Where Pain Meets Wonder

I feel like I’ve been thrown off a building. My knees and back ache. My skin is full of cuts and scratches from briars. And I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been exploring creeks and backwoods locales lately in pursuit of wildlife to photograph. A unique blend of exhaustion and pain has always defined my identity. I love it.

If you’re new here, let me explain. I am a wildlife photographer and filmmaker. I also used to host a wildlife show. Back when DVDs were relevant technology, I produced a series called Catching Creation, where I slogged through swamps and mountain trails in search of reptiles and amphibians. Think of me as the bargain-brand, church-version of the Crocodile Hunter. I only filmed with crocodiles once, though. I was mostly the black rat snake and cottonmouth hunter. But I digress.

My foray into making wildlife videos started around 2002 or 2003. I had a friend who was a film major, and being an avid fan of Steve Irwin and Jackass, we decided to make a parody series called Steve Dundee the Reptile Wrangler with yours truly as the mullet-wig-wearing on-camera personality. I donned khakis and spoke with the absolute worst Australian accent. In the show, I caught local wildlife and gave pseudo-facts. We added pranks, outrageous stunts, and skits. We even held DVD premieres with our friends at my mom’s house. This was long before internet video was an option, and YouTube was still a few years away. It was a wild time.

After the first DVD premiere, I was hooked. Watching people enjoy my on-screen antics lit a fire in me. The cameraman/editor I was working with had other obligations, and since I was eager to keep going, I taught myself to edit videos and borrowed my dad’s Sony Handycam. We were off to the woods.

Around this time, my Army National Guard unit was deployed. I used that opportunity and the extra income to buy my first laptop and video camera. I dropped the Crocodile Hunter parody and started making videos as myself. Those early videos were heavily influenced by the Jackass spinoff Wildboyz. I taught my buddies in the unit how to film, and they dutifully followed me into the action with my camera. I recruited a team, and we would send DVDs home to boost morale in the barracks. It was also a way to show our families that we were okay.

In my downtime between missions, I would read books on wildlife. I would periodically get newspaper clippings mailed to me about the onslaught of invasive wildlife in Florida. My mom sent articles about iguanas, monitor lizards, and Burmese pythons in the Everglades. I found a book on Florida’s invasive wildlife and wrote to every scientist listed in the back from the barracks. So, when we got home from Iraq, my best friend—and former sergeant—Daniel and I set off with our cameras on a trip to South Florida.

We drove for over twelve hours to visit the Everglades, Key West, and the panhandle. We spent eight days ping-ponging across Florida, filming our adventure. We interviewed several of the scientists I had contacted previously. We had no idea what we were doing. That documentary still lives on twelve mini-DV cassettes and has never seen the light of day. But it was an amazing experience. We had an idea and executed it. We proved we could do it.

After filming together in Kuwait, Iraq, and Florida, Daniel and I decided to keep going and film our weekend adventures. We did this for years. Over time, those adventures evolved into Catching Creation, which took on many forms.

Fast forward to the present day. Daniel and I just got back from the North Carolina Sandhills. We hiked about five miles through briars and brambles, looking for whatever wildlife we could find. We didn’t film anything. To be honest, we didn’t find much. But the overwhelming feeling we both had was that we were glad to be out there. It just felt good to feel like ourselves again. For those moments in the woods, we weren’t cranky old men with the stresses of life weighing us down. We were young again, raptured by the wonder that surrounded us.

I’ve hiked every day this week, just like the old days. Granted, they may only be short jaunts to the creek near the house or other local spots, but it feels good to feel bad. My knees are screaming at me, but I’m just glad to be able to get up and go. I’m falling back in love with my camera. These days, I take more photos than videos, but I enjoy sharing my passion in any way I can.

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Stan Lake is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker from Bethania, North Carolina. His work has been published in Reptiles Magazine, Dirtbag Magazine, Lethal Minds Journal, Backcountry Journal, Wildlife in North Carolina, SOFLETE, The Tarheel Guardsman, Wildsound Writing Festival, and others. His poetry collection “A Toad in a Glass Jar” is scheduled for publication in late fall 2024 by Dead Reckoning Collective. He has written three Children’s books and one Christian Devotional book. He filmed and directed a documentary about his deployment in Iraq with the Army called “Hammer Down.” He spends most of his free time wrangling toads.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.