MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Winter Spring 2020

60 “When I am in the wilderness,” Fox writes, “the notion of human grandeur quickly disappears, my perspective changes. There is a moment when the world around me becomes mightier and greater, when the forces at play are revealed to me and my insignificance and vulnerability become obvious and unmistakable. This is when I find myself at ease.” Roaming the untamed wilds, often for weeks at a time, Fox began photographing the incredible landscapes, plants and animals he encountered, just as he would preserve his thoughts and insights in journal entries. Feel theWild collects some of those images and words from the past ten years of a life lived immersed in curiosity and connection. While the book is full of the kind of nature photography that must be earned by passion and patience, Fox’s book also contains written sections on stars, breathing, wildlife, loneliness, bliss, water and the voice, as well as anecdotes of close calls in his sea kayak or tips on how to take better photographs (the trick is to learn to delete sub-par images to better value the moments spent capturing them). “It’s as much a story book as a photography book,” Fox says. “Defining it as just photography dismisses the story about the human journey.” 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. Feel the Wild is Fox's first book with a major publisher. It's a collection of landscape, wildlife and adventure photography mixed with his personal stories and philosophies about life, photography, and nature.