In the Shondaland series The Novelty of Nature, we’re digging into the power of natural places and the wellness benefits of embracing the elements. From camping tips and safari stories to eye-opening tales about the environment to inspiring ways to reclaim your relationship with nature, these stories show it’s never been a better time to get lost in the great outdoors.
Jody MacDonald is calling from Delhi, her current stop on a monthlong motorcycle trip through India. As if that wasn’t already challenging enough (no, the photographer doesn’t speak any of the country’s languages), she’s made a strict rule for herself that any time a local asks if she’d like to join them for chai, she has to say yes. And as a woman traveling alone in India — something that doesn’t happen a lot in that region of the world — there were a lot of invitations to tea.
“There’ll be a lot of times where I’d be like, ‘Oh, God, I really am tired! I really don’t want to sit here and drink chai!’ But then I was like, ‘Oh, I have to; it’s my rule.’ One really stood out where this guy had asked me for chai, and I sat down with him, and he said, ‘Why don’t you come stay in my house with my family with me for free? We’re going to feed you, and we don’t want you to pay us any money.’”
That simple yes turned into a week’s worth of accommodations and the opportunity to connect with the local community, a unique ability for cross-cultural connection that MacDonald has been honing since her childhood in Saudi Arabia. By the time her family moved back to Canada when she was 16 years old, she had already acquired a formidable collection of passport stamps and an obsession with exploration. But it wasn’t until university when, as an outdoor recreation, MacDonald took her first photography class (a decision that still makes her laugh). She describes it as love at first snap — a way to combine her passions for art and outdoor adventure.
“I’ll get a real ‘job’ later in life,” she remembers with a laugh.
Spoiler alert — photography quickly became the real job. Over a decade and a half since she first held a camera, her stunning images of remote locations and the people and animals who inhabit them have been featured in National Geographic, Outside, the BBC, and Men’s Journal. She’s shot campaigns for Disney, HP, Ford, and Leica, and even delivered a brief TEDx presentation on the power of adversity. Much of her work can be considered extreme — which should come as no surprise given how she interweaves her images with stories about being accidentally marooned and voluntarily flying with aerobatic helicopter pilots. However, there have been times she’s surprised herself with the lengths she’s willing to go in order to get the shot.
“I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life,” she admits. “I lived at sea for 10 years, sailing around the world for a decade while I was seasick, which actually, to me, is really crazy. It’s one of the worst feelings on the planet, and the fact that I kept doing that for a decade kind of blows my mind. I was thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing?’ It was just that feeling of adventure and exploration and doing things that nobody else was doing. And that just fueled me so much. I always felt like I was having these once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I just knew that if I called it quits and went home, I would really, really regret it, and then I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”
Many of MacDonald’s images deal with nature in extremely remote locations. She’s seen plenty of “lasts,” including Sudan, the last known male northern white rhino on the planet, and Rajan, the last swimming elephant, featured in the 2006 film The Fall, which still makes her choke up when she discusses it. (“I just fell in love with the story, and I fell in love with Rajan,” she explains.”) But many times, as she was reminded in India, it’s the people who leave the biggest impression. Taking a photo of a gorgeous landscape takes time, but as MacDonald explains it, portraiture takes emotional investment.
“I spend time with them in their house, and I drink tea with them and talk to them a lot — even if we can’t communicate very well,” she says. “I think the biggest thing is just showing a real interest in who they are as people. People generally want to learn more about you when you’re interested in them. They kind of let their guard down. And then over time, I’ll bring up my camera, and then I’ll say, ‘Can I take a picture?’ I’ll point to my camera, implying that I want to take their picture. And by that point, yeah, their guard is down, and they’re usually more than willing to pose for me. Then I’ll show them the pictures that I’ve taken, and they usually really like that.”
It would be easy for MacDonald to pile on more extravagant bucket-list trips and photography “goals.” And certainly, she has enough booked that she’s rarely in her Sun Valley, Idaho, home. More than personal highs and flashy Instagram posts, for her, photography means the opportunity to connect not only with the outdoors but also with people she’d never meet otherwise. And as long as she’s doing that, anywhere is perfect. She’s chosen a life of possibility over fear of the unknown, and the result has been joyful connections around the world.
“I’m a big dreamer, so there are too many to count, but in the near term I will continue motorcycle touring while looking for stories of hope,” she says. “I meet so many people along my journey that are local heroes working tirelessly to help create a better future, and I would love to highlight some of these amazing stories.”
Laura Studarus is a Los Angeles-based travel writer who has contributed to Fast Company, BBC Travel, and Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter at @Laura_Studarus.
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