Contributed by Phillip C. Flippo
Just seven months ago I was walking out of a hospital, a place that had largely been my home for the previous four and a half years, finally able to eat, walk, and function minimally enough that I could go home. I had suffered significant neurological damage from arsenic poisoning and during medical testing discovered I also had a debilitating brain tumor; my corporate life, my home life, my social life, all of it ended in an instant. My wife (Ashana Flippo) and I truly thought the best life I would ever know again would be one of withstanding the very intense head pain and mental confusion I was now stuck with on a day-to-day basis.
I had always loved to cook, so when I got home I started sharing my cell phone photos of every meal I cooked to help distract myself. One day, my photos got the attention of a local restaurant, and they asked if I could take photos for their menu, and I was so excited! Not simply because someone liked my photos, but also because someone thought of me as a real functional human being for the first time in a long time.
Ashana and I knew I couldn’t just show up with a cell phone (as we would look a tad unprofessional) so we went to Stewart’s Photo in Anchorage, and after many hours of hilarious confusion having camera basics explained to us for the first time, we bought our first “real” camera. This moment, although I could never have known it, would change my life forever.
It quickly escalated beyond taking photos of food, and a week after we bought the camera, we took the world’s absolute worst photo of a Bald Eagle, but something about it transformed us. We stared at this horrible photo for hours, discussing the environment it was in, what it looked like, and started asking ourselves questions like, “Why does it live here? What is it doing? Wasn’t that so cool to see? What else can we see? When can we go out next?” and this became our new life.
I had previously spent an entire lifetime indoors, and now, all I wanted to do, every single day, was to be in nature, learning and observing the wonders of nature with childlike joy. This was a miracle, this was something I could do, this put my pain and suffering out of my mind, this was more healing than any medication or therapy, and I wasn’t just withstanding my days, I was enjoying them.
One day I walked into the Bureau of Land Management and asked a park ranger the following very stupid question, “I have lived in Alaska my whole life, but I have no idea where any animals live, or when they do anything. Can you please tell me where all the animals are?” and they laughed a little too hard before happily pulling out a map. On this map were several animals on the edges with child friendly descriptions with arrows pointing to where they live, one of these animals was something I had never seen or heard about ever before, the Pika.
I spent the next three days talking to locals and researching them, where they live, what they eat, anything I could find. Then I would drive three hours out to where they supposedly were, and I spent entire days desperately searching for them in the rock piles. On the last day, for only 4 minutes, I saw my first one.
I later applied my learnings and found several local colonies in Hatcher Pass which I spent the entire summer and fall photographing and filming almost every day. For those of who have never seen or heard of the Pikas, they are the world’s smallest member of the Lagomorph (rabbit) family, are about the size of a hamster, are lightning fast, and spend their days collecting colorful mouthfuls of local berries, flowers, and grasses to bring back to their little homes under the boulders to store for winter. They are extremely skittish and are well known for being exceptionally difficult to photograph, so my daily practice with them allowed me to hone my photography skills at a rapid pace.
One of the Pika became increasingly more curious about me, and began having regular interactions with me, and on several occasions even left flowers at my feet. I started calling this one Hatcher, and he was the first true meaningful wildlife connection I ever made, and it absolutely opened my heart to a level of beauty and happiness for this planet and its many creatures that I cannot easily describe.
I started sharing my stories, photos, and videos with people all over Alaska and eventually all over the world. Now, just seven months after picking up our first camera, our stuff has been used by large companies, featured in galleries, and we even published our first Pika calendar a few weeks ago. I was even nominated and voted best photographer of 2022 in the Frontiersman’s Best Of Competition, not because I think I am an amazing photographer, but because I think after everything I have survived, I truly love and value not just nature, but all the people I have met and shared my art with along the way.
www.flippophotography.com