Discoveries made along the way

The Otaru Snow Light Path - a human-made winter wonderland

Japan | Sunday, November 6, 2011 | 4 photos

Hi. I'm Bryan, a constantly curious person who enjoys wandering the world, learning about different people, places, and ways of doing things. Professionally, I've made a career of public service as an environmental educator, a park ranger, and in park management. Home is the US, but I have lived, studied and worked in Poland, Norway and New Zealand, plus worked on a couple park planning projects in Russia and Ghana. I am blessed to have work that is both personally meaningful and has allowed me to indulge my passions for travel, writing, and photography.

I've been photographing since childhood, but have become serious the past few years, taking classes and weekend photo ventures, exploring my home state of Oregon. For the past few years I've self-produced calendars of my work for friends and family, developing my skills further each year.

This amazing scholarship opportunity would be a life-long gift and hopefully open new doors, professionally. While I feel I have an eye for composition and can visualize the result I want, I hope to gain the skill and confidence to instinctively know the settings to achieve that vision. I'd love to feel more comfortable photographing people. I’m torn between wanting to learn post-production skills and wanting to avoid much digital fiddling by capturing the shot I want in the field. In short, I want to be a sponge, so I can develop my skills, share the world as I see it, and contribute to conservation efforts through photography.

I share with you images from Otaru, Japan, which turns itself into a winter wonderland each year by lighting thousands of candles throughout the city. The gardens of (de)light created there inspire joy and wonder. I salute those who make it happen, and happily share the results of their efforts.