Introducing "Earthshine"

There are three things you should know about me:

1. I'm a walker. I walk a lot. Walking gives me exercise, clears my mind, and helps me think. When I think clearly, I find solutions.
2. I'm a photographer. I photograph a lot. Photographing gives me play, grounds me in the present, and slows me down. When I slow down, I observe more closely.
3. I'm a writer. I write a lot. Writing makes me creative, channels my self-expression, and allows me to make sense of the world. When I make sense of the world, I tell stories.

For many years, I practised these disciplines independently of one another. One day, however, a shift took place when I began bringing my camera on my walks. As time went on, this photo archive grew in size. The sad part? Nothing ever came out of it. What's worse, while my images gathered dust on a bound-to-go-faulty hard drive, my memories of those walks withered with every passing day.

The problem wasn't that I didn't realise this. In fact, the issue came knocking on my noggin time and time again looking for an answer, and it was driving me bonkers. The challenge was that I couldn't figure out what to do with the material. The missing ingredient, as I would eventually discover, was the third and last thing on the list I gave you at the start — writing.

But writing is only half an answer. Writing takes many shapes. Writing how exactly? On the back of the photos like my grandparents did? Through a fleeting post on social media? An article in a photography magazine? I kept thinking, but none of my ideas interested me, so the question lingered in my mind … until now. Enter mailing lists.

That's right. I've decided to combine these three distinct regions and commit myself to craft an independent monthly newsletter that tracks all my walks and globetrotting adventures — old and new, local and exotic — and distils the results in a neatly packed electronic letter. (I say monthly, but that could change in the future — monthly is all I have time for now.)

The name? Earthshine. Why? Earthshine is an astronomical term that refers to the faint glow of sunlight reflecting off the Earth and illuminating the darker portion of the Moon. This surface-level definition, however, is not quite the reason I chose it. You see, when I say the word aloud, a bubble of evocative connotations bursts in my mind and permeates my bodily senses. It starts with the notion of a planet glistening with life, a miracle when you look at the hostile environment it exists in — and the scarcity of alternatives. That, in turn, bursts other bubbles and reminds me of the vastness of Earth's landscapes, the richness of its resources, the complexity of its biodiversity, and the many unique human elements like race and culture that decorate it further. Earthshine doesn't just make me see the big picture; it also leads me to appreciate the small things. I think of the charm in the ordinary, the impermanence of things, and the smell of the air after a downpour. But not all the bubbles burst with merry tones. I also think of the rapid waves of change that have flashed by in the last decades. They remind me of the fragility of this planet and the responsibility we humans have to keep it stable so its miracle may persist. All this perfectly encapsulates my mission and what I hope to inspire with this newsletter, which is to go out and see the world, appreciate its beauty and its diversity, capture its fleeting moments — big and small — and safeguard it so future generations may do the same.

So, when can you expect Earthshine in your inbox? On the 15h day of each month. And don't worry, if the letters ever get to you at a bad time and get lost in your inbox, I've prepared an archive page where you can find them all, chronologically ordered. Alternatively, you can use the tag for a more visual browsing experience.

One last note. I started the archive while I lived in Japan, and my feet got quite the workout — 3,024 kilometres to be precise. That's a lot of walking — and a lot of photos. You know what's coming.

Interested? You can subscribe here.