MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Winter Spring 2020

59 EXPLORE words :: Feet Banks photography :: Daniel Fox “Stop… Breathe… Relax… Listen” The first words in Daniel Fox’s new book, Feel the Wild , are also a personal mantra. “We live in a world engineered to manipulate us in many ways,” he says. “It’s becoming harder and harder to say ‘Stop! Let me think.’ Technology, the media, and advertising are all so binary and competitive. It’s like we live in the middle of constant shouting matches.” Fox believes one way to find balance amidst all the chaos is through rituals, and he encourages people to stop, breathe, relax and listen at least once a day. And if you happen to be out amongst nature for this practice, all the better. A writer, photographer, thinker and adventurer, Fox was born in Quebec but his family moved around a lot in his early years. “I found myself constantly having to reinvent my surroundings,” he says, “but there was always a forest or shoreline to get lost in. My human world was unstable but my nature world had a certain stability. It’s always been a place I can go to get a sense of sanity.” As an adult working in an office job in New York City, Fox realized he was missing a sense of connection and fulfillment. He sold everything, bought a camera and began spending as much time as possible in nature. First stop, Patagonia. DANIEL FOX Feel the Wild