Susan Holt has hiked hip-deep through blizzards, been dropped by helicopter into the Canadian wilderness, and flown with Icelandic bush pilots in pursuit of the perfect landscape shot. She has squared off with North American Bison and been chased across the Sonora desert by wild pigs. She has been rim-rocked in Utah 2019s Glenn Canyon, caught in a sandstorm in Death Valley, kayaked through alligator-filled swamps of Louisiana 2019s Atchafalaya Basin, spelunked the ice caves of Vatnajokull, and survived flash floods and lightning storms in the Hoodoo Badlands.

Once, on the Oregon coast, an explosion of sea water from a sink hole called Thor 2019s Well ate her $6,000 Nikkon camera. With topographic maps and meteorological apps, she has driven hundreds of miles through the night, fueled on protein bars and popcorn, to capture the morning light on wildflowers in Mt. Rainier National Park. She 2019s done it all in pursuit of ephemeral, magisterial moments of encounter with the natural world. These moments have appeared in the pages of Backpacker Magazine, Sierra, the magazine of the Sierra Club, and The Visitor 2019s Guide to Yosemite National Park.