All children have dreams, “I want to be a firefighter”, “I want to be a princess”. As children grow, some of those dreams remain dreams, some of those dreams turn into goals and develop into something more. As a kid, my dream was to photograph Arctic Foxes. This was a dream that turned into a life goal, a dream that would happen.

Years later, I found myself hiking through the tundra of the far north, eyes and ears alert for any sign of the Foxes I’d dreamed about photographing nearly my whole life. It was happening! It had rained all night and the morning was still overcast. As I walked through what the locals called pushki, the moisture transferred onto my pants and soon became saturated with the previous night’s rain, but I hardly noticed. It was happening!

The tundra seemed alive with life, mosses, lichen, crowberries and lupine blanketed the landscape. Birds flitted and flew everywhere and somewhere nearby were the Arctic Foxes I was searching for. It was happening!

Approaching a seaside cliff, I looked down at the ground in front of me and smiled. There in front of me were multiple dinner-plate sized holes spread out in a seemingly random pattern. I’d never observed Arctic Foxes before, but I had photographed every other Fox species in North America and I knew what these holes were. These were entrances to a Fox den, and underneath the ground lay a network of tunnels connecting all of the holes together into a cozy home. It was happening!

Walking to the edge of the cliff, I peered over the side and was surprised at what I saw, a pair of golden eyes looking up at me! There on the rocks, surrounded by moss, flowers and lichen, was a stunning Arctic Fox curiously looking at me. As I slowly raised my camera and began to photograph the beautiful Fox, emotions flooded into me. It was happening!