. I want to remind everyone that ordinary working people can visit remote places like this. They do it all the time. These are not expensive or difficult places to explore if you travel independently and stay with the locals. And of course, there are endless experiences to be had in the wilderness areas of our own backyard. But you can't begin a journey if you don't step out. There is nothing mysterious about a rucksack. All you need are a couple changes of clothes, some hard earned time off and less money than you think. Get out there and watch the crows fly through the dazzling glow of a remote slot canyon, watch the northern lights dance over the snows of Denali, or take an extended journey and join the Tibetan pilgrims spinning prayer wheels outside a cliffside monastery. Fish for pirrhana in the Amazon, watch autumn leaves fall in a gentle snowstorm in Patagonia, or marvel at a palm tree swaying dark against a billion stars while camping on a moonless night in the middle of the Pacific. It's all there. And the earth needs people who travel this way, who earn their time with its treasures, and promote its conservation. Time is the most precious commodity we actually own. Live your dreams. Explore the world...
-Mike
