Wandering through wonderland

Backpacks and swims in the rain

South Africa | Thursday, June 27, 2013 | 5 photos

It's hard to picture a childhood without my dad's collection of National Geographic's to pour over. I would impatiently wait for him to finish and then pour over the magazine, touching the pages of places outside of my small South African town. I can definitely say that my love for photography, travel and nature stemmed from the thousands of beautiful images I saw laid out in each issue. My father also instilled within me a love for the outdoors; pushing my siblings and I up scraggly peaks, hauling us out rivers, and giving us the reward of a Milky Way laid out like an impossible map above us. While I have accomplished some of my work goals in that I have ended up designing layouts for travel magazines, I can think of nothing I would like more than to permanently roam incredible spaces with only a camera and gear for company, and become the photographer instead of the dreaming designer. Ultimately, this is an unbelievable opportunity to get invaluable experience from a professional and I really hope to get the chance to open the door to a career where I can wake up to wander the earth taking pictures of incredible moments.