Who The Heck is Adventure Bonnie?
Contributed by Phillip C. Flippo
Back in March or 2022 my wife and I made a huge shift in our lives, from a life spent mostly indoors, to a new expansive life now spent exploring and documenting the natural world through photography and film work. We both found that we were able to form deep connections with wildlife and the habitats they live in, and started to share these experiences with people around the world. In a matter of a few months, we discovered that tens of thousands of people seemed to really respond to these animal stories, and we wanted to do more.
But what would doing more even look like? We knew we wanted to create something new and different, but what?
The Origin of Adventure Bonnie:
Ok, so right up front, I am going to tell you, this is a very silly origin story, but hang in there.
After about 3 months of near constant exploration around Alaska, I started losing a lot of weight. One morning I woke up and was admiring my now slowly slimming belly, and I exclaimed to my wife, “I’m losing all of this weight thanks to my new adventure body!” Then she looked up at me very confused, and said, “Who the heck is Bonnie?” I responded, “No no, I’m saying that I lost all this weight because my adventurous body is helping me.” To which she replied, “Who is Adventure Bonnie and how is she helping you lose weight!?”
After we had a good laugh at the hilarious miscommunication, it became a regular morning activity to ask each other “Where is Adventure Bonnie taking us today!?” before we would go on that day’s outing. It got to the point where we said her name so often, that we started thinking of her like a real person.
Then one day we started discussing what qualities Adventure Bonnie would have if she were real, trying to borrow from our own personalities; wildly excitable, with a deep respect for wildlife, an explorer, someone who has childlike wonder when in nature, and someone who loves to teach/share. Also, because my wife and I are out together doing photography and film work so often, we figured she needed a companion as well to join her in the field, but who?
The Origin of Hatcher:
So, if you are online a lot, or follow any Alaska photography related Facebook groups, you may already know who Hatcher the Pika is. Basically, I made a real connection with this one extremely small Pika (the world's smallest member of the rabbit family) up in the boulder fields in Hatcher Pass Alaska. After I spent a significant amount of time photographing/filming him over the 2022 season I fell in love and had to give him a name.
Considering he was from Hatcher Pass, his name was an easy choice in my heart, Hatcher the Pika.
So many people around the world begged me to one day put together books and calendars with his images in them. I think most people have never even heard of this animal, and now they were getting a daily, in depth look at him, and his Pika friend’s little world. It was around this time that it dawned on me, Adventure Bonnie still needed a companion. One that could stand for the discovery and joy of the natural world and Alaska alike. They were destined to be together.
Bringing Them To Life
After creating a successful calendar with some of Hatcher’s best images, I realized that I wanted to do more than share photos of amazing wildlife encounters. I wanted to create a mix of both real-world photography/film and illustration/animation that would star Adventure Bonnie and her best friend Hatcher. So my wife and I reached out to some friends of ours, who also just so happen to be professional illustrators (Loren and Tanya Russell), and explained the two characters to them, our high hopes for them in the future, and basically how we saw them in our heads.
They agreed to take on the challenge of creating the characters, and after many, many, revisions the basic concept art, look, and feel of the characters were created (as featured in this article). These images were delivered to me on Christmas day of 2022 and I hope they will lay the framework to create books, cartoons, merchandise, and more one day.
We have a lot more to learn before we can honor them by bringing their adventures to life, along with all the real amazing wildlife of this world. Nevertheless, we have taken our first steps on a long journey, and we couldn’t be more excited to see where it takes us all!
