Joey Priola
There is no place that I feel more alive, more connected to what is important, than the wilderness. Whether an icy mountain summit, a misty forest or a rocky coastline, the wild places of the world feel like home to me. While my love for the outdoors precedes my passion for photography, I could not imagine having one without the other now. Add a car to the equation and the result is the feeling of absolute freedom where the possibilities are limited only by my imagination and willpower. The roots of my passion for photography took hold while I was in college. The memories of messing around with my first point-and-shoot camera are as strong as if those moments happened but last week. Back then I knew next to nothing about photography but the thrill of exploring wild, lonely lands and trying to capture the beauty of the landscape and the emotions that it stirred up in me made me feel alive like never before. Since those early days of escaping campus at Syracuse University to go explore the nearby Morgan Hill State Forest, photography has taken me on a journey that my 20 year old self could have only dreamed of. From exploring the wild coast of Washington’s Olympic National Park with my best friends, to countless trips and treasured moments with my dad, to a year-long solo road-trip odyssey through the American West and British Columbia after finishing my PhD in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins, to camping in the Adirondacks with my wife and dog, exploring and photographing wilderness has been the driving force of my life. Each time I press the shutter and capture a singular moment in the wild, something is awakened in me and I unequivocally realize that there is nothing else I would rather do. I hope that as you view my photographs you will feel the same sense of awe and wonder the wilderness instills in me, and you are inspired to set forth into the wild searching for your own momentary awakenings.