Mar 10, 2021

Nick Brown aka NickByNorthwest, Joins The Herd Has Spoken

Wildlife Photographer & Air Force Munitions Technician -- Nick Brown

Nick Brown is a Munitions Technician in the US Air Force currently living in Alaska with a creative outlet for wildlife photography. Nick taught us that “your life Is your responsibility,” which is certainly shown through his career ensuring the safety and effectiveness of US Air Force munitions. As a wildlife photographer in a super competitive and talented space, Nick is a constant learner and not intimidated to put his work out there in order to see reactions.

Enjoy the conversation between Nick and Brad

Brad
Nick Brown, welcome to The Herd Has Spoken. Glad to have you here. So you are a Munitions Technician in the Air Force, which my understanding is you get to blow up a bunch of really cool shit every day. So tell us a little bit about some of the stuff that you get to blow up.

Nick
So it's not, it's not actually blowing up actually avoiding blowing up is my job. But we build process tests and assemble all things that do blow up. If it does blow up. It has to come from us or through us first. EOD is actually a whole different career field. They're the guys that are out there blowing stuff up. We do get to work with them sometimes, which is a lot of fun. We get to go out in the back in the mountains and blow up stuff that's broken or bad or whatever. But now we build anti blow up You're the as you mentioned the EOD. So sorry to interrupt you bet that means what EOD is explosive ordnance disposal. They're the guys that if we break something, we give it to them, they take it off in the mountains. Sometimes we get to go with them and have fun and blow up stuff. But uh, yeah, that's, that's what they do. My job is to prevent blowing up until the the intended time.

Brad
Okay, so we'll want to keep you away from Matt character and demolition ranch whose job is to always blow up stuff, right? Yeah. So you you grew up in California, lived in in LA for a bit and lived in the in the desert. Now you're in Alaska. So there's a whole lot in between. Would love to hear how a kid from Southern California decided to join the military?

Nick
What what was behind that as well. So like I said, I was originally from LA. And when I was younger, like preteen age, we moved to the high desert, which is like a Palmdale, Lancaster area in California, Antelope Valley. And it was kind of a, I guess, you say like a dead end town. Just not a lot going on there. A lot of people in that area just tend to work the same jobs over and over again, same same career fields and never leave that area. And I was just decided I wanted to go see the world. And I did try college for a little bit, went to college of the canyons in Santa Clarita. And realize real quick, that's expensive. And so, stopped in an Air Force recruiter and one day and they were like, hey, yeah, for colleges free through us, you know, come through, and I was like, cool. Can I go see the world? They're like, Yeah, let's do it. I was like, sign me up. I think the job and they were like, yeah, you want to blow stuff up? I was like, Yeah, I want to do that. And they were like, cool. It's, it's not this job. But it's close. Yeah.

Brad
Did you know they fall in the same trap? I did. You fell in the same trap? I did, which is you're not actually blowing stuff up. You're preventing things from getting blown out? Exactly. Yep. Well, so I have to ask this as the son of a Navy captain. Why? Why the Air Force? Was it just where their recruiter was was placed? Close to close to where you were driving? Or was that a conscious choice? It was a first it was a it was a not not exactly conscious choice. I was I walked into the recruiters office and it was it was just all four branches all locked in there, right? and walked in there and the army guys came out. They're like, hey, you're a big dude. Once you come join us, I was like, Okay, well, maybe I'll think about it. Marines guys came out, like, hey, join us don't listen to this army. Okay, Navy guys came out. I was like, Oh, hold on, where's the Air Force, dude, they're like, Oh, he's been on a three hour lunch. And I was like, I want three hour lunches.

Nick
Like, I'm gonna pick the Air Force. Now, it was a conscious decision, I actually wanted to, I wanted to fly. And then I learned that there's a height limit on on certain fighter aircrafts. And I'm, I'm six, five. So that didn't, didn't work out for me. But I figured I'd do something, at least related to it.

Brad
What is the height limitation? How close? Are we here?

Nick
Ah, I think I know, I might be wrong on this. I think it was six foot two was the limit at the time and you might be able to get wavered, but I'm not 100% on that. And that was for fighter aircraft. Little did I know that there was all kinds of other aircraft I could have flown and things like that. Then there was the problem of the degree. Like I said, college was expensive, and I wanted to nab that free college first. So that might still be in my future, I might still be able to fly in the future that there's there's plans in the works to maybe transition over to the officer side. So fingers crossed?

Brad
Yeah, absolutely. That's it. That's a huge transition to be able to even have the opportunity to make so that's, that's exciting. For sure. So when people think about the military, I think there's a lot of different things that commonly come to mind from an average civilian perspective. So having been in the Air Force for a number of years, how is being in the military different than how it's generally portrayed?

Nick
That's a good one. So in a lot of ways, it's very similar. We still have a typical I guess, you just thought It's a nine to five except that it's not necessarily a nine to five, in my specific job, it's about seven to four, we do have a lot more flexibility than most civilian jobs, for instance, civilian jobs, your lunch starts at, let's just say noon, and ends at one. There is no leeway. Well, in the military, your lunch might be 15 minutes. Or maybe your supervision wants to be cool and give you like I said, two or three hour lunch, it just depends. There's a mentality of working till the job is done. Not necessarily having a set of hours when I was stationed in Las Vegas, it's one of the busiest places for my career field. There were times where my supervisor had to say, hey, look, we got to stay late. We got to work through Saturday, I'm sorry, but the work has to get done. Flat Out. That's that's what the mission is. And I think that's probably the biggest, biggest difference for me was adjusting to that mindset of like, Oh, really, like there's, there's a goal in mind rather than just I have to work from x time to x time. And actually kind of like that, though. You get to kind of look back at the end of it and say, oh, wow, we did that we accomplish that.

Brad
Yeah, that's, that's something that's really satisfying. And I think so many of us that, that work in sort of technology jobs or selling product jobs, it's tough to see a beginning and an end point. But that's something that's really satisfying. And I know a lot of people who may not even get the option like you do to have that endpoint in your job, but pursue that as a hobby, you know, maybe it's maybe it's roofing and being able to say, I know, I, I put a new roof on that house.

Nick
Yeah, you get to look back that final product. And, you know, one of the differences, those, you know, in the, in the case of someone who's in roofing, they get to finish that product. I'm like, awesome, I put a roof on someone's head. But for us, it's I built this trailer full of, you know, bombs, or missiles or whatever. And those get sent out to the line and go, they go off and they do their thing. And whether it's target practice, or actually putting, as they say, warheads on foreheads, you know, just depending on where you are, but, uh, it's it's always a satisfying feeling to know that it's like, we're not, maybe we're not the ones in the aircraft, but we are still at that tip of the spear, or at least on the edge of the spear.

Brad
Yeah. And I think that's really interesting, right? So when you talk about being able to create these, these weapons and the exploit these explosives, I mean, we live in a physical world. And those are things that are that are made to cause physical damage. And so it's easy for us to think like, yeah, hey, you're creating these things for physical damage. But I think there's a different philosophy and I'd really be curious to hear what you think about Teddy Roosevelt, and his his famous quote here, Speak softly and carry a big stick, you will go far. And I'd love to hear what you Nick, think about that philosophy and how it pertains to what you are doing in your, in your world working with munitions every day. Um,

Nick
I think I myself 100% agree with that statement. Um, and again, you know, I gotta jump in here and say, you know, all these opinions that any anything I expresses is my opinion, not not necessarily that of the Air Force. But I think personally, that the best defense is being able to have a good offense, you know, if the world out there is thinking, Well, we've got the best trained munitions trooper, the best trained pilots and the best train this and that, and then all the all the additional components that go into accomplishing that mission, no one's going to be out there trying to mess with us directly. And that's, I think, part of the reason why we've maintained a pretty strong degree of homeland peace for such a long time, you know, the kind of mentality of carrying that big stick?

Brad
And to what extent is that motivating to you on a day to day basis.

Nick
It really varies. So the way my career field works is that we were all roll munitions, right. But we each there's so many of us and so many components to my job that we each get separated into different column sections, basically. So right now I'm logistics that moves things from A to B, but uh, you know, two years ago, I was the one on when I was stationed in Korea, I was building the actual bombs that was like, ready to go to defend the nation. You know, if North Korea ever did their thing, or anything popped off crazy, it was like they were, my name was on those bombs, you know, ready to go and defend whatever we could. And I think that one was, that that moment was critical motivation to me, you know, we do those, we call them exercises all the time where we, we practice as if, you know, it's really real world happening. And I think those are the moments where it really, it really hits home a lot of times where I'm like, wow, this this is real, you know, there's 50 million people in this country that we're here to defend for, you know, until until we can't anymore, and that I think was probably the most critical moment for me was a actually building like hands on the bombs, I'm certifying them saying that they're good to go and ready to do the mission is that ever become?

Brad
I mean, there's a lot of pressure behind that to your point, right? I mean, at the end of the day, what you're doing every day is protecting America. And America is 300 plus million people, but it's also an ideal that the vast majority of the world aspires towards, and until on one hand, I mean, that's, that's tremendously motivating. But there's another side to that, where that that's a lot of pressure as well. I mean, is that something that you or your team, you know, spend spend much time thinking about? And I'm sure not with your with the guys doing your thing at 2pm? But But is that something that you're thinking about, you know, at night, when you're when you're trying to go to sleep?

Nick
Um, it does cross my mind. But I think kind of going back to how I said, it's like, being able to look back at that, you know, that trailer for the bombs or that, like you said, the roof, I think we compartmentalize down to just that one concept of saying, like, I finished this job, I did good that at the end of the day, I didn't take any QA, quality assurance fails or anything like that. Just being able to say, I checked the boxes, I went home, and just get to go to bed at night knowing that, hey, I did the job. You know, I think that kind of becomes more about what it's what it's really about. I remember, initially, when I first got into this career field, I walked up on my first like, live explosive, and I put my hand on it. I was like, whoo, hoo, this is freaky. And once that got out of my system, you kind of get desensitized. So there's so many safety protocols in place to that you don't really write about too much of it. But no, I think it really is just, it's about compartmentalizing down to the the job at the moment, and then go to sleep next day. What's the next job at the moment? And we just do that over and over again?

Brad
Well, speaking of compartmentalizing, I think it's really interesting is that you're obviously you're a member of the United States Air Force, and spent a ton of time with munitions. But you're also an outdoors photographer, who spends a lot of time with wildlife and mountains, and scenic beauty. And that's an interesting, that's an interesting separation, because you don't often think about the military and the arts going going together. Right? So so I'd love to hear you know, how those two things come together and in your world and how they actually play off one another? Yeah, absolutely.

Nick
Um, I guess a lot of people think that, like the military, when you're in it, it consumes everything. That's not not the case at all, at least not for the Air Force. There's a lot of times where you get to go out and go, you can even go hike and have trips with like, your Squadron mates or your your shop, mates, whatever. And go have that same degree of fun. And photography has always been a part of my life. When I was a kid, I had like a, you know, it was old school like plastic Kodak, like roll films, like, you know, yeah, so I had one of those. And I remember, it was my mom's actually. And I took it and I went to the backyard. And I was taking pictures of like, like bugs and like up close shots of like grass blades and stuff like that. And she found out that I wasted all the film. And she comes with just read on the back of the head. She's like, stop wasting my I must have been, I don't know, eight or nine at the time. And ever since then I was I was just hooked. I think I started taking it seriously when I picked up a gun like a starter kit DSLR when I found out that I was seeing all these pictures of like, the Milky Way out in the desert. And I was stationed in Las Vegas. I was like, I want to do that. And I figured I started Googling, like, how can I make this happen and picked up like a starter kit. DSLR was like a Nikon D 5600 or something. And I just started going to town with it. And ever since then I've just been hooked that was about like six years ago. I picked that up. And you know, since then I've done a couple upgrades and things like that, but I just I don't know, I just ran with it. And anytime I get some free time I go out and just go on a hike and take some pictures.

Brad
Yeah, I love it. And it certainly treated you well. So for those listening, I mean, obviously we've got links that you can track this down, but on Instagram, you can find Nick at Nick by Northwest. It's got over 70,000 followers so far. So you're you're in good company to be able to track down a lot of his his fantastic photography and be forewarned, you might see a picture of Nick sport and some musk ox as well and some of his some of his adventures. So, Nick, I'd love to hear more like, you know, putting on your artistic hat. What is it exactly that you want to say? With your photographs? And how is it that you get your photographs to deliver that message? That's a good one.

Nick
Honestly, it's, it's really just a matter of like trying to capture the moment. Um, I know it's such a cheesy way. Like it's such a cliche way of saying it because that's that's really what photography is. But I like to think that There's not too complicated of a message about it, though, that you know, anyone can get out there. And anyone can do this, I'm just a normal Dude, I just happen to, you know, be afforded the opportunities to travel because of my job. But anyone can get out there and go to these places. And I think that's probably one of the great things about photography is that it gives you an outlet to say, I was there at this moment, I saw the light when it looked like this, and it's never gonna look quite the same again. But, you know, being able to share, especially through social media, kind of gives you the opportunity to say, you can get out there to any anyone out there can get out there too, and see this same exact thing. Maybe not quite the same as I took it that day. But it'll be similar. At least I hope.

Brad
So in that moment, right. So if I, if I'm hearing you correctly, you really want to just capture the moment. So how do you how do you know then, when that moment has arrived? Because when you're out there in the wilderness, I mean, you're living in Alaska, now, you're surrounded by mountains constantly. But how do you know, when you've gotten to a point where you need to pause, stop, and take take the picture.

Nick
It's, it's tough. there's times where I'll have somewhere to be, and the light hits the mountain just right, and I'll pull my truck over, just like on the side of the road, and with the camera out, and people are driving by looking at me, like this guy's crazy. He's gonna get himself killed. Which Please don't do that. If you're out there listening, be safe. I think I think it just, there's a lot of like rules of photography, like, you know, leading lines, rule of thirds, if the lights like in golden hour and things like that, once those things start, you get one or two or three of those things kind of overlapping, you know, you've got a good picture. And there's just kind of like a gut instinct of like, you snap that picture. And you're like, I know that one is going to be good. There's, there's like a particular feeling of just knowing that you just got as what's Peter McKinnon likes to call it a? I just got a banger? is his favorite term?

Brad
Yeah, for sure. So where did you learn some of those basics? So you met you mentioned the rule of thirds. You mentioned the golden hour. So where did you go to learn that? What would you recommend to someone who's like everybody else in the world has a cell phone in their pocket, and they like to take pictures, and they want to start taking things to the next level?

Nick
Absolutely. Just Just YouTube like crazy YouTube, rule of thirds, route, YouTube, basics of photography, everything. That was probably one of the biggest things for me was trying to learn those basics and like compositional techniques are one of the most difficult things for anyone to learn. Like, first learn the exposure triangle, which is you know, your shutter speed, your ISO, your aperture, learn what aperture even means. And then from there, jump straight into composition techniques. And that that I think, is it's something that constantly evolves, you never master it, like ever. Yeah, you can, you can follow the rule of thirds and the leading lines. But that may not be your favorite thing to photograph. Maybe you like simplistic, maybe you like flat, like simple images, maybe you just want a mountain peak and the moon above it with like a nice gradient that doesn't follow any of those rules. It's really it's just about what you want to express as a photographer, whatever you can capture at that time, if you liked it, send it.

Brad
So for you, are you trying to get better consciously as a photographer? Like Is that something that you aspire towards? Or are you just haven't fun? And when you're out there, you just want to really, you know, enjoy things and find a way to capture the moment.

Nick
It's, it's a bit of both, I think that you're always learning constantly, constantly, you're never stopped learning. Um, I watched a video from a photographer named Evan ramped, he's one of my favorites. He, he talks about the six stages of being a photographer, and I'm not I'm not gonna go too into detail about each stage. But there's, there's a really particular stage that resonated with me was that there's a moment in which you realize this, this is after you, you think you're effectively hot shit. At a certain point, you realize, whoa, wait, wow, I have a lot to learn. And you see all these like pros that are absolutely at their top of their game killing it out there. And you're like, well, what's different here and you start to kind of Humble yourself, and then the whole process repeats itself. And I think that the process never stops. You're always no matter. No matter what you learn, you're always taking that knowledge and reapplying it back at the beginning of that cycle again, but at the same time, you shouldn't let that bring you down from having fun when you go out and take your photos you know, enjoy the moment. Another photographers, one of my favorites is Thomas Heaton. He says if you're if you're out there struggling to find a composition, just just go out. Just go hike. Don't worry about the photos. Just go see, have fun. Just go see what what happens. And then sometimes something will just jump out at your eye and take the picture then.

Brad
Yeah, I think I think that's an important metaphor in life and a lot of ways rights. One of my favorite is, look if you're if your car's not stuck in a snowstorm, and as we're recording this, there's a lot of people, including Texans who are stuck in a snow snowstorm right now, it doesn't matter if you want to go north, east, south or west, you need to start rocking your car likes forward and going back and don't worry about what your endpoint is. You just need some momentum. And you start making some things happen. And sometimes that's as simple as just going for a hike in the woods, right?

Nick
Yeah, absolutely. Your mind reset, take that first step, just get outside and go do something, even if like you don't have to have the grandiose plan, like, Oh, I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna take this, this legendary picture is going to sell, you know, so many prints or get so many likes on Instagram, you know, just just go outside, just enjoy the outdoors. And whatever comes of that photographically awesome. Tell the story then.

Brad
So Nick, what is it that motivates you to continue taking pictures? Right? You mentioned being able to sell things? Is there a financial motivation for you? Is there a political motivation, intellectual, emotional? What is it that motivates you to keep doing your craft?

Nick
I don't know. You know, it's going back to the roof. I liked I liked the look of saying, I did that, you know, I finished that I made this thing. Not financial at all. I'm extremely fortunate and extremely thankful that the military has afforded me the day to day paycheck for walls and roof. I didn't always have that, that luxury of being able to say that. I do sell prints, but I don't rely on them. So I'll have people that are like, Hey, man, can I have a print? I'm like, yep, send me your address, you know, just whatever. I think it's really cool. To be able to share that with people. In fact, they're just the other day, there was a, there was a mother that she said she wanted to get a bunch of photos for her daughter, his name was Aurora. And she wanted to get some prints of the Northern Lights. And I was like, I just hit her up, like, hey, send me an address. I've got like five prints for you just gonna send them. They don't cost me much to make and it's I just enjoy sharing my work with other people more than I enjoy the, I guess the finance aspect of it.

Brad
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Makes makes sense. It's really more of the whole creative process but your stuffs great people don't people go ahead and ask Nick for his stuff. But go ahead and Venmo and we want to we want to appreciate people and all the effort that they're putting into their into their craft. I want to I want to talk with you a little bit about your travels. So you've you because you're in the military, you've had a fantastic opportunity to travel the world you live in Alaska now you lived in South Korea, you live in Texas, you lived in Vegas, you grew up in, in California. What is it that you enjoy most about being able to continue to live in different locations?

Nick
I think I think just the the the concept that everything, there's something new everywhere you go. I mentioned in one of our talks about you know, I'm hoping to go to Europe next. And the The great thing about Europe is you could be you could be in Germany, and in six hours you're in France or Sweden, London, whatever. I mean, I don't know geographically exactly how quick you could get from A to B. But it's so easy to do. And every one of those different places, you know, it's obviously different country, different culture, different backgrounds, different languages, different food, food and Korea, by the way. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. It was the best food I've ever had in my life. Get definitely the food is probably a huge major part of it, too. But no, I just I love learning about new cultures. And that kind of goes back to the photo things as you get to learn about those cultures, take pictures of it, share that story through Instagram or whatever platform you have. Is that something that you try to do consciously? And share the culture in the different areas that you've been in? Or do you think that just kind of happens? By trying to find those those moments and capture those moments?

Nick
Absolutely conscious, I go there and I seek out the history behind certain things like and like monuments, or I don't know the history behind the castles or whatever. And I learned those things, I'll write them down. I have like a little notepad on my phone, I write down that information. And because I think, you know, I don't want to like shove it in people's faces. It's like, Hey, I get to do this Haha, but I feel like a lot of people out there don't necessarily have the chance to travel and see the world but still want to learn these things and know those things. So it's kind of my little way of bringing that culture of other countries to back to America where most of my followers are.

Brad
Sure. Well, as someone who travels so often and has lived in so many different places. I'm curious what what does the idea of home mean to you?

Nick
Where my dog is I don't know. that's a that's a good one. Um, That's tough. I'd say. Actually, every time I move like a full on move, not just visiting somewhere, but I'd say if it gives me, it takes me about six months to get that feeling of like, Alright, I know these streets, I'm familiar with everything. This feels like home to me. But every few years, you know, that changes for us. But I think that there's a particular feeling after so long, where you just know you're like, you get that kind of a feeling after going home from work, where you're looking forward to just unwinding at your like, whether it's your house, your apartment, whatever, that I think when you have that feeling, I think that's what home is, is that feeling of going back to home base, and just being able to shut your brain off watching TV, get kick up and relax. And I think that's more what home is, specifically, it doesn't have to be one particular country or one particular house or even your hometown, it could just be wherever you are most comfortable going back to at the end of the day, comfort, safety, consistency, I'm hearing those are some of the hallmarks of home and not to be to in Grand dicing here. But I mean, ultimately, that's that's so much of what your day to day work is to is allowing people to feel safe and comfortable with their home, given given what you do in the Air Force. And I hope you appreciate that. I certainly appreciate that. Thank you. I'm also interested in your take on minimalism, right. So that's, that's a bit of a big, I don't want to necessarily call it a fad, but certainly a trend towards trying to not have much stuff and clearing out the stuff in your life. As someone who has to move a lot. Is that something that you've given much thought to? Do you have a point of view on on, on stuff and its role in your life and happiness?

Nick
Yeah, I mean, absolutely, I do. Personally, I prefer experiences over physical objects. If someone's like, Hey, what's what should I get you for your birthday, whatever I'm like, Don't Don't worry about a thing. I prefer going on a trip, or going on a, I don't know, out on an adventure, like, hey, go hiking with me go hit up this trail with me real quick, that's a sick birthday present for me. And I think that kind of changing that mindset from the value of like, these individual objects, to the the enjoyment of the experience is more beneficial in in kind of a mobile lifestyle like this, you do, of course have this the same stuff that goes from, you know, place to place to place like I was, you know, always have my camera, always have my laptop, phone, whatever method of communication, all of those things kind of stay consistent, which kind of helps you route down into those into those different locations. And there's also the practical side of it of the fact that if you don't have a lot, you don't have to carry a lot physically on you on a like, let's say, a hike, or when it comes moving time and like, hey, you're going to Germany, it'll take me half the time to pack up my house because I didn't bother buying, you know, an entire house with the furniture. You know, instead, maybe I was just like, Alright, cool, just by only the bare minimum of what I need, you know, then once whenever I get out of the military, that's when I'll start. It's like, Okay, cool. Where do I want to settle down?

Brad
Yeah, and I think by you highlighting so many of the amazing experiences that you've had the opportunity to, to enjoy, in the US, in Asia, and really globally, I think that's a way of encouraging people to go out there and, and find the adventure. And it's moving away from some of the vapid shit that that I see regularly, where people are, you know, concentrating on things and, and stuff and for a clothing brand, but we're really focused on trying to help guys get out, sit outside, and enjoy that adventure. And we feel like we're one really small part of that. But I think that's, that's really cool that, you know, maybe it's conscious, maybe it's not, I'm pretty confident that it is conscious for you. But your work as a photographer is really in line with sort of your belief around what's in what's important to you. And it reflects your worldview of that adventure and the importance of being able to do those sorts of things. And I think that's really cool to have your, you know, artistic expression reflect your, your beliefs, and it's probably tough to do it without having it be so aligned. But I think that's really neat and really powerful stuff.

Nick
Appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah, it's, it's, you know, when you see people in my pictures, those are those are my friends or my co workers, you know, it's like, those are usually just days where they're like, Hey, man, I just found this trail. You want to go check it out? I'm like, Yeah, I do. I don't want to sit around in my house and, you know, watch TV or dream about stuff I can buy in the future. I'm like, I want to go see the world. So I feel like those stories about About how me and my co worker almost got chased by a bear the other day, that didn't really happen, but like, hypothetically, you know, that makes for a better story. 20 years down the road than a, I don't know, a new gadget, you're not going to remember having thrown away in a couple years or whatever. So all that stuff means so much more to me, I think. And it's such a cool concept with being able to take that picture that has my friend in it. And then they always are like, Hey, man, can I get a printer that I'm like, Yeah, absolutely. And then so I'll give them a print. They hang it up in their house. And then they tell other people that story. I'm like, Oh, this is so cool. So it's so awesome. Because then they're taking that memory, they're sharing it more and more people. And I just call the BIA that that kind of middleman, little cog in that machine.

Brad
Speaking of things that are cool, obviously, that you're getting chased by a bear. Since that is a factual story.

Nick
That did happen once but I was in California and it wasn't Alaska. That was a scary moment.

Brad
You're stealing my thunder here, Nick. You're stealing my thunder because I want to hear what it is about Alaska. That makes it so unique. So having lived in a lot of places. Okay, what what is it about Alaska? That's, that's so unique.

Nick
Well, it's cold. It's huge. It's a What was it? It's twice the size of Texas. And if it was its own country, it would be the 33rd largest country in the world. And there's just so much you could, there's so much here there's there's mountains, glaciers, Northern Lights, Wildlife, like you said, I have seen bears just randomly walk through my backyard. I see foxes on trails all the time, little red foxes. And just a great pictures of foxes in your Instagram for the record. Thank you appreciate it. The oh one of the crazy things about this place is in the winter, we get only three hours of sunlight. So it's a dark, pretty much the entire rest of the day. flipside of that in the summer only gets kind of like Twilight II for about two or three hours. So if you're really into the outdoors, you can be hiking for 16 hours and not get tired and not realize that hey, maybe it's time to go to sleep. It's just incredibly unique. I love I got really bored when I lived in the desert. I was like it's it's 370 days of sunshine. All day, all the time, every summer nonstop. It's just hot and sunshine. That's it. And I was like this is really boring. And I wanted to some variety. And you never know what's what's going to happen out here.

Brad
Think that's one of my favorite parts of dealing with munitions and being a wildlife photographer and an outdoors photographer in Alaska. There's there's not a lot of room for boredom there. So I appreciate that perspective. Well, Nick, you've been generous with your with your time here before. Before I let you go. I have a couple of quick questions for you. So number one, you seem like a pretty easygoing guy. But I'd love to hear what is your biggest pet peeve?

Nick
Pet peeves? Okay. Well, that's a good one. I get this on my Instagram a lot too. People ask me all the time. Um, so this one's This one's not very, I guess practical, but people that put giant ugly watermarks on their pictures. When they're like, okay, pictures. I'm like, no one's gonna steal that. What are you doing? just just just post your pictures. On the less, I guess more existential side. Just laziness. People that can't. They like to make excuses or things like that. I feel like a lot of times it's it's really just a matter of going out and getting getting the mission done getting the job done. No matter what the goal is doesn't matter. You want to get better shape. You want to become a photographer you want to I don't know, get score that new job interview. Just Just go Just do it. Just do whatever it takes to do it.

Brad
Put in the time, do the work. Good. things are gonna happen. But don't talk about it. Don't tell me why it's not going to happen. Yes.

Nick
I hate excuses. So that's probably Yeah, I'd say that's, that's my biggest pet peeves. excuses for sure.

Brad
What's the best piece of advice that you've ever received?

Nick
Okay, best piece of advice. Oh, okay. I had a tech sergeant, which is e6 and I was a I was an E two fresh out of boot camp at the time. And he told me, of course, I was I was making excuses at the time for why I couldn't do something. And he told me he looked me dead in the face and said, your life is your responsibility. And that like I mean, I swear it hit me in the soul. It was it was like your parents saying I'm not mad. I'm disappointed in you. You know, and I was I was like wow, that that resonated with me I'll never forget it was name was a text art and Boyd he's probably either retired or way, way higher rank by now. But he told me that and I was like, wow, you know that that really is true. That kind of goes back to what I said about not making excuses. You know, just you just got to go do it. That kind of changed my career for me actually. It was a short, brief moment and really all he was telling me Was it He's kind of being a little bit dramatic, I guess you could say at the time, but he, he was telling me that even in the small things that we do, for instance, at the time, I was bitching about taking about taking out the trash, because it was cold. And you know, he kind of sent me that was like your life is your responsibility and, and those things are going to reflect in all aspects of your life. So whether it's taking out the trash or sweeping the floors, or building the bombs, we all have that mission to do. And I realized, like, not making excuses and just getting out there and doing the work that's what's gonna change things, you know, otherwise you're just sitting around waiting for something to happen to you. That's never gonna happen.

Brad
Way you do anything, is the way you do everything. Absolutely. And I think that's that's a great lesson for all of us to to learn for sure. Well, Nick, listen, we appreciate you joining us. We appreciate you being part of the mosque, Oxford, continue to take pictures of your adventures and wildlife. think that's a great inspiration for so many people, myself included. So yeah, again, thank you for thank you for joining us and sharing your story today.

Nick
Oh, yeah. I'm happy to be here. Thank you so much.