Today's blog is dedicated to you - the Wildlife Photographer, the Adventurer, the Shark Diver, the Surfer, the Hiker, etc... I want to thank you for being out in the world - for writing your blogs, for sharing your images and videos on social media, for writing books and publishing your stories in journals, and magazines. 

And thank you for being on TV for everyone to see. 

Thank you for risking it all… for risking ridicule, and embarrassment, and loneliness, and death. Thank you for putting yourselves out there and trying new things. For being bold, fun, and different. Thank you for expressing your art and sharing your moments with the world.

Thank you for being brave enough to escape boredom, fear, work, and routine, so that you can travel and experience life. 

All of life, the good and bad. 

It is because of all of you that I started on this journey. It is how I found the courage to start a magazine all those years ago and how I got to live this travel life I get to experience. 

Your stories inspired me, and tens of thousands of people like me, to travel, and to want to experience adventures like yours. I grew up wanting to be like the amazing photographers I read about in National Geographic magazine. I wanted to be out there, experiencing incredible adventures - photographing wildlife in exotic places around the world. 

Your work and sacrifices gave me permission to realize so many of my dreams.

So thank you, because I know first hand that the adventure life is not easy, at least for me it has not been. I have fallen flat on my face so many times; I can't count them all. 

But that's part of what makes this crazy life filled with adventures so damn beautiful. It is unpredictable, it's not safe, and you have no idea how it is all going to end. 

So to all of you out there living your crazy dreams - please continue living life on the path less traveled. Please continue making mistakes and taking chances, and please, please, please, continue sharing your magic with us all.

The world is a much better place with you out there… so thank you for being you!