Much to my delight, this photo seems to have taken on a life of its own on tumblr, with well over 20,000 (and sort of counting - it's split into many many different threads) reblogs, comments, and likes. Some of the comments have been extremely moving, and make me happy to have had a chance to reach people who I will never meet, will never know me, and probably will never see a single other photo I have taken. It seems to mean a lot to some people - upon clicking through to one blog recently I read a comment that possibly sums up every single piece of motivation for why I take pictures. It said simply "This gives me hope".
Same story as the
last picture: In the 1930s and 1940s, Puerto Rico was almost totally deforested for agriculture (chiefly as sugar, coffee and tobacco plantations for export to the United States). Now, forests cover around 50% of the island. Some other Columbia students and I have been researching what factors brought about this change.
In the northern karst region we found a limestone cave, which, after winding through it in total darkness, opened out on a sheer cliff face, with a breathtaking view of a lush, forested valley beneath.
Look at the flickr selection of my interesting photos
here.