Photos by Brandon Hayes
Archival Inkjet prints on museum-quality photo paper. Eco-friendly frames made from sustainable bamboo and rubber tree.
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Also available at Fortunate Discoveries in Chicago.
Brandon is a photographer, writer, and conservationist. He lives in Chicago with his husband and his cat.
brandon @ outintheparks.com 312.945.8416
Giving Back
Five percent of all sales benefit the National Parks through donations to the non-profit organization affiliated with each park.
These organizations include Alaska Geographic, Badlands Natural History Association, Big Bend Natural History Association, Black Hills Parks and Forests Association, Bryce Canyon Natural History Association, Death Valley Natural History Association, Discover Your Northwest, Everglades Association, Florida National Parks Association, Friends of Virgin Islands National Park, Grand Canyon Association, Isle Royale and Keweenaw Parks Association, Joshua Tree National Park Association, Theodore Roosevelt Nature and History Association, Western National Parks Association, Yosemite Conservancy, and Zion Natural History Association.
Artist's Statement
These images were captured in the National Parks of the United States during an ongoing sixteen-year odyssey with my husband to explore all fifty-nine National Parks (and many National Monuments and other National Park Service units along the way).
These images record the National Parks as they are in particular moments in time. These places are intended to be held protected permanently, but that vision is challenged by the inevitable evolution of ecosystems, the slow annihilation process of erosion, the uncertainty of rising temperatures, and the whims of the body politic of a still young nation on an ancient continent.
The journey, which Sean and I began in 2011 at Isle Royale National Park in our native Michigan, has taken us to parts of this nation that are not often the usual destination for a gay couple: the Alaskan bush, the expanse of west Texas, small town Wyoming. There is, at times, an undeniable political element to our explorations of these places. The National Parks marry the human diversity of the United States with a national sense of self and with the land of North America.
On this journey, our eyes have been opened to the grandeur, sublimity, and subtlety of the National Parks, and also to those millions of people who also enjoy them, work in them, neighbor them, and protect them.
The chronicle of the journey is here: As They Are: Exploring the National Parks
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