I was just offered an UNREAL assignment!
I’m so excited, and to explain why, I need to tell you a bit of the backstory.
As you might already know, before switching to photography, I had a background in biology. As an undergrad, one of the field courses I took was an ecology course taught in the Mont St-Hilaire Gault Nature Reserve. You might be familiar with the public park, but as scientists, we had private access to the super cozy rustic chalets and to various protected areas of the reserve. I returned a bunch of times for different reasons, and over the years I was able to build a small collection of nature and field work photos. It led to a few collaborations with the reserve.
Now 4 years since my last collaboration, I’ve been contacted by the team once again with an amazing proposal.
Their needs are simple—they need photos, and lots of them (and they likely won’t stop needing new photos). So the agreement for now is the following: 2-3 times a year, I’ll come stay at the chalets for a few days. During my stay, I’ll go on hikes, take photos, and create a database of images for the reserve. At times I’ll be staying with scientists, other times, I’ll be alone. But they’ve also let me bring a few friends with me (wink wink).
DO YOU GET HOW SPECIAL THIS ASSIGNMENT IS FOR ME?
I got my start in photography taking photos of classmates during field courses. Now I'm getting commissioned to do essentially what got me passionate about photography in the first place.
It’ll allow me to reconnect with my former biologist self. Back to square one. Made a full circle. Except I’m at a better place than I was back then. So it’s more like a spiral. Upwards spiral hopefully. #shapeanalogies
This came at a perfect time too. I’ve been craving lately a sort of creative haven in which I can escape, think, and create.
Holy crap I’m so excited to go back.