Let me tell you a story. It may take a few minutes.
This is me, Mark:
It’s important to remember that my story wouldn’t be the same without a Naomi:
I met Naomi when we were lawyers at a big Bay Street law firm. Yes [embarrassed look], I was a lawyer, but without that, things might not have been the same.
We connected over novels, poetry, music, movies, photography, travelling, adventures, and big dreams. Dreams much bigger than those towers we worked in.
Since then, we’ve encouraged each other to look for the challenges that suit each of us best - outside of those towers.
From travelling to the ends of the earth, to leaving Bay Street, to finding my way as a photographer and writer. It has been quite the ride.
I wondered about my place on Bay Street sitting with 700,000 of my closest penguin friends on a pebble beach in South Georgia. It was at this moment that I thought maybe law wasn’t for me!
I haven’t looked back. It’s been all adventure and photography since then, with my images and writing being featured by CAA Magazine, Bradt Guides, Re:Porter, The Office of the Lieutenant Governor’s 150 Stories, CNN Travel, Canon Canada, Parks Canada, Fstoppers.com, and BBC Earth.
We spent our first New Year’s Eve together looking at the stars in the Bolivian Andes. An empty lodge except for us, a few hotel staff, our guide, and some howling wolves. I maintain that it was a pack of El Chubacabra.
I drove the Pan-American highway from La Paz to Mendoza. Where Naomi bravely (?) agreed to get out and test the depth of the a waterfall running over our cliff edge road.
We skipped the guide, rented an old Sidekick in Kigali and got lost in the small villages and the by-ways of backcountry Rwanda.
We searched for mountain gorillas in PNV and Bwindi. Our little adventure included a 9-hour hike through the Impenetrable Forest and a face-to-face encounter with Guhonda, the world’s largest primate, on Mount Sabyinyo.
We swam in the frigid waters of Antarctica where I ended up a hot chocolate with a shot of Baileys away from hypothermia (Note: These photos have been classified and will only be released in 2045).
We kayaked amongst towering icebergs, vicious leopard seals. Close enough to a humpback to make out the individual barnacles and feel the spray from its blowhole.
We camped on the Ndutu plains within meters of an all-night lion vs. hyena battle. I knew that lions look at the tents like big boulders. But, we had also seen lions lounging on top of many a big boulders. You can imagine how that made us feel.
I spent one of the best days of my photographic career taking pictures of the bravest cheetah mom and her FOUR troublesome cubs.
