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Episode #018

Building Powerful Conservation Efforts Through Collaboration with Peter Mather

by

UPDATED: May 20, 2023
ORIGINALLY AIRED ON April 14, 2020

 

Sometimes a conservation issue is so large, it's so urgent that it goes way beyond the ability of one photographer. It's in these moments that collaboration becomes a powerful tool.

 

Peter Mather is a brilliant and highly experienced conservation photographer. So when he put the call out to fellow photographers asking them to lend their skills to a cause, ears perked up.

Mather is is a leading voice in the fight to protect the Caribou calving grounds of Alaska's oil rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Recognizing that this is not just a conservation issue but a human rights issue, Mather lead a collaboration of photographers, filmmakers and writers to document the place, its people, and the wild life in an effort to bring attention to the urgent issue. 

In this episode, Mather fills us in on the lessons he learned from the experience, both about the power of bringing conservation photographers together in a concerted effort but also what it personally took to be able to pull off such a collaboration.

If you're interested in bringing together other photographers or other creatives into a concerted effort for a conservation cause, you definitely want to listen to this interview. Mather is completely honest about what it really took – the ups and the downs, the limitations and tribulations it put on him as the lead as well as the amazing successes the teams pulled off. 

 

Resources Mentioned

Episode 018: Building Powerful Conservation Efforts Through Collaboration with Peter Mather

Shownotes: ConservationVisuals.com/18

(Digitally transcribed, please forgive any typos)

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Jaymi Heimbuch:

Sometimes a conservation issue is so large, it's so urgent that it goes way beyond the ability of one photographer. It's in these moments that collaboration is one of the most important tools that we can lean upon to document an issue as thoroughly as powerfully and as quickly as possible. Peter Mather is a brilliant and highly experienced conservation photographer. So when he put the call out to fellow photographers asking them to lend their skills to a cause, oh ears perked up.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Mather is is a leading voice in the fight to protect the Caribou calving grounds of Alaska's oil rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It's a place upon which the Gwich'in people of northern Canada and Alaska depend. So, recognizing that this is not just a conservation issue but a human rights issue, Mather lead a collaboration of photographers, filmmakers and writers to document the place, it's people, and the wild life in an effort to bring attention to the urgent issue.

Jaymi Heimbuch

I remember being in the audience when Mather first put that call out and it was as if he sparked something huge. There was an immediate reaction from other photographers who all wanted to contribute. They all wanted to throw in and lend their talents, their time and even their funds to document something so important. But this was also not necessarily something Mather planned ahead of time. Rather, he knew it was something that had to happen, he put the call out, and then he figured out how to make the collaboration work. So we actually get to talk today with Mather about what that looked like, how it worked, what came of it.

Jaymi Heimbuch

And importantly, he's going to give us what lessons he learned from the experience, both about the power of bringing conservation photographers together in a concerted effort but also what it personally took to be able to pull off such a collaboration. If you're interested in a collaboration, if you want to bring together other photographers or other creatives into a concerted effort for a conservation cause, you are gonna want to listen to this interview. Mather is completely honest about what it really took. The ups and the downs, and the lessons that he learned from that are extremely valuable. So you're going to get some great insights from this episode. Let's go ahead and dive in.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Welcome to Impact: the Conservation Photography Podcast. I'm your host, Jaymi Heimbuch. And if you are a visual storyteller with a love for all things wild, then you're in the right place, from conservation to creativity, from business to marketing and everything in between. This podcast is for you, the conservation visual storyteller who is ready to make an impact. Let's dive in.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Welcome, Peter. And thank you so much for joining me on Impact: the Conservation Photography Podcast. Your work has been inspiring me for years and years and in particularly I've been following pretty closely since several years ago when you launched the collaboration of caribou people. And that was such a fascinating project that you worked on for some really incredible reasons. So I wanted to bring you on and talk about that entire project as well as what collaborating with so many other people on something that you care so deeply about, what that looked like and how that worked out. So thank you so much for being here.

Peter Mather

Oh, cool. It's nice to be on. I've really been enjoying your like, the Conservation photography courses. I think there's a huge, you know, niche for that and desire for that on the world. Like I've been doing conservation photography my whole career, but, uh, every time you have something posted, I have a little like note board where I take things I've learned from that and put it on my note board because, you know, after 25 years of this, I'm still, um, you know, behind the eight ball, it seems like.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Oh, my gosh, I That's a huge honor to know. I'm so glad that you find it useful and helpful. But also just to know that, you, someone who I've admired for so long is feeling like they're learning stuff. That's extraordinary to hear. So thank you for that.

Peter Mather

Yeah, that's pretty cool. We kind of could bounce things off each other and learn things from each other. And hopefully the planet benefits.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Constantly. Absolutely. And I feel like that attitude is probably what makes you such an incredible collaborator on projects as well.

Peter Mather

Yeah. You know, like, I kind of worked at all all ranges of people, I would say. But when it comes to conservation, you know, there's gonna be like, 75% of people have collaborated with are kinda like us where, you know, you're just doing everything you can to do what's best for the planet or the wildlife, for your particular issue and the ego, you know, the ego is always is coming last, which is kind of unique and photography. And it's so it's kind of cool that, you know, you get to work with so many people will put their ego in second place.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Absolutely. And as a matter of fact, so I wanted to talk with you about caribou people. And speaking of that, the place that I saw you kind of put the call out in the first place for this collaboration was at an International League of Conservation Photographers conference. It was, ah, Wild Speak, and you were so passionate about the call out, and it's kind of a really interesting thing. It's a conversation that gets brought up a lot among photographers is how do you collaborate on something when it's like your project, like, how do you deal with competition and you know that sort of thing. But there was none of that in your call out. You are so passionate about this issue and about the need to get boots on the ground to get action going to get the story out there. So you put this call out for photographers in a place where you're in front of the best of the best for conservation photography. What happened after that? When you know, you have this issue that you wanted people to work on and you wanted to get them out into the field with you. What happened after you put that notification out there toe all these talented photographers?

Peter Mather

Well, I mean, I was pretty overwhelmed with the response. I put a call out at that ILCP event, and then I put one out at a similar event in White Horse. And then I think there's two or three media articles, and, um I mean, I had, you know, much more interest that I could possibly manage, so I had maybe 100 to 150 photographers. Oh, say, hey, you know, like, I really like to be involved in this. I want to make a difference. That's why do photography. Um, you know what? What can I do to get involved? And so that was, you know, that was kind of one of the best parts of the whole project is just seeing how much people care and want to do stuff. And they're just looking to grab on to something that they could be a part of.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Yeah, so I'd actually like to back up just a little bit and talk about what is Caribou people? What is this project about? How did you get started on this story in the first place?

Peter Mather

Oh, man. I mean, you will go way back, man. Go put it in the Yukon in the Yukon Territory in northern Canada. And we have this herd of, like, a 200,000 caribou called the Porcupine Caribou Herd and growing up here where we have, you know, we're almost the size of California, and we have 30,000 people in our territory, you know, people, you know, we have, you know, four or five times as many, careful with people. And so, uh, you're growing up. You're just surrounded by all these cool things about the Porcupine Caribou Herd and then, like the First Nations people who depended on these caribou for years and years and years, but and it's it's been environmental issue for centuries, not centuries, for almost half a century, because for 50 years because their cabin grounds happened a lie on top of a huge pile oil in Alaska. So there's always been this battle about okay, Do we let the oil companies go in and open up this, you know, sensitive area to development? Or do we kind of protect it for the caribou? And, um, you know the Gwich'in people who kind of need this caribou for food. So that's kind of the bones of the issue.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Got it. And so how long were you working on Caribou people as a project like before you decided to put the call out for more photographers on this expedition.

Peter Mather

Well, I mean, that's that's a tricky one, because, like when I was, I started, like, just out of high school, I went and I learned I went to university, I got a teaching degree and I lived up there in, like, the year 2000 did my first year teaching. And part of the reason I lived up there because there was environmentalists working on this issue, it and they were kind of inspired me to get into photography. So So I you know, that was, you know, when I really started. So, like in 2000 is when I started, but I didn't really kind of get into it photographically like really delved into it to maybe like three years before the project, this, you know, Caribou People's stories for the Arctic Refuge project. And And I spent, you know, three years heavy duty chasing down Caribou People photos and the Caribou are kind of, like, a, you know, it's another way talking about the Gwich'in people and spent three years photographing the people as well as the caribou and kind of all the wildlife from this Arctic refuge.

Jaymi Heimbuch

So you mentioned that you put this call out in at least two events. Can I ask what made you want to get a hold of people in that way in this live events sort of method?

Peter Mather

Wow. You know, it wasn't so much that method that I want to get a hold of people. I was just like, pondering over whether I should kinda commit this huge chunk of life to doing this project, getting those people out there, and ILCP event was coming up. I was flying down there. I was in Toronto, and I still haven't decided. You know, I'm working my program if I should do the call out or not. Um, and, uh, you know, I talked to my partner Carrie, and she just thought, you know, like, it's one of those things in life you won't regret. So she gave me some good advice on it. Like, you know, you put all this time to the story or half your life is on it. Like, um, if you don't do it, you'll probably regret it. And so that's kind of, you know, help me make my decision. And then it just kind of first time I really made my decision, was right before kind of went up on stage. Was that okay, I'll put this out there and I put it out and cause a little bit of trouble because I hadn't really kind of ah, to talk to ILCP about it, and ILCP like, kind of inspired these events because they did all these RAEs like these rapid audiovisual expeditions where they essentially you get a bunch of these projects on different conservation issues and kind of inspired me to do this, and so I didn't get a chance to, kind of, like, pitch to them first. I just threw it up at this conference and took off.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Awesome. I actually really love that. The kind of measuring stick for going forward with it was "Are you going to regret it?" and that's such a great way to know that gut check if it's worth doing.

Peter Mather

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you don't think you ever regret when, you know, if you're trying to do something good for the world of people, are somebody else, I think that's something you never regret, you know?

Jaymi Heimbuch

Absolutely. So you put this call out and it was kind of the spontaneous thing. So what happened next?

Peter Mather

Well, like I remember like a it took off. So I had to sit down in the hotel in Washington, D. C. and I spent I think eight hours just like e mailing around, trying to organize the logistics, trying to get people on board, start searching for funding, just kind of reaching out and answering everybody's emails. And then we moved into the logistics phase up like just making this all happen. You have to decide on which expeditions you're gonna, you know, create in there is a remote place. It's one of the most remote places in the world. So you know, there's, you know, you're gonna put these people out on these expeditions, and it's complicated, like people coming from Washington D. C. Who had never really been on a, like a two week expedition and the wilderness before. And I had to find people to keep them safe. I had to find a good story for them to photograph or film. And so really going the planning of, like, all the different expeditions in which people are gonna go for which expedition who I had to choose and go ahead to say, I just say no to a lot of people.

Jaymi Heimbuch

So you came from this history of being the photographer on the story, and then all of a sudden you're thrown into so much logistical planning and organization. What did this look like for you during all of these expeditions? Were you on the ground with your camera at all?

Peter Mather

Yeah. I mean, I lead a bunch of the expeditions and, like, you know, like this whole project, I don't regret it anyway. But it was really taxing on me and really difficult and didn't work out very well because I tried to photograph while I was kind of leading some of these expeditions and it didn't work. And it was pretty stressful because you have, like, we ended up getting like 38 people out on expeditions, eight different expeditions and and you have pretty responsible for these people too. And going to a remote wilderness full of bears and, wild rivers and lots of dangers. And so, you know, you're trying to balance all those things. And the thing that kind of fell to the wayside was essentially was a write off of a summer of photography for me, which was difficult.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Yeah, so I want to fast forward to the end on, then come back to these difficulties because I'm actually I'm really fascinated in that part of this entire project would have questions for you, but can we fast forward to the end? What ultimately came out of all these expeditions that you poured yourself into so tirelessly?

Peter Mather

Well we ended up producing a couple short films and a lot of articles in newspapers and magazines kind of across North America. And one of the things that focused on was that there's a lot of people telling these stories in places like National Geographic and Outside Magazine. Um. And I was trying to, kind of, like, gather people to tell stories in different places. So, like, uh, you know, I was looking for people who would tell stories in places they wouldn't hear those stories not unlike, say, a newspaper in Des Moines, Iowa. Um, you know, we had a really talented black and white photographer come in because, you know, you could publish the story in black and white photography magazine to introduce the story to people who haven't heard of it. Um. We had someone who does a little work with gay and lesbian magazines so that, you know, that story gets to a whole new set of people. Sets of eyes that don't normally see these stories. We tried to focus on that. Although it was hard because, you know, most people in our industry wanna publish in National Geographic or Audubon or whatever, you know, where you're kind of used to seeing these types of stories show up.

Jaymi Heimbuch

That's really interesting. You made it so much more about targeting the right audience versus just going into that standard publication. So, yeah, people hold National Geographic is this sort of gold standard for this sort of thing. But that doesn't necessarily accomplish the goal that you had as a conservation photographer trying to get this issue in front of people.

Peter Mather

Yeah, I knew, like National Geographic was going to send a team, the New York Times was gonna send a team, and so there was no point in me kind of helping out that team because I know that they're gonna do a great job already. And so my focus really on "Okay, who does not know this story? " and let's get that out to those people. And so that was the focus.

Jaymi Heimbuch

And did that kind of go into your selection of who you brought into the collaboration? Did they have because they had these ties into other magazines, like the black and white photographer and the gay and lesbian magazine photographer?

Peter Mather

Yeah. I mean, it made those people a priority. So they got on seats, and there's another photographer from Japan who I always regretted not being able to get out because he was so interested in so keen. But I didn't have a spot for him. And, you know, getting the story published in Japan wasn't gonna have an effect on the politics of it. Um, and so we had to pass on that one. And so, but it was really hard to turn away someone who is, like, super keen to positive and once they get involved.

Jaymi Heimbuch

So it sounds like you really kind of came into it with this sort of eyes wide open, knowing that it was gonna take some strategy, right, about how you were gonna go about this collective

Peter Mather

No, no.... Let me see. I mean, ah, you know, this this type of project needs like a coordinator, like someone was really good at coordinating stuff and has a passion for like, my main passion was photography. And so we did, kind of, I didn't get to those strategic things that I did eventually but I made a lot, a lot more work, a lot harder work than probably someone who, uh, you know, is used to doing this kind of thing. Like someone is like a CEO of a conservation organization or director, you know. They would probably do a better a better job than me, and I think kind of one of the things that I really learned is is you need somebody who's like not, like a creative. You know, those creative people. It's hard for them to sit on the sidelines and organize. And, uh, hey, let me give you an example. I was, I grew up in small town but we really passionate about soccer. So I always managed this men's soccer team, and we would go to our national championships. And but the fact that I was managing the team for so many years really took away from my focus of being a player on the team. Uh, and it's the same thing with being a photographer. You know, like if you if you're managing this whole squad, it's hard to focus on the photography and your own storytelling. And then, if you're not focused on your photography, in your own story, telling you, lose a little bit of passion and you get kind of mixed up feelings about the whole project

Jaymi Heimbuch

That makes a lot of sense. Did you see any of that sort of kind of inner conflict play out with any of the folks that went into these expeditions. Did they have any sort of trouble, like maybe stepping back sometimes, or really going for in the field because of the fact that they were working with other photographers at the same time on the same issue?

Peter Mather

No. I mean, I think everybody was kind of pushed, pushed on by that, you know, there's such a big issue and everybody, you know, there wasn't any of that conflict at all. You know, everybody was just trying to do their best. And if there was any of that feeling, it was probably, like, that I have to have to out shoot. You know, I have to get better image or better video or better story from this trip, that I'm doing with these other people. So maybe it pushed them to get a little better quality of work, if anything. But you know, everybody was kind of pulling, in my opinion anyhow, pulling in the same direction.

Jaymi Heimbuch

I love that. I think having the same passion towards a single conservation issue probably really helps with that kind of thing.

Peter Mather

Yeah, and it's such a big issue, like like we had some big conservation wins in the Yukon. We had a recently protected Peel Watershed, and it's about the size of Scotland. It was very big wilderness area, and it was about 30 years of work, and I learned a lot from that. One of the things I learned was, like, you know, if you want to make a difference, you need thousands of people over decades pulling in the same direction and that really is what won that for us. And so, you know, with this Arctic refuge thing it was it was an idea of getting 40 people out there. But there was another like 200 people doing their own trips into the refuge to promote, you know, it's conservation. So you know, like, you just need a as many people as possible, all trying to do the same thing if you want accomplish something.

Jaymi Heimbuch

What were some of the biggest lessons that you learned from this collaboration? And are there any certain lessons that you learned that you would roll into maybe another future version of this collaboration?

Peter Mather

Yes. I mean, those are all good questions. You're the first one was, like, ah , you know, you can't you can't be the manager and a player. So, uh, you know, I can't lead all these expeditions and organize everything and be a photographer, you kind of have to separate the two.

Peter Mather

You know, the second one was, like, it's really helpful to work with different groups. Um, like, ILCP really pulled a lot of weight for me and well as the Wilderness Society. Um and so, you know, I wish I could have collaborated with them more because they have the infrastructure. They have that coordination ability more so than me.

Peter Mather

Um, and then, you know, one of the tricky things I learned was, like, photographers like, I got you know, there's a lot of people are passionate to get stuff done and get out there, and they would go out and that they would take a lot of photos. But if they hadn't had kind of, like, found some funding on their own, um, and had sold that story somewhere, a lot of people, I would say, probably like 15-20% of the people in the trip didn't end up producing something from their story. So they have all these great images and they just haven't had time to kind of sell him to a magazine or to a newspaper wherever they want. And so you know, if I was gonna do it again, I would kind of have a more solid [plan] and I would help them with that more because there's some talented people who just didn't have the time to kind of get their stories out there. Um, so that would that would be a big one, too.

Peter Mather

And then, you know, I almost got caught in again this summer. We have another big issue in the Yukon, and I pitched the local conservation group in the Yukon called CPAWS Yukon, Yukon Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, like, organizing this team of 20 guys, guys and gals, to go and do this kind of story telling here. But I'm pulling back a little bit, and I'm kind of saying, OK, like, "remember what happened with the Arctic refuge and how hard that was for you?" So you either have to be a photographer or a coordinator. You can't be both. So I'm trying to, kind of, sell that idea to them. And I've got those connections with photographers who want to be a part of it, want to be involved, but get them to, kind of, be the coordinator, the organizer, and then, you know, the funder too, I guess. That's the other big thing I learned, is like, you know, the projects, the people that I got up there, like, I helped a couple of and get funding and those are the people who did the best because they had the money to kind of get, you know, make it all happen. And I had a lot of really talented and interested photographers who were unable to find the money, money and come up. And so, you know, that's always gonna play a massive issue.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Yeah, you mentioned beyond the photographers that you were coordinating with ILCP and some other organizations. How did you go about figuring out what support you needed from non photographers and setting that up?

Peter Mather

Well, I mean that, like, you know, I knew right away that support I need like with ILCP really helped me out with, like, uh, you're sending all the people in the field, you need some insurance. You need everybody to be part of the teams, they, kind of, created, like, a website where there's a story map where everybody could share their stories. Um, and they, kind of, were the, kind of, like, the team manager a little bit, kind of, tied it with me and then the Wilderness Society, like, you know, they jumped onboard pretty quick. They had some funding to do two films, one by Neil Osborne and one by Katie Schuler. And, you know, they were a massive asset because those two films of you know have gone far.

Jaymi Heimbuch

It sounds like, you know, even though this took its toll on you in terms of effort and everything watching it from the outside, it was this extraordinary blitz that was really inspiring. So whatever was going on with all the coordination and learning as you were, we're going while you were learning on the ground, organizing something like this, I'd say you pulled it off. Really, really well.

Peter Mather

yeah, thanks That you know, like, I think this is one of those things where, like, like, you know, like, it's important to do these things. And I think, you know, one of these years I'm gonna have to take up Ah, year off photography and just kind of coordinate one of these events again. And maybe when I'm a little bit older and I'm not dying to be on the field all the time and kind of be my creative self because, um, you know it's chance to make a difference. And that's kind of what we're only game for.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Absolutely. And actually, you know, that's a perfect segue way, because I would love to ask you if someone came to you right now and they said, Oh, my gosh, I'm so inspired by what you did with Caribou people and getting these expeditions out with these photographers and really creating this media blitz. I'm so inspired. And I want to do the same thing. How do I do this? What would be your sort of quick step by step that you might give them at least to get them started?

Peter Mather

Yeah, well, I I think you know your first step is to, kind of, like go to some organizations to partner up with, Um you know, like, iLCP, the Wilderness society, some organizations that can help you and I are gonna have some funds

Peter Mather

The second step is the coordinator. You need to have a coordinator. Someone coordinator. So you have to decide, "Okay, I could put my camera away and do that coordination. Or am I gonna try to find somebody else? "

Peter Mather

And then the third step is funding. You know, you have to, you have to get some funding. It's I think that's pretty important. Like the people who had funding had the time to really put it on the creative side and produce a really cool project. Um, so I mean, those were a couple of the biggest steps. And then, you know, once you, kind of, have a lot of that stuff in place, that's when you kind of put it out. You're gonna get overwhelmed with how many people want to make a difference and are just looking for some leadership. So then you put it out to the professionals and see who wants to get involved and you'll get a overwhelming amount of people who want to jump on and do something.

Jaymi Heimbuch

I love that. So how much energy comes with that kind of call out? It seems like it's something that could really keep you going when you're so concerned about this issue and what's gonna happen. And then you see this influx of people who care as much as you. So that's got to be really What's the word I want? It's got to make you feel like you've got so much at your back that you're a much stronger photographer in person going into it because you have that surrounding strength.

Peter Mather

Yeah. And you you know, like, the people I think about the most are are the people who I couldn't find a spot for. Man, I Yeah, because, like, uh, I don't know, you know, there's people out there who just wanted to help, and we weren't able to make it able to make it happen. And so I think about those people lot. And I feel I have to do another one of these one day.

Jaymi Heimbuch

I would be there to help you coordinate in a heartbeat!

Peter Mather

Yeah, that seems like right up your alley to

Peter Mather

Yeah, definitely.

Peter Mather

Yeah. Yeah. Like so. I'm gonna keep that in mind because, uh, maybe that's the way for us to go forward. Because I looked at all your organization with stuff. And you seem to have a passion and a talent for it. So So maybe that should be on the The list for people is, like, contact Jaymi.

Jaymi Heimbuch

There you go. And that would totally work out because, well, I can't handle the cold. So I couldn't be out there in the field all the way up there in that freezing cold.

Jaymi Heimbuch

But I have one more question before I let you go, because there were so many behind the scenes shots that were coming out, and I really loved following the photographers that have gone out with you and their posts of their time in the field and you're behind the scenes shots. And I remember one of Katy Schuler. It's just, I think, crossing a creek. And she was all decked out in her snow gear. So I'm curious. Do you have a favorite moment or a story that really stands out from that entire experience of all these expeditions and being out there of people doing what you love to do best?

Peter Mather

Well, you know, it's probably that same moment that you were thinking of with Katie because, like, uh oh, we had gone with Katie and Nathaniel Wilder and our local photographer, Bethany, and we were gonna try to photograph the calving grounds when the Caribou were there and we weren't able to because, uh, it was about three weeks late for the calving period in terms of it was late, because, uh, spring was late. Spring was three weeks late, so the area was still frozen, and so we had to do it in a crypt. And we ended up, with Katie, having to hike, you know, this incredible hike through, like, you know, four feet of snow where you're like feet are sinking in, for two days, to get to another location. We photographed there for a few days, and then we wanted to head home. And the temperatures just turned it went from being like, snowing every day to like plus 15 Celsius [59F]. So it was like, hot out. And, uh, you know, we're getting ready to head back so we start packing up camp. It's plus 15, we packed up camp up after about two hours, and in the two hours it took a us to pack up camp, the temperatures have dropped to below freezing and had started a massive snowstorm. And then we had to cross a creek. Um, and you know, there's like, three or four inches of snow on the ground already. And that's Katie going across that creek in the snowstorm. And we literally walked in just 200 meters, we crossed that creek, we were freezing cold and wee had to set up camp again. We held out in the snowstorm for, like, 24 hours and we're running low on food. And then after that, we had, like, this crazy, like, a 16 hour, 16 mile hike back to our original base camp, where we had more food and stuff. And it was the was really, kind of, an epic, tough experience. But it's those things that you remember.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Absolutely. That's such a great story. And I'm sure Katie is never gonna forget the experienced, either.

Peter Mather

Yeah, well, it's funny, because I'm headed down next weekend to do a presentation on the Arctic Refuge, and Katie's gonna be there. It's in Vancouver. Katie's gonna be there doing a talk about the Arctic Refuge with one of the first nation guys. We went with a Gwich'in guide named Jeffrey Peter, who led one of the expeditions. He's gonna be there presenting. And then Neil Osbourne's film from the same expedition is gonna be at this festival, too. It's the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, so it'll be a reunion for a lot of us.

Jaymi Heimbuch

That's fantastic! I hope that there's a huge success that comes with getting back together and getting in front of an audience and showing that film off because we definitely need as much exposure to this issue as possible. It's been going on for so long, and it really is a terrifying issue, the potential loss of these calving grounds. So I'm really glad that you guys are continuing and continuing to continuing to get this in front of people.

Peter Mather

Yeah, and thanks Jaymi, and keep up the good work with your, uh, teaching everybody how do you do Conservation Photography because I'm learning a lot, and I'm enjoying it, too.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Oh, that means so much to me. Thank you. And I know I continuously learn from you every time you post an image, and I can look at that for inspiration and just to see the passion that you put behind your work. So, you know, mutual appreciation here, and hopefully I can see you out there in the field sometime. Sometime.

Peter Mather

Hopefully, Yeah!

Jaymi Heimbuch

And there you have it friends. I hope that you enjoyed listening to this interview as much as I enjoyed having the conversation with Peter. We learn so much from each other and having the opportunity to share experiences and knowledge, what worked, what didn't and to be able to all help each other grow in. Our work is so huge. So I hope that you got a lot of information from Peter about how you might run your own collaboration and how you might plan for it what role you might have in it. All right, more good stuff is in store for you next week.

Jaymi Heimbuch

Before we wrap up, I would love to ask you to do one quick thing. Subscribe to this podcast. As a subscriber, you'll not only know when each week's episode goes live, but you'll also get insider goodies like bonus episodes. You might miss them unless you're subscribed and I don't want you to miss out on a thing. So please tap that subscribe button, and I will talk to you next week.

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