Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Andrews.
Hi Kevin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Photography has long been something I have enjoyed in life, but I never got truly into it until I left the military and moved to Utah in 2016. I did start doing videography when I was a professional skydiver, but it was not until I started photographing wildlife that I truly found my passion and fell in love with it. My love for wildlife and the outdoors was what helped fuel that passion. However, a trip to Yellowstone national park fully pushed me into focusing more heavily on photography. That was a trip that changed my life entirely, even though I did not know it yet. The next year I went again and worked on focusing on bears more. and I did again the year after.
And ever since then I have become absolutely fascinated and in constant wonder of the very misunderstood and incredible creatures that bears are. After doing my degree in natural resource management, I began to look into and wonder about the various bear species in the world and the struggles they face. With the new knowledge I had about many of these bears, I felt a strong sense of sadness for all of these bears, who are suffering so many different and terrible fates, every one of them human-caused and preventable. and with this, I got a very strong sense of new purpose. To not only find a way to see every single one of these creatures, some so incredibly rare in the wild understanding and knowledge about them is next to nothing. And by seeing them, be able to tell all of their individual stories, struggles, and what we can do to not only have a better understanding of them but to be able to help them and prevent these magnificent creatures from being gone from this planet. And so with this new goal, I developed the plan to see all 8 species of bear in the world, in their natural habitats, over a year’s time. To raise awareness and bring about education for all of them.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
the road on my journey to see all 8 bears has been a smooth struggle as I like to call it. As many of these species are extremely elusive and rare. Just finding out enough information to be able to make a journey to go see quite a few of them reliably is a task that took me almost a year of fine-tuning, researching, and making contacts to be able to make it possible. My biggest saving grace was finding other professionals in the field who were able to guide me and connect me with other bear specialists around the world to help me with some individual species that were rare
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My primary jobs are as a recreational director, a guide for the national parks as well as running an observatory. For photography, I am a wildlife and Astro photographer and am known now for being the person trying to chase all 8 species around the world. One thing I am most proud of as well as what sets me apart from others is my unwavering passion and dedication to my goals. Being able to get everything set in motion and figuring out how to do this VERY ambitious mission was one not many people could or would tackle. it involved immense time commitments, as well as financial ones. It also is something that has taken a great deal of time to get in motion. My primary goal is to focus on conservation and trying to save some of these species and make a difference.
And once my mind is set on something, there is very little in this world that can stop me
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I have learned to be patient and use any resource I can and network as much as possible. I would not have been able to do a lot of what I am if not for certain individuals helping guide me along the way. and I learned how amazing making those connections can be and how much you can learn from them.
Contact Info:
- Website: kevinandrewsphotography.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/blueskieskevin
- Instagram: @blueskieskevin
- Other: tiktok.com/blueskiesandbears
