Some people ask if Beth and I are always on-the-go, constantly experiencing exotic locations and their wonder. It’s easy to wish that was so, but for now, normal day-to-day life in our Asheville treehouse feels like the best-case scenario.
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Each episode of Rare Air encapsulates some moment where I was completely immersed in recording another of Mother Nature’s sacred revelations. Sublime visions such as these – and others exponentially more spectacular – play out constantly on this extraordinary planet of ours. Leaning in offers me yet another opportunity to appreciate the past, and hope for what might come in the future if all goes well.
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Life keeps pressing us forward, while this expanding chronicle keeps drawing me back into vacation days of the past. Each time we return from vacation and reconform to our standard mode of living, we become hyper-aware of the differences. Too bad we all can’t hang around in paradise, eat all our meals in colorful restaurants, and let the good times roll, each and every day.
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The project has become an essential component of the demonstration of this belief: As an artist, I have something to say.
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Read on rkdarnell.com. What would I attempt to do if I knew I could not fail? This is a challenge my mother presented to me at different times in life. Happily, I’m coming up with some answers. First, I would write more, and aim to see that work through publication. And beyond that, I would spend more time traveling, capturing scenic beauty, and producing more nature documentaries.
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Here are some notes from my journal on 10 July, 2017, the day this footage was recorded. “So long as nothing threatening presents itself, one can easily experience sheer bravado, even while visiting a world where we are so foreign. A half mile off the coast of St. John with mostly just ocean to the east and south, and Tortola a couple of miles away to the north, we were very exposed to all the natural life of the deep, dark sea. But as we swam from just around the tip of the south side to the north along the…
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If I had ever experienced a close encounter with a squid before July 9, 2017, I don’t remember it. And on the other hand, the visitation recorded in the video featured here is something I will probably never forget. On this trip, I had a new underwater housing for my Sony DSC-RX100 camera, and I didn’t yet have much experience attempting to frame subjects with it. That’s one factor; another is the ocean’s current. I suppose I probably was also at least a little taken aback by the steady gaze of 20 creatures who seemed quite interested in watching me.
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I had this private beach all to myself for a minute, a few years ago.
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Wishing each of you all the best throughout the difficult days to come, and looking forward to better days for us all.
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Thank you Mom… and very, very, very well done.