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MEMBER PROFILE
Guy Tal
Main Interests: E-Mail: Note: Please remove "_NOSPAM" from the SWNP Member's address when emailing them. Website: About the Photographer: I grew up in another country in a good place at a good time. The building my family lived in was one of only two multi-storey buildings for miles. In every direction lay fields and orchards teeming with life and color. The words "video game" held no meaning to anyone I knew growing up, and the only television set in our house was a bulky black-and-white beast with boring programming for just a few hours a day. I spent my early years in the hills, studying animals and plants, getting bit and scratched and bruised, getting to know every living thing and falling in love with the natural world. By the time I reached my teens, the "culture revolution" had hit full force, along with a seemingly never-ending war. Waves of immigrants brought with them almost overnight explosion of new construction, reducing the fields of my youth to distant memories. With every passing year more of my beloved spots succumbed to houses and malls, but the kind of place I grew up demanded loyalty and patriotism and belief in the common good. If you questioned any of these, the choice was simple - leave or go insane. I stuck it out. What finally drove me out were three years of mandatory military service that tested everything I came to love and believe in. Some of the answers were not easy to accept, but at that point I had no other choice. The wonderful place of my childhood no longer existed. As a young man I liked to read. Among the many books that passed through my hands were the likes of Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac," and Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire." The latter had me imagining the wonderful places as he so expertly described and their majestic beauty. I never thought I would actually get to see them with my own eyes someday, let alone live within a short driving distance of them. On the day I realized it was time to leave, I also knew where I was headed - the American West became my new home. As a child there was little I could do to protect the lands I so loved, now gone. In this life, however, I hope to use my photography and writing to bring the natural beauty of my new homeland to everyone, so that more caring and inspired souls can assist in keeping the West wild.
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