Through the Lens: Finding Connection in Nature's Wilderness

Ever wondered what makes wildlife photography truly ethical? Jesse Villemaire takes us deep into the heart of this question, revealing how respecting wildlife comes before capturing the perfect shot. As co-founder of Follow Me North with his wife Susan, Jesse shares captivating stories from Algonquin Park's wilderness and South African safaris while unveiling the philosophy that guides their intimate photography workshops.

"The wildlife comes first, the photo comes next," Jesse emphasizes, explaining how maintaining proper distance and understanding animal behavior creates not just better photographs, but more meaningful encounters. Through heartfelt examples—including a devastating story about a habituated wolf—he illustrates why "baiting" wildlife causes harm that far outweighs any photographic benefit.

Jesse's personal journey from tattoo studio owner in Cambridge to wildlife photographer in Muskoka reveals how nature became his essential reset button. The story of meeting his wife through Instagram's Algonquin Park hashtag (culminating in their wedding on an island in Lake of Two Rivers) demonstrates how shared passion for wilderness can forge life's most meaningful connections. Their volunteer work with Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary further showcases their commitment to conservation beyond the lens.

From their viral "Santa in a Red Canoe" series to their humorous "Sorry Algonquin" Instagram project pairing stunning images with one-star park reviews, Jesse's creative approach invites others into nature's beauty with both reverence and playfulness. His South African photo tours—where participants might find themselves surrounded by 21 lions—offer transformative experiences that "change you" on a fundamental level.

Ready to experience wildlife photography through a more mindful lens? Listen now and discover how connecting with nature might just help you connect more deeply with yourself and others along the way.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Ethical Wildlife Photographer
• 7:04 Ethical Wildlife Photography Explained
• 18:07 Volunteer Work at Wildlife Sanctuary
• 24:21 Photography Workshops and Client Experiences
• 31:15 Jesse's Journey into Photography
• 43:11 From Cambridge to Algonquin Connection
• 49:09 South Africa Wildlife Photography Tours
• 56:21 Santa in a Red Canoe Project
• 1:00:58 Sorry Algonquin and Kindness Challenge

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and good day. Welcome to the Super Good Camping podcast. My name is Pamela, I'm Tim and we are from supergoodcampingcom. We're here because we're on a mission to inspire other people to get outside and enjoy camping adventures such as we have as a family. Today's guest is a very talented ethical wildlife photographer. He and his wife, susan host intimate photo tours and photography workshops in Algonquin Park and South Africa. To be fair, there's so much more to these folks pet photography, editing workshops, mentorship programs and on. One of Tim's favorites is the Santa and a Red Canoe series. Please welcome Jesse Villemere of Follow Me North on Instagram and Facebook.

Speaker 3: 0:37

Hey, welcome, hi guys, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 0:40

I appreciate this. Thanks for coming in. Yeah, excellent.

Speaker 3: 0:44

What a lovely intro. I'm going to have you walk around with me and just speak in my ear. That's lovely, thank you.

Speaker 2: 0:51

No, no problem, We'll do it. We'll do like. You know how musicians get a nickel every time their record gets played. We'll put this on tape for you. You can take it wherever you want. Just pass that nickel. Yeah, we'll get our royalties. Cool. So you've been a busy guy. We're here, we are recording towards the end of March 2025. And we've we've had some fun trying to trying to juggle schedules and stuff like that. What have you been up to lately, like shoulder season?

Speaker 3: 1:18

So what have you been?

Speaker 2: 1:21

getting into.

Speaker 3: 1:22

Well, actually over the winter. It's funny, a lot of times people think that our photography will slow down throughout the winter months, but actually I find it's a time that a lot of people love to get out into nature a little bit, because it's dark and gloomy and I feel like people just need something and that that something is often just nature or photography, and those two combined is what we love to do. So we were actually quite busy this winter and then kind of going into the editing season is also winter, so all the photos we take throughout the year tend to get pushed into the winter season and, yeah, we just tend to love, you know, curling up next to the fire and doing a few edits and then getting out into nature as much as we can.

Speaker 2: 2:09

Sweet. So when you're, when you're, we'll talk more about workshops down the road, but when you're out doing a workshop, what do you guys drive to a certain spot Then? Then throw on you know snowshoes and trek in a bit. Throw on, you know snowshoes and trek in a bit. Do you have, like I make the assumption, you have favorite spots where you know that there are tracks, like trails, that a big bull moose you know favorite big bull moose goes through, or what have you? So how does that all sort of play out?

Speaker 3: 2:37

Yeah, I wish we had a bull moose, kind of like in the trees that we always knew was going to be there at all times, and like kind of like some people that think like Algonquin park is a zoo for some reason, and they're wondering, hey, you know, where are the moose? When are they going to be let out? And it's quite amusing platform.

Speaker 3: 2:56

Yeah, it's kind of amusing sometimes hearing some stories from locals as well what they think. So, yeah, basically, when we go out into the park and we, we go with that expectation or not expectation, I guess, anticipation that we're going to find something, and we always find something. It might not be the moose, it might not be the core, like I call it the big five of algonquin. Um, like the bear, moose, loon, beaver, wolf, right, those are the ones that I find a lot of our clients tend to want to see, and it's kind of amusing when they're like, yeah, um, I have you booked for a day we're gonna see all five of those. Right, like, probably, sure, yeah, yeah, sign here, yes, we'll go to toronto zoo and we'll make it, I'll make your dreams happen, so, yeah, so the idea is to go out and find some tracks, hopefully some fresh tracks, and it's kind of helpful knowing what's a fresh track versus a day old or a two day or three week old tracks, right, and so when we're finding those fresh tracks, sometimes, depending on the clientele, on how comfortable they are, we'll strap on some snowshoes, we'll go trek through the bush a little bit and, yeah, and hopefully, you know, sometimes we get lucky, and I think part of it is at least teaching them to kind of explore, have that wondrous mind right and just kind of, hey, you might not know what's around this next corner, you might not know when you go over this hill what's over there.

Speaker 3: 4:26

So getting out into nature is amazing for people because it takes them back to when they were five years old and had that wondrous mind, and a lot of people have lost that, unfortunately. So, like yourself, our mission is inspiring inspiring people to get back into nature, inspiring them to connect with nature through photography, and then trying to inspire people to connect with each other. So that's the best thing I can ask for. If they leave somewhat more inspired to get back into nature, then I feel like we've done our job to nature, then I feel like we've done our job, even if we haven't found the moose or any wildlife for that matter. Part of ethical wildlife photography is not guaranteeing that we'll find wildlife, and we say that right off the bat and people are really receptive of that and I love that.

Speaker 2: 5:17

Well, and that's excellent, we're we're fairly big tree huggers and and I've seen the sad outcome of baiting before, and it's I mean it's just that word baiting I didn't even know existed when I picked up a camera and it's.

Speaker 3: 5:35

It's one of those things that when we're out on these excursions or experiences throughout the day, we bring up a lot of the ethics, we bring up a lot of those words that maybe photographers have never heard of, and then they experience it in the field. And that's what happened to me is I didn't know what it was that I was experiencing, but I knew it was unethical. I looked at it, it was like that doesn't seem right. And then when I learned the terms so baiting, for example, very common word. If anybody's listening to this and doesn't know what baiting is, it's feeding an animal in order to get the better photo, the better shot, and it's unfortunate, but it's very, it's common. It's common and it's very common within, like, let's say, owls feeding owls or feeding foxes to get the better shot.

Speaker 3: 6:28

There's lots of different things that I've seen over the years and, and you know, some people don't have a clue if it's, you know, they don't know if it's uh, if it's harmful, or if it's a good practice, if it's a bad practice. And that's the conversation that we like to bring up. We prefer more conversation versus confrontation. I believe that there's always a good there's there's good in people. If people don't know, then let's have a conversation about it, let's discuss it and go from there.

Speaker 2: 6:58

Yeah, agreed, education, education for the win every time.

Speaker 3: 7:02

A hundred percent.

Speaker 1: 7:03

Yeah, I'd love to know more just about ethical photography, like what the baiting? For sure we don't want to be habituating the animals, but what other kind of things would you include in that ethical photography?

Speaker 3: 7:16

yeah, I think, um, ethical photography should always be a practice.

Speaker 3: 7:21

So, for example, when I say a practice, there's always room to learn. So. So after every encounter that we have in the field, we look back at it and we're like, was there anything that we could have done personally to improve that situation or to improve that encounter? Would that mean not stressing out the animal? Did we interfere with the behavior of that animal doing its thing, for example, if it's feeding, and then all of a sudden we stumble across it and then we're pushing our boundaries and getting closer and getting closer. Did we all of a sudden interrupt that behavior, that natural behavior, and then they split? That could happen. We've seen it where you know, sometimes birds will go one way, the young will go the other way, right, like ducks, for example, example, or something when you're canoeing. It can happen as well.

Speaker 3: 8:07

So it's one of those things that we kind of really always have that mindset of the animal first, not the photo first. So the wildlife comes first, the photo comes next. Like, if we don't get the photo, it's not. It's not about getting the photo, it's about learning how to be one with nature and respect it from a distance and distance is. Another thing is keeping that respectful distance, and what is a respectful distance? That's the question that's always asked. It's a tough question to answer, to be honest. You can go to yellowstone and they might have exact measurements, like 50 yards from black bears or 100 yards from from grizzly bears or 100 yards from moose when you come to algonquin. I find a lot of the times it's just it's keep a safe distance. Now, if you talk to some people a safe distance, it's funny, though it's.

Speaker 3: 8:58

Here's the funny thing that I've noticed us with the longest lenses, the people with the longest lenses, are often the ones that are the closest to the animal for photography, which is bad, it's not. That's why we get these lenses, so we could, you know, stand back, get the shot Right, and then we can crop in if we needed to. But I think by leading by example is a big thing, because oftentimes we're around an animal that might have a bunch of people around us as well, especially if it's next to the highway and we're photographing a moose. You want to lead by that example and you also have to have that courage to speak up if you see something that's obviously dangerous.

Speaker 3: 9:39

We've seen parents put their kids closer to the moose in order to get a photo of their kid with the moose. And I remember this one specifically because that was one that I was like you're, you're pushing it, you're really pushing the boundaries here just to get that shot. And we've had, you know, parents again it was a parent gave a kid hot dog just a hot dog to go feed the fox and literally, like the whole family sat back and was taking pictures as this kid was walking over to this wild animal to feed a fox. And again, do they know better? I mean, after you talk to them, after you, you know, have that little conversation. Sometimes they're receptive, other times they're confrontational. So you kind of have to, kind of you kind of have to read, read the room and hopefully they will leave, maybe confrontational, but then they'll leave with this little thought in their head yeah, maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

Speaker 2: 10:38

Yeah, sorry, I'm being sad right now. Um yeah, just that. I mean I, I do get it. You you're, you know we're in that we're in a society that has access to so much information. Where in the in the old days, unless you in in the old days in my youth?

Speaker 2: 10:55

unless you're actually out there, right? You've never seen a fox, perhaps running through your backyard? If you, you lived out in the boonies or what have you. But now you see videos of them on YouTube all the time, like no biggie, not a big thing at all. Or the exposures of I mentioned earlier. You know Toronto Zoo for the big five. So, yeah, we're just going to take you to a tour through the zoo. You got to see them all. Woo Yay, we're off. Tour through the zoo. You got to see them all. Woo yay, we're off. Because of that sort of exposure, I'm sure that it sort of diminishes people's even give a thought. I was going to say respect, maybe, and maybe that plays part into it, but but certainly to even give a thought to, like I don't want to be given a hot dog, why there are regular occurrence in my life, because I see them all the time. Not, you don't actually interact with them, so I'm not terribly surprised that stuff like that happens.

Speaker 3: 11:49

It happens more than we think, and I think and again, people's intentions are sometimes good. It could be feeding them in their own backyard, leaving meat out or leaving kibble out for an animal over the winter and thinking that's going to be a good thing. For an example of something terrible that went wrong. I think it was two winters ago. It was on New Year's Day. Susan and I were driving into Algonquin Park and we came around a corner and unfortunately we saw an Eastern wolf just curled up at the side of the road and when we pulled over cause it just caught my eye because it was still kind of dark and caught my eye. I'm like what is this at the side of the road? And when we pulled over and we looked and it lifted its head, it was still alive, but it was obviously hit by a vehicle sometime over the night or in the early morning. And the sad thing was is once we well, once we determined it was an injured animal, we called Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary because we're volunteers there and we'd love to help wildlife as much as we can. We contacted them. They sent somebody over. It was going to take about an hour to get there, so we kind of blocked the shoulder lane in our vehicle and just waited and just kind of, you know, waited patiently with this, this wild animal.

Speaker 3: 13:10

In that time neighbors across the highway came over and just discussed what was going on and they said, yeah, this wolf, it's been around quite a bit and I'm like, oh, interesting, uh, it's rare that I even get to see a wolf. So yeah, and they're back in the highway and then go back into Algonquin, for example, right, and it's just unfortunate when I see that what she thought was doing so good, feeding this animal turned into be probably the most devastating thing for they. Well, obviously it was the most devastating thing for that animal, but I think a lot of times people don't look through what could the outcome be for this right? Unfortunately the wolf did not make it. They had to take that hard decision at the sanctuary to humanely um euthanize. So yeah, it was a sad moment. I got chills now just thinking about it.

Speaker 3: 14:25

It's. It's very sad when I come across. Not every moment with wildlife is a positive one. I want it to be, but it's not always a positive one, and no, numerous times, most times, it's due to human interference of some sort. So it's sad, it's sad. So here we are trying to educate people.

Speaker 3: 14:45

Um, I think people come for the photography and they leave with so much more. I think they come wanting to learn settings on their cameras and then they leave with oh, I didn't even know about ethics, I didn't even know about this about a moose, or I didn't know about this with a fox. It was more than just things. I didn't even know about connecting with nature or how it feels to be out here in nature. As soon as you're in nature, as soon as you're out there, everything else just stops, doesn't it? There was no politics today. When I was in Algonquin, there was nothing. It was silence. It was beautiful, it was chick chickadees and nut hatches and woodpeckers and you know just everybody like the sounds of nature. Just eliminate all of our stresses, right, and I think that's what they come away with, and I think that's the most inspiring thing for me is to inspire those people to connect with nature and each other through photography. Imagine that's our mission statement. Actually is is just that so that's awesome one.

Speaker 1: 15:51

I guess a lot of people too, if they're not photographers, don't realize that when they see that picture of you and the fox or the wolf is that you're not six feet away from that animal at the time you're taking that picture. They looks like that from their perspective. It looks like that from their perspective, just because it looks like that's where you are. But people, I guess, need to understand that, that you're not going to approach an animal like that that closely.

Speaker 3: 16:18

It is a valid point, and I think you know I struggle with this because, as a photographer, I'm posting all of this online. Every day we're posting a new photo and it looks like we're really close to this animal. Or I'm posting tons of pretty photos of Algonquin Park and we've seen the numbers of visitors coming to Algonquin Park and then not respecting the land as well. And I mean, am I part of that problem, possibly? And then not respecting the land as well? And I mean, am I part of that problem, possibly? Are we all part of that problem Talking about what we love to do and sharing it with others and then inspiring them to come out into nature, and then they get out into nature and then we hate them for coming out into nature, right?

Speaker 3: 17:03

So what our angle is is trying to educate as much as possible in an ethical way when we're doing our photography tours or when we're posting online, trying to give some ethics in behind it as well, and sometimes you know a lot of photographers, including myself, and I don't do it as much as I probably should, but, like stating in the caption, it's like this was taken from a respectful distance with a long telephoto lens and and stating in the caption is like this was taken from a respectful distance with a long telephoto lens, and and part of the problem is like we think we, you know, we assume that people would know this, but we've seen it when we get to a moose and all of a sudden somebody has got their giant iPad and they're walking closer to that moose to try to get that photo that we got with our telephoto lens Right.

Speaker 3: 17:46

So that's the unfortunate thing. So there's always room to learn, there's always room for improvement from all of us that enjoy the NAIT as much as you guys do, as much as we do. I think we all have a part to play in the education, not just parks, not just Ontario parks, not just parks Canada, but all of us. And of course and I think and of course, we can all point the finger and say you know what Ontario parks, you could do more. Right, we can all do that.

Speaker 2: 18:16

But we can all do more.

Speaker 3: 18:18

We can all do more as well, a hundred percent, we can all do more, and it's always comes down to budget or it always comes down to how do we put the? How do we make people read? You know, because I mean, when we book a, when we book a campsite, we have to answer all these questions and it's just a tick, and it's a tick, and it's a tick, it's just a checkmark. Did I read any of it? No, you know. But I know what I'm, I'm ethical, so I know what to do. But I know what I'm, I'm ethical, so I know what to do. But I mean, is there a way that we could? It's hard to say the word enforce because it's like how do you enforce something Right?

Speaker 2: 18:52

How do you? Yeah, as you're answering the question. If you didn't actually read it, you'd be straight to tasers.

Speaker 3: 18:59

I haven't. I have to pack that in my bag. I thought I just you know, bear spray, no Tazer.

Speaker 2: 19:09

Tazer's a reusable Bear, spray's a one-shot deal.

Speaker 3: 19:11

That's a good point there, Tim. I like the way you think You're going to pack my bag for me this year. All right, cool.

Speaker 2: 19:20

All right, we could go, we could do the entire episode just on ethics and stuff.

Speaker 1: 19:26

no, and I totally agree and leave no trace and leave yeah, leave.

Speaker 2: 19:29

No, it's we so I made a conscious decision probably probably a year or so ago no, it's got to be a little more than a year ago when I started noticing the. Oh, this was somebody who had no idea what they were doing in the backcountry. I'm backcountry guy, we do do frontcountry, but that's my, my jam. And you get out there and and and you also hear stories where people are like yeah, I showed up at my site and there were garbage bags along the edge of it, nicely neat and tight, but like somebody's gonna come and take that away. So good, a for effort, but b for not knowing what the hell you're doing, right. So we I have made a point of trying to point things like that out so that in the hopes that it educates people better, because I used to assume if you went in the back country you actually knew what you're doing.

Speaker 3: 20:20

So yes, exactly, I feel like. I feel like, uh, ideally, wouldn't it be great, if you're going back country, that there was a five minute video that they just had to watch on their iPhone, or not? Like, how do you enforce that? But just, it would be great. You didn't watch the video.

Speaker 2: 20:41

Sorry, what was that, tim? You didn't watch the video. You get tased. That's how you report.

Speaker 3: 20:47

Love it, love it yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:50

So tell us about the volunteer work with the wildlife sanctuaries. I think that's. That sounds fascinating.

Speaker 3: 20:54

Yeah, aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. They're very special, very special people. One of the largest sanctuaries in all of Ontario, if not all of Canada. One of the only ones that can actually house moose and have rehabilitation for moose as well, which is great. So every year they have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of animals, and this is the time of year where they start to come in. They could be orphaned animals, it could be due to injuries from car strikes or anything along those lines, and Aspen Valley's mission is to rehabilitate as many animals as they can. Or, you know, sometimes, again, it's not always a pretty. It's not a pretty ending right. However, they also have permanent residents. So for the animals that cannot be re-released due to maybe an injury or maybe due to habituation, that's a big one. If animals are too habituated and we've seen it with like foxes in campgrounds, we've seen it with bears coming into campgrounds, and just right. So when they have those cases, they also have the. They have the space that they can make that call Can we keep this animal? And of course it's a call not just by Aspen Valley, but MNR gets involved as well and they make that call Can we keep this animal and give it a better life here, or at least give it a chance to live out its life in these giant enclosures. It's not like a zoo, it's not like a small little 10 by 10 cage. No, they try to replicate that natural environment for that animal as best as they can, give them all that space. And it's really exciting. They're working on a new wolf enclosure right now and it should be ready within the next few months, and the wolves are going to have even more space for them to to roam around within the grounds, and they do.

Speaker 3: 22:50

They do tours for regular folks if they want. Just note that it's not a just stop in and just don't drive in and say, hey, I'm here for a tour. You have to book all that online because a lot of it's run by volunteers. So for volunteers, they have volunteer greeters that will greet the people. Then they have volunteers that will work the little gift shop there. They have volunteers that take people on tours, and then there's volunteers like myself and Susan.

Speaker 3: 23:20

We offer photography guided tours there, and we just get to get. They're very small, so it's just literally me, susan and a maximum of four people, and we just get to bring them through at a much slower pace. So then it's not like the regular group where it might be 10 to 20 people walking around. They have about an hour hour and a half roughly to walk around that place with a guide.

Speaker 3: 23:49

We spend up to four hours with them so we can show them different locations where we can get the shots through the enclosures, so we know the unobstructed views that we can get some of these great shots with some of these, these animals, and so it's more of a VIP experience doing it that way, and 100% of the proceeds go to them. So a part of one of our packages that we sell on our website is one day in Algonquin and a half day at Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary one day in Algonquin and a half day at Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. So $465 of that fee goes directly to Aspen Valley and we just donate our time, that's our giving back, because we love them.

Speaker 2: 24:27

And we love wildlife. Yay for you. That's cool Gear. So, folks, when they're doing a tour with you or a workshop with you, they bring their own gear. Do you know what they're coming with? Do they just show up with whatever, and then you figure out how to make it work. How does that play out?

Speaker 3: 24:55

So for anybody that's looking at our website and our workshops, usually we just have a little questionnaire that they fill out first and we jump on a zoom call, similar to this, and then we just kind of go through a few basic questions of like, what are they looking for? Are they just opening up their their camera for the very first time and they need every step of the way, or are they established photographers and just want to learn a little bit more about wildlife photography? And then we have people that have been professionals and they just want to know, you know, some more tricks and tips when it comes to seeking wildlife. It could be from hotspots in the park that we know about, or tracking or anything along those lines, and I think why we have these little consultations first of all is to get an idea of where they are on that level, like on that journey, and it's just working with small groups. So I think what we love, what I love about our workshops is we don't do more than four people at a time. We only bring out maximum four people. We used to do 10. This was before COVID. We used to do like big groups of 10 to 12 people, but I find now that we've and it was a result of COVID we brought it down to like one to three people, maybe four, and I'd say most of our workshops now are one-on-one, so it's it's actually very intimate. We can actually look over your shoulder. You can look over our shoulder. We hand, you know, we go through the settings together, we can look at the scenes together, we can discuss composition, we can have a better chance of seeing wildlife instead of having five cars following me on the highway and then trying to pull over at different spots and maybe lose the sighting. And we get to see more. We get to actually get out more and it's all based on, you know, we've had people that show up and they they just have an iPhone and they just have a smartphone and they just want to learn how to take better photos with that.

Speaker 3: 26:46

And it's amazing, because I think photography isn't about the gear, I think it's about how to see. It's literally. There's a technical side, yes, but there's also the creative side, and that's very left side, right side, brain, and what's great about photography is it challenges on both of them, right, and those people that are very technical have a hard time sometimes seeing what they want to take a photo of. And then there's the creatives that they love the compositions and they can look at a scene and be like, yeah, this is what I want to take a photo of. And then there's the creatives that they love the compositions and they can look at a scene and be like, yeah, this is what I want to take. And then what happens is they, they can't get the technical part down. Yeah, they don't know what f-stop to use or whatever. Yeah, what's an f-stop? You know what's an aperture, what's a shutter speed, what's an iso, like all of these words. It's a different language, and rightfully so, and it's stressful.

Speaker 3: 27:37

And then you talk to people. They're like I didn't, like the best is like we get this all the time. We post a photo. And then somebody's like oh, what camera do you have? And it's like okay, I can tell you the camera, I can tell you the lens, you can go buy it. But it's the same as like asking a chef what kind of stove did you cook that meal on? You know it's not. You don't buy the stove and you get the meal right, there's a lot that goes into it.

Speaker 3: 28:04

So I find there's that whole misconception at first, and then they start to realize okay, there's a lot more to photography than just picking up a camera and clicking and it's, there's a whole bunch to it. So a good example is somebody hired us a couple of years ago and she had about $20,000 worth of camera, camera equipment 20 grand, she told me right off the bat. She's like I got this much. I know everything that there is to know about my camera. I know all the settings, I know all the menus. If you tell me anything, I'll know exactly where everything is.

Speaker 3: 28:34

I have all these different lenses and she's like you know what, though? Still to this day, I cannot take a photo of the scene that I want. I can't represent the scene in my photo. She's like I don't know how to take that. Can you help me? And I said absolutely let's, let's do this.

Speaker 3: 28:57

And I think what she was finding is she thought, every time that I go out and I can't get the shot, she thought, ah, it's a piece of gear, it's a lens that I don't have, it's a filter that I don't have, it's a tripod that I don't have, it's the newest thing that I don't have. And I think what people have to realize, or what they do end up realizing is you can work wonders with even just your smartphone If you unlock that certain part of creativity in your brain. Um, so now seeing her shots now over the next and it's not and I'm not going to take all that credit and say, hey, yeah, I did this all in one day, no, but she's just excelled so much more building on that creative side over those last couple years. It's just, it's an, it's amazing, I love it.

Speaker 2: 29:39

It's inspiring, that's excellent. Well, and you mentioned smartphones, it's. I'm usually after the fact. You know you're like oh, that's man, you take some really cool shots. What are you using? My I whatever? Like I know that they. You know just, we all have phones. Like I know that they. You know just, we all have phones. So you know that, since, since I had a flip phone, the cameras have gotten so much better, right, what's a flip phone?

Speaker 2: 30:04

But, still like. I just like, holy crap man. Yeah, you know whatever you know, pixelization, but the color saturations and the hues that you can get, it's just it's mind boggling.

Speaker 3: 30:17

I think the best thing with smartphones is just this big display on it. It's visual, it's huge, it's it's almost like looking at a four by six photo, right that we're. You look at it and you're like, oh, I see the scene. It's funny. You could stand there on a beach or somewhere and just look out and say I don't know what to take, and then you lift your camera, your phone and you're looking at it through this screen. That's huge. And then you're like, ah, that's the shot. Because now we visualize it in this little rectangle. We're like that's the shot, right there.

Speaker 3: 30:48

So we use it as a tool all the time. We'll get out to scenes and we'll just actually hold our phone up as a visual and just kind of like look around the scene, get low, get high, um, get closer to the subject, further from the subject, the subject meaning landscape photography here, not closer to the subject as in right moose, um. So yeah, we use it as a tool and it's just like anything. Use these things as a tool in your toolbox. Um, that's the best bet. Cool, uh, how did you get into photography? How long?

Speaker 2: 31:16

have you? How long have you been doing it? But as a tool in your toolbox, that's the best bet. Cool, how did you get into photography? How long have you been doing it? But what tripped you into it?

Speaker 3: 31:24

I'd say back in, going back into early 2000s. I actually lived in Cambridge prior to living up here. I currently live in Muskoka, in Baysville, which is in between Dorset and Bracebridge of area, so Lake of Bays area now. So I lived in Cambridge and I actually owned a tattoo studio way back in the day, hence the many tattoos I never personally tattooed. I was a body piercer for all those years. I owned it for like 18 years and in that studio we operated it as a very high-end studio, so it was not like your typical back alley scary place like we had. We were popular with the moms, because always it was always the moms that were like worried, right, so we were popular there.

Speaker 3: 32:10

And then what happened was we needed to show off the art, so we needed to take better photos, so we would set up lighting in our in our one room we had this little studio corner, I would call it, and I decided to take a course in photography through the local college in Kitchener and as I did that, I bought a DSLR camera and I was like this is it, I'm going to be, this is going to be perfect. I can nail all these shots now, get the lighting right and everything. But what was funny about that? I took the course and it was over a course of two years and then that's when iPhones came out. And when iPhones came out, like all those years later, I was like why am I carrying this big, heavy camera around? I could just use this iPhone. So literally for probably a good year or two after my photography course I kind of put my, my camera away and I was like I'm just gonna use this and I can contribute that. So much to have the way I see now, because I just had, like I said, I had that screen.

Speaker 3: 33:14

So I was really nailing or working on the compositions, because I feel like the compositions are so much more important to like tell the story of what you're trying to convey to the audience or to the viewer. So I just took my phone everywhere and I was taking photos like crazy. And what was funny about that is then I drove up to Algonquin Park to come hike and I was taking photos like crazy. And what was funny about that is then I drove up to Algonquin Park to come hike and I came across my first moose two moose actually in the field, and I had my iPhone and I zoomed in with my iPhone. This is back in 2009. So you can imagine how quality the cameras were on our iPhone back then.

Speaker 3: 33:54

They were great for like landscape, like downtown right or architecture, whatever. But I zoomed in and my moose they were so pixelated, they were so bad, the photo was terrible and it was my first moose experience and I'm like, no, I can't believe this. So then I dusted off my old camera again and I used to drive literally from Cambridge to Algonquin, hike all day and then drive home at the end of the day and it was three hours up here in the morning and then three hours back in the evening, and I would do it almost every weekend. As much as I had the time off. That was my escape from my business, that was my. I needed to reset in nature. So, as much as I could.

Speaker 3: 34:36

Then fast forward a few more years, 2013, I was driving down this one road here and I noticed this little cottage for sale. And back then, uh, like I was like, okay, well, let me, let me look into the pricing. And back then pricing was affordable. Uh, in 2013, a little bit more affordable and surprised that this cottage was on the market for a year and a half. So I put in a really low bid offer and they accepted it and I was like, oh, my God, I'm. I have a cottage up there now Now. Now what? This unlocks everything. So it's funny because I'm about 40 minutes from the entrance to the park now, because I'm about 40 minutes from the entrance to the park now, and before I was three hours and I used to complain that it's three hours to get to the park. This is ridiculous. Now it's 40 minutes and I'm still complaining that it's 40 minutes to get to the park. It's ridiculous. So never happy, never happy. So fast forward all these years.

Speaker 3: 35:33

Unfortunately, there was a divorce in that nature and I sold my business to my partner at the time and I said you know what? My next chapter is going to be up north, where my heart is. And that's where that all happened. And I was lucky enough that I came across Susan, this beautiful woman that had a camera, that had a Canon camera and I had a Canon camera. So it was like, oh, that was a match made in heaven.

Speaker 3: 35:57

But surprisingly, we met on Instagram under the hashtag Algonquin Park. So as us as a business, because I started follow me north prior to Susan and I was always looking up Algonquin Park hashtags and I was just looking at other people's photos and liking other people's. It's part of the marketing, part of like getting in there and seeing. And I just remember coming across her in Algonquin park with her and her girlfriends and I'm like you know what. I'm going to reach out to her. I'm just going to reach out. What's the worst that can happen, you know.

Speaker 3: 36:29

And so I think my cheesy line if she was right here, she would tell me the cheesy line was something along the lines hey, I see you have a camera there. Maybe we can meet in algonquin. I can show you where the moose are. How about you give me a shout? And uh, she ignored me. She ignored me for a good year. She ignored me for a good month, uh, because and it wasn't ignored, it was just in instagram if you message somebody that isn't a friend, it goes into a sub category like another.

Speaker 3: 36:59

Yeah, it goes into hidden messages or something hidden messages, right. So then she contacted me later and said you know what? That was great. Why don't we meet up sometime? So anyway, fast forward.

Speaker 3: 37:09

Our first date was actually in algonquin park, on the 125th anniversary of the park. So that was beautiful, that was really great. So we had our first little glass of wine at Bartlett Lodge in the park beautiful resort, and then from there we got engaged in Algonquin Park a few years later and then, two years ago now, we got married in Algonquin Park on the island of lake of two rivers, cause that was a special place for us as well. So the park brings, like holds, a lot of special, like feelings for us for numerous reasons. But it really shows that that connection really has that connection for us and that reset that I think we all need in life. And it's not just Algonquin, just nature in general. Just so happens that Algonquin was what brought us together, and so photography was first, and then getting out into nature more.

Speaker 3: 38:07

I was always into nature, but I mean so it was just an easy transition to bring the camera along with me to capture these moments, and then it was getting other people out into nature with their cameras as well, and as someone that loves to teach, I've taught my previous life. I used to teach health and safety. I still teach health and safety for the tattoo and piercing industry because there's not much out there that's teaching that. So I'm trying to make dull subjects such as hepatitis and infection control and bloodborne pathogens and cross-contamination. I have to make all that sound fun, so I'm used to doing that.

Speaker 3: 38:51

So this was fun. Doing photography and then actually exploring outdoors and getting people to understand a little bit more about not just photography but about themselves and getting themselves excited to be outdoors again was such a such a passion. I just kind of went with it and I believe truly, if you find your passion in life, you know the business side will follow or the money will follow, like, don't chase the money, chase the passion, and then the rest will kind of unfold itself. And I wrote I went with it, I just went with my gut and I chose that new path. And here I am today, uh, all these years later, with a beautiful wife and running this business together. It's been really great.

Speaker 2: 39:33

And doing stuff you love. That's awesome, man, exactly. Yeah, kudos to you. A little bit of a sideways, just because it's been sitting in the back of my brain how, what, how did? How did south africa pop into the picture? How did that play? How did you go start taking pictures there?

Speaker 3: 39:51

so south africa was definitely a highlight on our life and, like in our, I guess, our path, our journey through photography, I think everybody's bucket list is to get to South Africa. At some point it's on. It seems to be like on a lot of people's bucket list, especially if you're a photographer. Wildlife you can never guarantee until you go to South Africa or Africa in general. There's lots of different places, lots of different countries. You can witness some amazing wildlife and it was during COVID, I believe.

Speaker 3: 40:22

We had this tour company reach out to us on the West Coast. It was two women that run this company called Finisterra Travel Great people. They reached out to us and they said you, you know, we run these tours and we're getting more and more people that are interested in photography tours, but we don't have any photographers. And your name was given to us from a local here in in Muskoka. That it was funny because one of the owners of that company, the travel company, was dating, dating the son of this gentleman in town, and he was like oh we, I know these, this couple that do photography. You should reach out to them. So here he is, one of our neighbors reaching out to this company, saying you should reach out to us. So they're on the West coast, we're here in Ontario.

Speaker 3: 41:14

We had a zoom call like this and it was just literally, it just felt like an easy connection, just very simple. And so we kind of like just chatted and said like what, what do you think your clients would expect or what would they want? And they were like what do you want, what would you think that your clients would like to do? And I said, well, I think 100% South Africa would be like high up there on that bucket list. And I also said grizzly bears. So West Coast and when Susan and I talked about it and talked about it with Finisterra Travel, we said let's make those kind of like our two core offerings was kind of like West coast for the grizzly bears. And we ran that workshop for about four years and this is our fourth year running Um, I think third or fourth, yeah, fourth year now running the South Africa trip and it's been such a great success. We only bring 10 people per year, that's it.

Speaker 3: 42:12

So, again, very intimate. Uh, so the one lodge that we book, we book out the whole lodge, so it's just us and they cater to us, and we have two Jeeps. We have two guides, so we split up the group into five and five, and so Susan's in one Jeep, I'm in the other Jeep, and then we split up and we go looking for wildlife all like three hours in the morning, three hours in the evening, and then they cater to us all day. It's we're spoiled, let's put it that way. It's terrible, it's very sad.

Speaker 3: 42:43

Yeah, like highly, highly, don't recommend it whatsoever, but you know what? It's such a magical place. It changes you Like. I mean I heard people say that like it changes you. I mean I heard people say that it changes you if you go to Africa. Just the people, not just the people. Everybody's worried about crime and such. Yes, of course there's places not to go in anywhere. It's just like Toronto. There's certain places you're probably not going to go. It's the same within other countries as well.

Speaker 3: 43:15

Never experienced any anything remotely scary, even even the wildlife wasn't even scary. Like we got one time surrounded by 21 lions in our jeep and there's no roof on this jeep, it's just like open, like these lions could jump in. But when we saw one lion come out of the bush and then two lions and then three and then all of a sudden it was like a pride of lions and young ones and, uh, the females, the males with the big manes and they came around and they just kind of all hovered around our jeep and then they laid down and the young ones were playing and rolling around and, uh, it was such a it's such a moment like that you can't describe it unless you're there. Literally like we've all seen lions on online, we've seen the Disney specials. But when you're there and you smell it and you hear it and you feel it and you have that wind and the silence and the different birds, and oh my goodness, I can go on forever. You're signing up right now I can see.

Speaker 3: 44:17

Oh my goodness, I can go on forever You're signing up right now I can see, right, oh, it's just an incredible experience. So we're so grateful to Nicola and Carrie that gave us that opportunity to unlock our workshops that we do on a grand, like a grande, like a grand scale, right, and then offer them something different. And so, yeah, we have every year just unlock it for 10 people and see if they want to come. So this year sold out pretty quick and we're leaving in, I think, 20 days or so, so we're gone for a month, so we don't take them for a for a whole month. It's about a 15 day, 14 day experience. But this year Susan and I are going to spend an extra week exploring different areas of South South Africa and potentially offer something different for the following year. So that's kind of like our, our plan and we can't wait counting down those days. I'm done with shoveling.

Speaker 2: 45:15

I'm done, yes, yes yeah, I hear you there. It's gonna be a magical trip, yeah I'm in awe, man, that's. That's very cool.

Speaker 3: 45:25

Sounds like a really crappy life, dude, I'm just saying you know, I'm telling you, yeah, I, I wake up every day, miserable I'm just crying your tears, crying your beer, yeah you caught me on a good day, Like I don't know if you know you know it sounds really really bad.

Speaker 3: 45:44

No, you know what? It's just very rewarding. Obviously not for just the travel, but the connections that we've made with people throughout the years. And I feel selfish sometimes because I need that connection. And I feel selfish sometimes because I need that connection. I feel like I'm doing it for me.

Speaker 3: 46:00

I didn't realize it when I moved from Cambridge to up north, up here. I was missing something and I didn't know what it was and I went through this kind of like lull. I went through this. I don't want to use the word depression, but it was something different that I wasn't experienced with. It was a different emotion, it was different. It could be the start of depression, but it was like something's not right with me and it took a while to figure out what that was Cause.

Speaker 3: 46:28

In Cambridge, where I lived my whole life, if I walked out the door, somebody was honking their horn, waving at me and saying, hey, jesse, nice to see you, you know. Door somebody was honking their horn, waving at me and saying, hey, jesse, nice to see you. You know, everybody knew me, everybody like. And then throughout the day at my job, I was making people feel happy every half hour when I was doing an appointment, you know, you get your little nose piercing with a diamond in it. And then they look in the mirror and they're like, oh, let me hug you. And it was like these little dopamine hits. And it was like, oh, this is so good. And then I'm like, all right, I'm leaving Cambridge, see you guys later. And I remember I came up here and I'm like, oh, this is what I need, just peace, quiet, nature. And then I was like, but there's something missing and I didn't know what the heck it was and it took me quite some time, like I said, to figure that out. I used to drive it's a half hour to get to Tim Hortons from here. I used to drive a half hour to go get coffee just to see somebody, just to say hi to the person that was serving me every. You know, it was just a strange feeling. I remember walking across the highway not the highway but the road in Bracebridge and somebody honked at me and I waved, thinking I would know them, and they gave me the finger. I was like, oh, you're right. Like not, everybody knows me here. It was like it was completely different. So I've learned over those years that I definitely needed that connection. Susan definitely played a huge part with helping me heal throughout that.

Speaker 3: 47:55

She moved up here from Whitby and she was working in Toronto for so many years and it was like how do we do this? Like, if I move up North, are you going to like, are you going to be still in Toronto and we just do this on weekends? And so she actually pitched to her boss like I need some remote time. Can I do three, three days a week remote? And this is before the word remote was a word in the workplace, so way before COVID. And they actually gave her three days to work remote and then two days in the office. And there was a point where is that? Even that was getting tough for her. So she's like you, you know what, I'm giving my notice, I'm actually going to give my notice and I'm quitting. And they said to her no, you can't quit, what do you need? And then she said why wouldn't like full-time remote? And they gave it to her and it was like it was incredible.

Speaker 3: 48:50

So that right then helped us kind of like get Follow Me North on a good traction in that direction that we wanted to go and we had this vision for it and we're still continuing that vision to this day, and we're doing this now more or less full-time and trying to get as many people out there, and I think this year is going to be probably a record high, because I think a lot of people are traveling in canada and they want to spend their money in canada rightfully so.

Speaker 3: 49:19

Canada is beautiful, regardless of what's happening south of us, and it's really special to be able to offer something like that for people that are looking for an experience, something different. For example, we just got back yesterday from somebody celebrating their 30th birthday and they chose follow me north to celebrating their 30th birthday, and they chose follow me north to experience their 30th birthday with in algonquin park, and it was such a it's such a special thing to be somebody's part of their milestone in their, in their life, right. So I just love, love, love connecting with people. I think, more than anything, it's connection. For me, photography is a byproduct of the connection, right, and I absolutely love it so tell me one of one of my probably what?

Speaker 2: 50:06

actually? I think I'd heard your name before, but then I saw there's, you've got a series of Santa in a red canoe and it's usually like a well, it's a snowy background. It looks like one of those where they do the colorized thing and then turn everything else black and white right, like it's just pops right out and it's. It's cool, it's fun, it's explain that, what? What is that?

Speaker 3: 50:32

yeah, so we did a series called Santa in a canoe, simply as as it sounds, and it was such a a special, special series and I think we did this back in 2018 or 2019, but a little backstory on that where that came from, where that whole Santa and doing something in nature or doing something actually came from my father. Many, many years ago. He used to dress up as Santa on Christmas day and get on his motorcycle in Cambridge and drive around and stop at Tim Hortons and give out candy canes to people or give out little gift cards to people here and there, stop into banks, whatever. If it was that whole week leading up to Christmas, he would dress up as Santa and go out and do this and he was just making people smile and I was like, what a guy like this is incredible. I love my dad. It was such an amazing thing that he could do and it stuck with me and it's funny, all those years later I got a motorcycle and I continued that tradition. So in Cambridge for many, many years we would run that as an event through our studio at the time and we would raise awareness and just going out on my bike as Santa and collecting toys, for, you know, kids throughout, you know, for Christmas right, people that couldn't afford Christmas gifts or whatever the case when we would donate toys and food to the local, to the local food bank, and it was just such a rewarding thing that we just grew and grew over the years. And then there was more Santas on motorcycles joining me and friends that were dressed up as Santas. And then there was more Santas on motorcycles joining me and friends that were dressed up as Santas, and and of course there was some years that it was too snowy that we couldn't do it. But in Southern Ontario it's almost pushing into January before we're getting a good snow. So there was many years that we did it over and over again and nothing beat the look on people's faces when you pull up on your Harley next to them and you're dressed as Santa and they're like do the double take and you give them a little thumbs up and then you take off. So very special, it was very special. I thank my dad dearly for that and so that instilled deeply into me.

Speaker 3: 52:49

So when we moved up here I still had my Santa suit and I was like what can I do Now? It wasn't like a charity thing by any means. It wasn't like something like like what can I do now? Wasn't like a charity thing by any means. It wasn't like something like what can we do. It was just literally like I love this idea of keeping this kind of traditional. I've like, I want to just do some more photos and and let's see what we can do with this. And so we dressed I dressed up as Santa. It it is the real Santa. I mean, sorry, I hired Santa and got in my red canoe, or I mean got the red canoe, put it in and put it into the river. And this was during the first snowfall, so it was like that fresh, sticky snow that's like stuck to the trees. It was probably November, I think.

Speaker 3: 53:35

It was up here and, yeah, we just did this shoot and Susan photographed it from shore as I paddled around and just took a few fun photos, and we decided to, you know, post it online and it kind of went viral. It went. It was one of our biggest shared photo sets that we've ever done. Since then, we've put it in calendars, we've put it on. Since then, we've put it in calendars, we've put it on greeting cards. We've donated it to so many different organizations that are looking for donations to help other causes as well. So we're using that series a lot to kind of like it's an intro, to get to help other people do something for themselves as well. So I just love that series so much and it's just continued every year. We try to. We sometimes try to go out and do another set, but nothing beats that first set that we did and that's the one that you probably saw, because that's the one that went kind of crazy.

Speaker 3: 54:29

Yeah, it was definitely a handful of years back, so yeah, and then this year it just went even crazier online. So it was a really good set, really fun it's, and it's again great. It connects people with nature and it connects people with that whimsical of Christmas and the beauty of, you know, camping and canoeing. So there's all this relation to it. And then last year, I think, we did a series with the Grinch. So we did the Grinch in the canoe. So, yes, we did the Grinch in the canoe. So, yes, we did the Grinch in the canoe. You probably didn't see it, because I also learned afterwards that we might get sued if we continue with the Grinch, because Disney owns Grinch. So I was like, oh okay, so we pulled it. But, yeah, that series was very popular as well, but nobody owns Santa. So we were able to run that one and it still continues to this day. So as long as we're making people smile and make them feel good and again, hopefully, connecting them with nature and each other through photography, then it's a win-win for us.

Speaker 1: 55:30

Well, I just a long line to making people smile. The Sori Algonquin page on instagram is hilarious uh I don't know that.

Speaker 1: 55:38

What they've done is they've taken negative reviews that people have posted about algonquin and they've juxtaposed that with some of the beautiful, like brilliant, photography that you and your wife do. Uh, and it's hilarious to me just to see what you know. It was so boring. There was there, was it just there's mud and trees and and it was like and then there's this beautiful backdrop that you guys have put that quote on. I just thought it was really funny.

Speaker 3: 56:04

I love that series too, and it was funny how that took off because it was just literally I was looking up there's an app called All Trails and I was looking up an app and just kind of reviewing some of the reviews about that one trail and then I came across one. It was a one-star review and I was like, oh, let's read it. And I think one of the one-star reviews one of the first ones that I read was literally that there was so many bugs on this trail and I wasn't informed about it beforehand. And one star review and it was like do you think? Think that Ontario parks has that right, like they have to inform you that there's bugs at this time of year. So I just was like this is ridiculous. I wonder how many more there are. And surprisingly, after a deep dive into, like Google reviews and trip advisors and all of these different places, I found some of the best ones. And then I just exactly did that, put that bad review over top of one of our pretty photos. And to this day I still get people coming up to us in Algonquin and they're like you know what? We sat around the fire last night and we were all making s'mores and we passed the phone around reading quotes from Sorry, algonquin and we all just died laughing sitting around the fire having this. Uh like listening to some of these, how ridiculous they were.

Speaker 3: 57:24

And it's not to bring negativity to it, I think it's to. I hope this is my hope that somebody that wrote one of those reviews reads it again in this context and was like, okay, you know what you're right, it is a bad, it is ridiculous what I wrote, that you know nothing but mud and trees, nothing to see here. Uh like terrible place to go for photography, don't waste your time. Like there's better wi-fi, you know it needs more wi or something Like there's just so many that I was like there's better roads in Kazakhstan, that's one. And I was like, really, and you spent the time to log into something and write this bad review and there was nothing good from it. And I think that's a hard thing to grasp for me, because there's so much beauty out there and we're so quick to jump at all the negative for everything that people forget that there's. You probably witnessed 10 amazing things, and then this one negative thing is the one thing that gets stuck and recycled and gets regurgitated and just spreads Right. And I think now it's about sharing that kindness and I want people to like share more of that kindness and share those positive reviews.

Speaker 3: 58:44

Get online and you know, go onto Google and give somebody a positive review. You went out to a nice restaurant. You know how many people just write a negative review as soon as they get home If all of a sudden somebody was too long or somebody didn't greet them properly, but they didn't remember the five other times that they've been going to that same establishment and got that great service and didn't tell anybody. So it's hard. As a small business owner myself, it's like trying to. You want to give that experience that everybody's so happy that they leave feeling valued and had a great experience. And you know what? I want to encourage people to look for that and see those things and the more kind Google reviews or good reviews that you can leave for people.

Speaker 3: 59:26

Guess what? You're going to start seeing more. You're going to start seeing more kindness in your life. You're going to see more people doing those positive things for you. They're just going to come your way. You're not going to be seeing to come your way. You're not going to be seeing the negative as much. You're going to see the kindness. So I challenge everybody to go out there, share your smile, share your kindness, keep it kind and then it's going to follow you. It's going to come your way. That's an excellent challenge.

Speaker 2: 59:51

Yeah, I totally agree. Thank you so much, man. This has been a fantastic, a fantastic, fantastic chat.

Speaker 3: 59:59

I don't know why I didn't do this way sooner it's because I was ignoring you for all those months.

Speaker 3: 1:00:04

That's why we didn't do it way sooner. My apologies. I was out in nature connecting, but you know what this is connection too and I love that you guys are doing what you're doing and getting people inspired to go outdoors as well, and I I'm so grateful that you guys reached out to me and and on behalf of Susan that unfortunately couldn't be with me today I I know she loves what you guys are doing, just cause it's similar. You know we're inspiring people to get outdoors and share our love for nature. So thank you on behalf of Susan. Follow me North. I appreciate you guys. Cool.

Speaker 1: 1:00:40

Awesome. Thank you so much to Jesse Vilmer of follow me North. Check them out on Instagram and Facebook and and actually do definitely check out the story Algonquin Instagram page, because it is good for a laugh, especially if you enjoy Algonquin park, you'll. You'll find it amazing. And do check us out while you're on any of those social media things. We're there too, and please do check us out on YouTube, subscribe and if you would like to talk to us, we're always at hi at supergoodcampaigncom. That's hi at supergoodcampaigncom, and we'll talk to you again soon. Bye, bye.