Portraits of Adventure / University of Akron
University of Akron
Students doing the work
2026 - Ongoing
This chapter grew out of a partnership with the University of Akron Field Station and Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences, built around the school's Student Driven Climate Symposium. The idea was simple: portraits of students doing real environmental or sustainability work, on location in the spaces connected to that work, paired with a short interview and profile. The images are meant to do two jobs, supporting the symposium itself and giving the university something honest to use for recruiting.
Three portraits are complete so far. A biology student who helped plan and run the symposium. An art student who worked alongside her on the same effort. And a third subject who came to the outdoors as an adult, someone who didn't grow up with that access and found it later, which stretches the chapter beyond students who fit the expected mold. Two more portraits remain, with the university being deliberate about who else represents the program well.
As an independent photographer, this project can hold subjects like climate change directly, in a way a university communications office often can't. That's part of what made the partnership worth pursuing in the first place. With summer break underway, the remaining two portraits will be scheduled and the chapter wrapped later this summer.
Portraits of Adventure reveals the human connection to land and outdoor spaces, the culture built around them, and the experiences shaped by place. It exists to protect the spaces where those connections take root.
Chapters
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The Buckeye Trail
The volunteers who keep a 1,400 mile trail connected across Ohio, one blaze and cleared log at a time.
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The Connecting Thread
Kite surfers, mountain bikers, skaters, people met in passing rather than by appointment.
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Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Where this project began, a free national park that taught me how much people shape a place.
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3 Trackers
An adaptive ski program where students and volunteers make the slopes work for everyone.
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Vultures Knob
A 50 year old private trail, its final season open before logging moves in on land once used as a landfill.
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University of Akron
Portraits of Akron students building a life around the outdoors, met through a campus climate symposium and the people who followed.
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Gorge Dam
A dam removal on the Cuyahoga River and the people affected by the restoration. Coming Fall 2026.
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E 185th
A spillway rebuilt so steelhead trout can find their way back to Lake Erie. Coming Fall 2026.
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What's next?
Each chapter is handled with care, honesty, and respect. Here is what it takes to be considered for the next one.
