Boyd Norton: Life After Documerica

Boyd participated with Documerica from 1972 to 1975, covering the original and forgotten solar energy boom, strip mining in Wyoming, and ranching families in Montana.  

Like many whom the project touched, he never let it go and tried for years to bring it back, to no official avail. Thankfully, we once again have his insight involved with State of the Environment, the revitalization of Documerica’s vision.  

If you have glanced at, read, walked by an outdoors magazine over the past 40 years, then you’ve seen Boyd’s work. He has covered more territory than many of us realize exists until we pick up an issue of National Geographic.

His passion for protecting wilderness and his talent for photography has helped to save some of the most spectacular places and species on our planet. Thanks to him and others in this field, enough attention was raised to protect and understand places in our environment that would otherwise go unnoticed by most.

That is the power of photography. In it’s purest form it is raw, it is reality, and long before Facebook, it has always held the power to change the world.

Take a trip to Kenya, Tanzania, Idaho, and Chile right from your desk through Boyd’s Gallery. It will stir longing to go on safari. But, if like me, that seems like a distant opportunity, grab your camera this weekend to find the wild near home. You never know how extraordinary your ordinary may be to others.

Read the full blog from It’s Our Environment.
Submit photos to State of the Environment on Flickr.

Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.