Janet Gustin

A boat dropped me on a remote island where puffins gather every summer to breed, and I had come chasing one photograph: a puffin caught mid-launch, wings fully spread, the instant it finally trusted the air enough to leave the cliff. I could not have told you in words

There is a smell the ocean has that nothing inland can fake. Salt, and something underneath the salt, cold water and living things and air that has traveled a long way to reach you. I live inland now. I did not realize how much I had been missing that smell

I have been counting down the days to get back to this beach for months. To be perfectly honest, if I am being truthful with myself, it has really been since the day I left last year. The moment that plane touched down and the door opened, I felt something

I had wanted to see the Galápagos ever since I first heard about it, briefly, in a school classroom years earlier, always wondering what could possibly make a place so famous. Planning the trip itself was the easy part. Being a planner does not make you brave, and I felt

I live across the street from a nature preserve. Once a year they bring in goats for weed abatement and I look forward to this week with real anticipation — the kind that has me watching out the window for the truck to arrive. There is something special about these goats.

I was fourteen the first time I walked into a hall of mirrors at a carnival. I remember the noise outside — the lights, the smell of popcorn, the whole colorful spinning world of it. And then stepping through that entrance into something completely disorienting. Every direction I turned, there I

My father told me repeatedly I would never amount to anything. But THE Father told me I am a winner. As I sit here in front of my computer I want you to know I am not writing this from a safe comfortable distance. I grew up with an alcoholic

So here is an embarrassing confession: I used to scroll right past some of the greatest wildlife photographers in history. Not because their work was not incredible—but because they shot in black and white. I know. I KNOW. In my defense, I have only been doing photography for a

They had just come back from a car trip around the block with my husband. I was sitting on the couch when Akuna came bounding toward me, tail wagging—a rare moment of pure joy from a dog who had known so little of it in recent months. My heart

It's January 1st, and I'm doing what everyone does—looking back, taking stock, even thinking about resolutions I'll maybe keep for a week or two. But here's what I can't figure out: I remember last year's moments perfectly,

This December, my Christmas gift to you isn't wrapped in winter. It's wrapped in Florida sunshine and cotton candy pink feathers. Because the best gifts often come in unexpected packages—and sometimes what we need most in the grey wintery season is a reminder that joy

The dirt road crests the hill and there it is - Bodie, California's most famous ghost town, preserved in a state of arrested decay. From 1859 to the early 1900s, this gold rush boomtown swelled to nearly 10,000 souls chasing fortune in the Sierra Nevada hills. Sixty-five

The dust cloud appeared first— like a white wall rising against the Eastern Sierra peaks. Then they came thundering over the ridge: fifty wild mustangs flowing down the hillside like liquid freedom made visible. I barely got my camera up in time to catch them streaming past—manes flying, hooves

One photographer completely stuck in the mud. Then another. And another…Here we were, providing the morning's entertainment while the tide kept rising and we kept sinking. And our audience? A bear sitting on the beach, scratching behind his ear with what I can only describe as amused

The invitation came wrapped in exhaustion and possibility—another chance to witness God's whispers in the wild. Lake Clark, Alaska called, promising coastal brown bears and the raw beauty that only comes from places where humans are visitors, not residents. I had no idea I was about to

The invitation came unexpectedly—a chance to photograph kit foxes on an island. I had no idea what awaited me beyond the boat ride and the promise of "adorable babies." But isn't that how the most transformative experiences often begin? With a simple yes to something

The boat rocked gently beneath me as we drifted through the pre-dawn stillness of Blue Cypress Lake. Can you picture it? That moment when the world holds its breath—not quite night, not yet day—when possibilities hang suspended in the air like the Spanish moss draping from ancient

The morning mist hung low over the lake as I walked the empty path, my footsteps muffled by damp earth. That's when I spotted him—perched awkwardly on a weathered log extending from the shoreline, a solitary duck that instantly made me pause. I'm ashamed to

It happened in a misty rainforest in Hawaii. Dawn was just breaking, and I stood still amid emerald vegetation dripping with dew. That's when I heard it—a pure, unwavering song cutting through the gentle rainfall. Following the sound, I spotted a tiny bird perched on a rain-

"How many are Your works, LORD! In wisdom You made them all … There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number—living things both large and small.” Psalms104 In the depths of Maui's waters swims one of God's most magnificent creatures - the

You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Isaiah 55 It is easy to be swept away by the aesthetic beauty of God's creative imagination when viewing the colors of a

What do bald eagles, black oystercatchers, harbor seals and me have in common? One might guess we were all at the same place in Canada — at the same time. That would be true, but we have more than that in common. Most importantly, we each have the same creator God.