Vote our Planet

"Sincerely, Mr. Buffalo #2" • Part of a Creative Action Network / Patagonia campaign

Vote everyday in your home, in your relationships, your neighborhood-city-state and country. Think of the water your great grandchildren will drink. Vote/choose on behalf of them: not corporate-greed and economic-ease.

Meet your neighbors. Talk to strangers. Spend time with people outside of your economic/age bracket. Entertain an idea that differs from the little-itty-bitty part of the universe you've grown-up-in and experienced. Embrace complexity. Find principles to live by. Be humble. Listen. If you're privileged and not lobbying/advocating for the underdog; rethink everything.  

The Creative Action Network is community sourced activism-art. If you are an artist and/or an activist or someone who empowers artists/movements, you'll enjoy the site. 

They get artists to contribute work for causes that need to be amplified. Creative Action Network gives 40% of the sales to the artists, keeps some for overhead and producing the poster/t-shirt/etc, and then donates the majority to the cause. I'm a fan. You should be too. 

 
 

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Posted on September 26, 2016 by Orion Pahl and filed under art, design, nature and tagged Creative Action Network Buffalo Patagonia Planet Election Vote.

Celebrating 100 Years of the National Park Service

A few things National Parks have taught me about life.

Grand Canyon National Park: Break the rules? Break the rules! - I remember my mom's anxiety as my brother and I ran around the rim. I don't recall the year. Maybe 1997? Ironically, preserved parks and spaces have always been a place where I've pushed the boundaries of human behavior w/ the-land.  The tension of letting things be and climbing to-the-top of an "off-limits" canyon rock. I learned yesterday that Title I schools (at-risk, low income schools) have a program where 4th graders and their families get a free annual pass to the National Parks. I hope those kids get out, off the trail. Steal a pine-cone and take it home. Climb the fence and touch the General Grant tree... if they don't connect with the wild inside themselves, I don't know if they'll get to a place where they care deeply about preserving that same-wild-thing in our world. Not sure where this photo was taken in the park.

 

Zion National Park: Relationships 101 - This is where Rebekah and I honey-mooned in Spring, 2013.  I remember seeing the red canyons and the huge chasm the Virgin River had carved through the heart of Zion... I could see how building a life with another human mirrored our relationship w/ the earth. Time makes it's mark.  It's dynamic. It's what makes us beautiful. We get life from the earth, but we also must give it our life-blood. Our role with Mamma Earth is not dominion; it's relationship. Photo taken on the hike up to Observation Point.

 

Joshua Tree National Park: The desert is our sanctuary - It's Rebekah's soul landscape. It's the space we sought to be still and make plans for the future. It's where we went to give movement to dreams. This photo has three light sources. Stars, fire, and headlights. It was taken at the Hidden Valley campground.

 

Alcatraz Island: Storytelling preserves life. You walk around with a headset and listen to incredible podcast-storytelling: sounds brining up new flavor for the other senses. I also went with friends, which made it a whole lot more fun. And there's a boat ride. And it's eery. But this place is an example of how storytelling can keep a thing (culture, story, belief) alive for a long time... This photo was taken inside the main prison cells. 

 

Mount Rushmore: Most people are scared of engaging the out-of-the-norm. My brother Caleb recited the Gettysburg address at one of the lookouts. Everyone kept walking by; no one stopped to listen, engage, or inquire. People are so bound to social norms and afraid to interact... fearing you might ask for money or be weird or ______.  I had a small small sentiment of what it's like to be homeless and not acknowledged by other living-breathing humans. Also, my bro has an impeccable memory.

 
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Yosemite National Park: Life Ethic - The first time I saw Yosemite I was doing full-time activism for Invisible Children: living out of a van. I've since seen a few documentaries on Alex Honnold and other rock climbing dirt-bags. Our purposes were so far apart, but married together at the same time. We have one life and it's beautiful when people pursue it with zeal and intensity and purity. That was me. 19. Wild and passion-filled. Zealous and determined. You grow. You learn other peoples point-of-views... but there's still that whisper and call to be black-and-white again. It's not good or bad. It just is. Photo taken near the entrance when you first set eyes on Half-dome. 

 
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Bryce Canyon National Park: Human Friendship - We asked someone to take our picture after running around Bryce playing tag. They remarked, "you can't really see the background". We sarcastically said, "It's about us". We had been road tripping from Nashville, TN to L.A. and had been sleeping on abandon newspaper roof-tops, drive-in grass and swanky Telluride condos. Maybe we meant it a little (insert your sarcastic + critical millennial comment here), but I think we also meant, "These cave-like spires bring us life and we've brought our youthful blood-filled bodies to this place; certainly giving it life too". I don't know. It just seems human connection is supreme, and preserving the natural world is embedded into that desire. Photo taken of another photo (sorry). It's an awesome photo-book Cameron compiled that chronicled the trip. 

I have other memories from Arches, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Point Reyes Nat'l Seashore, Redwood Nat'l Park, the Indiana Dunes, and Mammoth Caves (to name the ones at the top of my head). So many. I hope you get to experience a new National Park for the first time this year. Let me know what you learn. Really. I'd love that.

p.s. If you're into Nat'l Parks, follow the writings/travels of my friend Tyler Dunning. For real. You won't regret it!  

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Orion Pahl and filed under nature, shout out, travel, photography, personal and tagged National Parks Parks United States #findyourpark #nps100 Grand Canyon Zion National Park joshua tree national park Alcatraz Island Mount Rushmore Yosemite National Park Bryce Canyon National Park.

Desert Inspired Album Kickstarter

Rebekah Pahl (mi esposa) is in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to record her first studio EP. She directed the feels for the Kickstarter video and I helped bring her vision to life. If you have 3 minutes to spare, give it a view and consider pitching in a few bucks to help her make some art!

 

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Posted on March 24, 2016 by Orion Pahl and filed under documentary, music, nashville, nature, personal, poetry, shout out, travel, video and tagged joshua tree joshua tree national park rebekah pahl desert kickstarter #canyonskickstarter.

The Tucson Airport

A few photos from Rebekah and I's travels from the Tucson Airport back home to Nashville, TN on 02/08/16. 

I took a few a few family portraits for our friends right before we drove to the airport... normally I would have my camera tucked away for travel, but kept it out. Glad I did. My eyes are always on super-people-watching mode when traveling. 'Twas nice to have the camera out to capture/share some of the moments.  I hope airports never cease to engage all my senses the way they do now. 

Here's to living with eyes wide open and getting in trouble w/ flight attendants.  

 

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Posted on February 12, 2016 by Orion Pahl and filed under photography, travel and tagged Tucson Arizona Airport.

Fall Walk

I took a walk around Rebekah and I’s home in the morning hours. The rain fresh and autumn burning and turning the world into something familiar and new. 

Here’s some of the moments and colors I captured along the way.

Enjoy. And walk in the out-doors. And breathe-in-deep. And be alive-to-it-all. And breathe-out. And change. And shed. Know and un-know. 

 

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Posted on October 27, 2015 by Orion Pahl and filed under nashville, nature, photography, personal and tagged Fall Autumn Home Outdoors.

#riddlesandrocketships

My friend Sammy is starting to DJ around town. I went to his first gig and had the honor of capturing a small fraction of his dynamic presence. Here’s 15 seconds of the magic:

15-seconds from #riddlesandrocketships epic debut at the High Watt Check out Sammy's music at: soundcloud.com/samuelalhagal #riddlesandrocketships

 

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Posted on October 27, 2015 by Orion Pahl and filed under shout out, video, nashville and tagged riddlesandrocketships samuel al-hagal DJ.

Wolf Pack

I made this design in collaboration with Earthjustice and The Creative Action Network to help reimagine our collective view of wolves. Earth justice has been fighting for decades to defend grey wolves (along with many other animals, places, and people). 

You can buy the design as a print, t-shirt, or tank top

  

 

 

 

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Posted on September 23, 2015 by Orion Pahl and filed under art, nature, design and tagged Creative Action Network Earthjustice Wolves Wolf Wolf Pack.

Everyday life / Nostalgia / Looking back

I am editing a few videos for Team World Vision right now and have had to review footage from my trip w/ them to Kenya in April, 2014.

In some ways, I am a raw-video hoarder. For the past 8 years or so I've filmed many-many moments with no end product in mind. I could spend hours going through old photos, videos, and mementos. It all means something. It all happened. It's all connected. 

Just thought I'd share one of those moments with you.

Hope you're finding meaning in those everyday mundane moments - knowing that they're worth something; worth everything. 


 

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Posted on September 3, 2015 by Orion Pahl and filed under documentary, video, travel and tagged team world vision kenya world vision mundane.

Find the Gold

This is a poster I made for the Creative Action Network (CAN) campaign: Transcend.  CAN calls upon a global community of artists and designers to use their collective talents for good. 

You can support the movements and artists by sharing campaigns (word-of-mouth/email/social media), buying art, and contributing your own artwork! 

Click on the image (or this hyper-linked text) to see the description of this poster and to buy it for display in your home/classroom/office/etc. 

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Posted on August 3, 2015 by Orion Pahl and filed under art, design and tagged Creative Action Network Jesse Owens Berlin Olympics 1936.