ECAD 2017

This is my 3rd year photographing explorers, adventurers and their benefactors at the glamorous Explorers Club Annual Dinner, held this year in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty inside the Immigration museum at Ellis Island.

Filmmaker Trevor Wallace and archeologist Gino Caspari are currently producing Frozen Corpses Golden Treasure - a feature length documentary about Gino’s search for Scythian Tombs in the Altai mountains of Central Asia. In the fall of 2016 they travelled to far Western China with Gino locating over 100 graves in the border zones of Russia and Kazakhstan. They followed the trail of stolen grave goods, escaped military border guards and spent time in traditional Kazakh villages wrestling and riding horses. In the summer of 2017 they will excavate a royal Scythian grave in the Republic of Tuva, Russia, which is believed to be the oldest ever unearthed.

Vintage fashion aficionada Colleen Manassa Darnell (wearing a 1930s lace gown) teaches art history, translates Egyptian religious and literary texts, and collects vintage fashion.  She continues to map and record the remains of ancient explorers and caravaneers in the Egyptian Eastern Desert.  Her recent discoveries include probable desert outposts of the Blemmyes, desert-dwelling Nubians of the Late Roman era.

She is one of the highlights of my yearly portrait series.

Recipient of The Lowell Thomas Award (1986), Ian Koblick pioneered undersea living in the 1970s as an Aquanaut in the Tektite I undersea living project in the Virgin Islands. At the conclusion of Tektite, Ian pressed for a continuation of the program

Recipient of The Lowell Thomas Award (1986), Ian Koblick pioneered undersea living in the 1970s as an Aquanaut in the Tektite I undersea living project in the Virgin Islands. At the conclusion of Tektite, Ian pressed for a continuation of the program and succeeded in becoming a project manager of Tektite II, while serving as a special Assistant to the Governor of the VI. In that role he helped manage the science missions, including the first all-female crew in an undersea living project.

Explorer and self-proclaimed ‘adventure artist’ Galya Morrell (wearing boots from Chukotka and a headband from Yakuti and dress with Polar Eskimo from Silk Ice by ColdArtist) is following the steps of her Northern ancestors, Komi reindeer herders and

Explorer and self-proclaimed ‘adventure artist’ Galya Morrell (wearing boots from Chukotka and a headband from Yakuti and dress with Polar Eskimo from Silk Ice by ColdArtist) is following the steps of her Northern ancestors, Komi reindeer herders and Pomor mammal hunters, living and and travelled in the Arctic for over 30 years. Under the stage name ColdArtist, Galya explores the limits of the body and the possibilities of the mind, working in a rare genre of visual synthetic performance on the drifting sea ice.

Taking this year’s ‘Cold Places’ theme to heart, Kinga & Ronin Garriott de Cayeux dressed as as inuit explorers along with their parents, Laetitia & Richard Garriott de Cayeux. Seen here dressed as the Spirits of the Antarctic & Arctic. Kinga & Ronin

Taking this year’s ‘Cold Places’ theme to heart, Kinga & Ronin Garriott de Cayeux dressed as as inuit explorers along with their parents, Laetitia & Richard Garriott de Cayeux. Seen here dressed as the Spirits of the Antarctic & Arctic. Kinga & Ronin have been enrolled in the Explorers Club’ Young Explorers Program now planning its first ‘kids’ expedition to the North Pole next April. They will be following in the footsteps of their Explorers Club member parents, Richard who has explored the Antarctic and is a private astronaut & one of the founding fathers of the videogame industry and Laetitia, a technology entrepreneur.

This year’s recipient of the Explorers Club Medal, Bertrand Piccard is the initiator and visionary behind Solar Impulse, the very first airplane capable of flying perpetually without fuel. Taking turns at the controls with Andre Borschberg for the fi

This year’s recipient of the Explorers Club Medal, Bertrand Piccard is the initiator and visionary behind Solar Impulse, the very first airplane capable of flying perpetually without fuel. Taking turns at the controls with Andre Borschberg for the first flight around the world on solar power, his ambition is to leverage pioneering spirit for a useful contribution to the cause of renewable energies. This is why he spent the last 15 years bring together the major partners providing technologies and funds for this adventure. Together with his wife Michele, he conceived the Solar Impulse project as a now widely recognized platform to raise public awareness and encourage political actions in favor of team technologies and energy efficiency.

Atlee has dreamt of shooting off to Mars for half her life. At age 7 she says that the best part of her Explorers Club night was meeting the astronauts because ‘It’s kind of like meeting the future me!’

Atlee has dreamt of shooting off to Mars for half her life. At age 7 she says that the best part of her Explorers Club night was meeting the astronauts because ‘It’s kind of like meeting the future me!’

Founder of the Himalayan Stove Project, George Basch is dedicated to preserving the Himalayan environment and improving the health of the people living there. The project provides clean-burning, fuel-efficient cook stoves as replacements to tradition

Founder of the Himalayan Stove Project, George Basch is dedicated to preserving the Himalayan environment and improving the health of the people living there. The project provides clean-burning, fuel-efficient cook stoves as replacements to traditional stoves or open-fire pits which cause unsafe levels of indoor air pollution and use excess fuel.

This year’s Keynote Speaker, Sir Ranulph Fiennes was the first man to reach both poles by surface travel and the first to cross the Antarctic Continent unsupported. Serving the Sultan of Oman, he received that country’s Bravery Medal on active servic

This year’s Keynote Speaker, Sir Ranulph Fiennes was the first man to reach both poles by surface travel and the first to cross the Antarctic Continent unsupported. Serving the Sultan of Oman, he received that country’s Bravery Medal on active service in 1971. He is the only person yet to have been awarded two clasps to the Polar medal for both Antarctic and the Arctic Regions.

Recipient of this year’s Explorers Club Medal, Nainoa Thompson is the President of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and a master in the traditional Polynesian art of non-instrument navigation. Inspired by his kupuna (his elders) he has dedicated his l

Recipient of this year’s Explorers Club Medal, Nainoa Thompson is the President of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and a master in the traditional Polynesian art of non-instrument navigation. Inspired by his kupuna (his elders) he has dedicated his life to exploring the deep meaning of ‘voyaging’. Among many other important mentors, Yosio Kawano took him at an early age to tide pools to explore the mysteries of the inshore ocean; Herb Kane introduced him to the stars his ancestors sed to navigate great ocean distances; and pwo navigator Mau Piailug taught him to see the natural signs he would use to guide a replica of an ancient Polynesian voyaging canoe.

Jess & Carlos Phoenix founded Blueprint Earth which researches the Mojave Desert. Jess is a volcanologist, extreme explorer, and a professional field scientist as well as being a Fellow in the Explorers Club. She has been chased by narco-traffickers

Jess & Carlos Phoenix founded Blueprint Earth which researches the Mojave Desert. Jess is a volcanologist, extreme explorer, and a professional field scientist as well as being a Fellow in the Explorers Club. She has been chased by narco-traffickers in Mexico, dodged armed thieves in remote Peru, raced horses across Mongolia, worked on the world’s largest and most active volcanoes in Hawaii, piloted the Jason 2 submersible to study an undersea volcano and worked in the mines of the Australian Outback.

Gathered in a recent 1200 mile expedition through East Africa, Justin Fornal’s Bark Cloth outfit was inspired by his work with witches and sorcerers to encourage use of botanical alternatives to human body parts in their magic. Bark cloth is made fro

Gathered in a recent 1200 mile expedition through East Africa, Justin Fornal’s Bark Cloth outfit was inspired by his work with witches and sorcerers to encourage use of botanical alternatives to human body parts in their magic. Bark cloth is made from the inner bark of the mutube tree and has been the traditional clothing of the Baganda people of Uganda for centuries. It is worn over the face to function as a window to the land of the dead. Around his neck are cowrie shells, amatembe beads and a tunguli (a gourd that mchawi witches in Tanzania fill with oils and powders to function as a sacred urn).

Karlena Barbosa – archeologist and Explorers Club Member since 2011 specializes in ancient & modern alcohol. She did not mind when I snatched the Coyote off her head (with assurances that ‘Fred’ had been dead a very long time and was acquired after a

Karlena Barbosa – archeologist and Explorers Club Member since 2011 specializes in ancient & modern alcohol. She did not mind when I snatched the Coyote off her head (with assurances that ‘Fred’ had been dead a very long time and was acquired after a fatal encounter with an Iowan mountain man protecting his farmland) and wore it to shoot while she stood in line for her turn to be photographed.

Tina Aga & Janne Lillehagen – Members of the Norwegian Chapter of the Explorers Club, wearing handmade northwest Norwegian National Suits, parts of which are over 100 years old. They are involved in arctic exploration, arctic history and ski adventur

Tina Aga & Janne Lillehagen – Members of the Norwegian Chapter of the Explorers Club, wearing handmade northwest Norwegian National Suits, parts of which are over 100 years old. They are involved in arctic exploration, arctic history and ski adventures, with the occasional jaunt to Iran and other regions, where, as Janne remarks ‘there is no culture for cross country skiing, instead we walked for 10 days, exploring crazy mountains with lots of wildlife and the occasional wolf encounter’.

Internationally recognized exotic food expert Gene Rurka oversees the world-famous menu for the yearly gala. He’s pictured here with deep fried tarantulas and sautéed cockroaches. Gene’s work is an integral part of what makes the club’s annual event

Internationally recognized exotic food expert Gene Rurka oversees the world-famous menu for the yearly gala. He’s pictured here with deep fried tarantulas and sautéed cockroaches. Gene’s work is an integral part of what makes the club’s annual event so special.

With thanks to Hunter Arthur, Alex Schaefer, Chaunna Michole, Agata Domanska, Carolina Antorim, Theodore Collatos, Christine Dennison, Ariel Field, Katie Losey, Bill & Sharyn Runyon, Eric Zember, Will Roseman, Mary-Anne Potts, William Haviland and everyone else at the club.