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My father being an outdoors person, he used to take us on quite a few adventures thorugh the wild areas down there, introducing us to alligators and rattlesnakes and all the trees and plants.

Living in a rural setting exposes you to so many marvelous things - the natural world and the particular texture of small-town life, and the exhilarating experience of open space.

Growing up in a rural setting in Minnesota, I was raised with the outdoors and a sense of adventure.

I come from the deep countryside. My family was in farming. I was not really exposed to business. Coming from that environment, I just wanted in my life to go overseas - that was a childhood dream because I wanted diversity, contacts, cultural meetings with others.

I took it upon myself to paint a better picture of rural life and what it is all about.

I've always been sort of interested in the rural countryside. Things happen out there that are very strange to city dwellers.

The older I get, the more I appreciate my rural childhood. I spent a lot of time outdoors, unsupervised, which is a blessing.

I've been working with the land for most of my life; walking it and photographing it. And I love it to bits.

In the past, I've visited remote places - North Korea, Ethiopia, Easter Island - partly as a way to visit remote states of mind: remote parts of myself that I wouldn't ordinarily explore.

My parents owned a plants nursery. We all grew up growing things and planting things and selling things, and I also managed landscape crews.