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Orangutan in the Wild

Orangutan in the Wild

Marty’s photo of the day #4465: I shot this orangutan photo back in 2003, when digital photography was still relatively new. I had purchased a Nikon camera for my Borneo trip that promised to be the best of its class. The camera arrived just before I left the United States, and I didn’t have much […]

Shooting Swatch Critters

Shooting Swatch Critters

Marty’s photo of the day #4452: My wife, Deb Essen, is one of America’s premier master weavers, and she has a three-book deal with Schiffer Publishing. My first two books, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents” and “Endangered Edens: Exploring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, the Everglades, and Puerto Rico, feature […]

Hippos, the second day

Hippos, the second day

Marty’s photo of the day #4659: As anyone who has read my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, or seen my college show, Around the World in 90 Minutes, knows, my wife, Deb, and I were attacked by a hippo on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. The hippo literally bit through […]

Magic at 3:00 a.m.

Magic at 3:00 a.m.

Marty’s photo of the day #4648: The expedition to Antarctica Deb and I did many years ago for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, was absolutely magical. We’ve discussed doing it again, but we know that trying to recreate magic like that seldom works. Then, this week, we learned that […]

Orangutan find

Orangutan find

Marty’s photo of the day #4639: Being that this is photo 4,639, when I go through my photo files each morning to decide what to post, sometimes it’s frustrating finding something of high quality that I haven’t posted before. That’s especially the case when I go through the photos I took while working on my […]

Stealin’ dog food

Stealin’ dog food

Marty’s photo of the day #4541: Deb and I have enjoyed two long camping trips into Canada with our dogs. The first was in 2002, when Deb and I took Kate and Annie on a 5,572-mile-long adventure to the very top of Canada, which became part of my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring […]

Indigo’s tail

Indigo’s tail

Marty’s photo of the day #4514: This tail belongs to a gray whale named Indigo (read on to learn how I know that). While working on my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, Deb and I experienced multiple close-up humpback whale encounters off the coast of Antarctica. The whales would approach […]

For the dog

For the dog

Marty’s photo of the day #4500: In 2002, Deb and I and our dogs, Kate and Annie, traveled to the top of Canada in a 5,572 mile-long adventure that became the North American chapter in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. That trip was as much for our dogs as […]

At some point you have to run

At some point you have to run

Marty’s photo of the day #4496: A short excerpt from the Australia chapter in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, explains this photo: A few of the caves had entrances large enough for a human to squeeze through. Reaching the small chambers, however, would have required dropping through layers of […]

The Porcupine caribou migration

The Porcupine caribou migration

Marty’s photo of the day #4491: This is a tiny section of the Porcupine caribou migration, the longest terrestrial migration of any animal on Earth. I shot this photo in 2002, while traveling for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. This spot is in Canada’s Northwest Territories, which, unfortunately, is […]

A Canadian redo?

A Canadian redo?

Marty’s photo of the day #4482: This is a scenic shot from somewhere on Deb’s and my epic journey to the top of Canada for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. We’ve been hoping to redo that 5,572 mile-long adventure for many years. For the past year, we’ve really gotten […]

First Canadian campsite

First Canadian campsite

Marty’s photo of the day #4464: This was one of the first campsites on Deb’s and my epic trip to the top of Canada for my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. Ever since, Deb and I have hoped to redo that 5,572 mile-long adventure. We were going to do it […]

Repeating the adventure

Repeating the adventure

Marty’s photo of the day #4440: For the North American continent adventure in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents, Deb and I and our two dogs drove from Montana all the way to the top of Canada and back. That drive was longer than driving from Los Angeles to New […]

The pig cobra

The pig cobra

Marty’s photo of the day #4417: The following short excerpt is from my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents. For this adventure, Deb and I are on the island of Borneo, and Stephen is our guide from the Dusun Segama tribe: Eventually we rose to our feet and started toward the […]