#2 This Is Narwhal. He Was Born With An Extra Tail On His Forehead. It Hasn’t Wagged Yet But He’s Working On It. 14/10 Always Read The Instructions Before Assembling Your Puppy
#3 I Found A Baby Albino Oak In My Garden Some Years Ago, And Realized That Plants Can Be Albinos Too, But They Do Not Live Long Since They Cannot Photosynthesize
Conservation photographer and writer Marisa Marulli tells Bored Panda that she got into nature photography after realizing that she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life.
"And that bothered me. I wanted a clear path, like the lawyers and the doctors. I didn’t want to ’stumble’ my way through life without answers! Thinking that way about it is funny now. I’m so glad I stumbled," she shared.
"I’m so glad I took a breather when I was so peeved in an office cubicle, not knowing what I wanted with my life, that I finally took a career and personality test and began to get some answers in some areas of work that might be of interest to me. Photography showed up as one of them, believe it or not."
Along with photography, the personality test presented her with about 20 other lines of work that she might like best, but after trying some of them, photography was the one that stuck with her.
"All of the forward motion into those few careers sort of stopped either due to my own disinterest or because I hit an exterior block. Photography stayed. In the beginning months of pursuing it, I took a photography workshop in Iceland. Now, this is an important piece of the story because I hadn’t been out of the country in over 10 years, and I was pretty scared of flying," she continued telling us.
"But the camera, the pursuit of photography of nature and animals in Iceland, weighed more than my fear. That was a victory. I found something I loved enough to jump over the fear of getting there. And it continues today, putting me in front of some of the largest bears in the wild, on the edge of cliffs when I am not a fan of ledges, even on multiple flights to get across the world to Siberia, and most recently, into the ocean to understand and explore the conservation of sea turtles."
#7 A Lightning Strike Happened The Moment I Took A Photo And Made It Look Like Daytime. I Took The Second Photo 10 Seconds Later
#9 A Rare Optic Sight, The “Brocken Spectre,” Which Occurs When A Person Stands At A Higher Altitude In The Mountains And Sees His Shadow Cast On A Cloud At A Lower Altitude
"Now, I will say, I always knew ‘I just want to save all the animals.’ The way that phrase comes off may sound childish, but I still allow myself to say it, just like that, today. It may be one of the few childish pieces I still allow in myself (I tend to be quite a serious person). And I honor that," she added, concluding the story of how her life revealed her career in nature photography.
#11 You Might Have Seen It Before, But Here's That One Place In Indonesia With A Volcano Behind Waterfalls
Whereas wildlife and landscape photographer Melissa Alves tells us that what led her to nature photography was her love for nature.
"I have loved nature for as long as I can remember. I used to watch nature documentaries with my dad and imagine being one of the presenters in the show. I didn’t come across a lot of representation for women in nature photography when I was growing up, so I didn’t consider it as much more than a hobby until much later in life," she shared.
"I also recall my dad telling me as a kid to enjoy the tigers I was seeing on TV because they probably wouldn't be around when I grew up, and that had quite an impression on me. Photography has the power to change people’s hearts, and if even just one person sees a photo I’ve taken and wants to take better care of the environment, I feel successful."
During her career, the most mind-blowing and once-in-a-lifetime pictures that Marisa was able to capture were a close-up of an adult bear in Alaska and sea turtles in the ocean and at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
"When I was staying at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska, we went out to the wild to observe and photograph some of the largest bears in the world: the coastal brown bear (see here). At one point, a very large adult decided to walk our way. The bear continued and ended up walking right past us. It was absolutely amazing. It passed so close that I had too much of a telephoto (zoom) lens to capture it at one point!" she exclaims.
"When I was snorkeling and photographing in the ocean, I noticed there were a few jellyfish in the area. A young sea turtle approached one nearby me, and began eating it! I remember staying fairly still so I would not disrupt the sea turtle and sure enough it stayed long enough that its meal crumbs — little pieces of jellyfish — floated around and lightly stung me a bit!"
#16 Never Have I Ever Seen Something Quite As Magnificent As Jadayupara - A Mythical Eagle That Just So Happens To Be The Largest Bird Sculpture In The World
#17 I Went For A Walk In The Forest And Came Upon This Ponderosa Pine Tree That Had Been Struck By Lightning
"Volunteering photography at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, an amazing force for conserving endangered sea turtles, I have witnessed so many beautiful moments; from sea turtles taking their first solo breath after being intubated during surgery, to the slow progress of emaciated turtles getting so large that they give the hospital team a bit of a challenge during check ups, to a sea turtle being released to its ocean home after almost a year of rehabilitating in the hospital (see here)," she adds.
