Preparing for Adventure
by Ben Horton
Expedition Granted Competitor

As is the case with expeditions, as hard as I try to get everything done, it still seems like all of the important things don't happen until the last minute. I'm packing for an upcoming expedition to the Alacranes Reef in Mexico where my next assignment is, and I'm trying to get my life in order before I leave for three weeks. It seems like I'm spending most of my time just trying to remember what it is I'm supposed to be doing!

This is what I love though, making plans, expeditions on the horizon, and in all of it a feeling that I'm aiming high and that accomplishments will be made. Hopefully in the end, the World will be a slightly better place because of my efforts. Besides, I love the time I get to spend in the natural world, learning about my place in it, and learning through immersion.

The most fantastic points in my life have all taken place in the wild. It was spending time in the places I love that has driven me to become active in the conservation world. Projects like my upcoming Rio Sirena trip don't come about by sitting in my living room thinking about what next adventure will help build my career, they come about by being there, and seeing for myself how desperate the ecosystem is for protection.

Photography is just my personal medium for conservation. It is also an effective medium. When the masses see sheets full of data on the dangers facing a species, they have a hard time visualizing exactly what it means. But when we see a photograph like this one I took in Hong Kong of a warehouse full of shark fins, the point is driven home. That's my job, and that is who I have become, I'm the guy that brings back the photographs and shows them to the people who can't see these things for themselves, so that they might feel something effectual, like, hope, pity, regret, or my favorite, inspiration.