My name is Erik MacMahon-Barkeloo and this is my gallery, thank you for stopping by! Somewhere along the line in my twenty-one years of life, I developed a passion for the outdoors and the environment. Growing up in Ohio, access to the great outdoors is limiting. My friends and I joined the Cub Scouts at our elementary school, and transitioned into the Boy Scouts later. We all went on to earn the rank of Eagle Scout. Still however, I didn't quite have a "passion" for the outdoors. I enjoyed going camping and hiking but never really anything more than going on trips with the scouts. I learned many things throughout my countless years in the scouts but nothing really struck a chord in me, yet.
If I'm being honest, as silly as it may sound, my passion for the environment may have developed from video games. Being able to transport myself from a big city in Ohio into a vast, mountainous wilderness into numerous video games with the push of a button stuck with me. I remember driving around the highways and roads of Colorado in Forza Horizon, or scaling the massive mountains and glacial lakes in Skyrim, and that stuck with me. I knew that these places existed in real life and I wanted to see them, I had to see them. Upon completion of my senior year in high school, I did just that, I took a trip to Colorado and that, is what sparked my passion for the outdoors. It led me to live in Utah for for five months. I wanted to share with the world all of the incredible places that I was traveling to and seeing. Now, every chance I get during a break in my busy schedule of classes, I travel to new and old places to immerse myself in the beauty that this world has to offer.
My passion for photography coincided with my traveling. I wanted to capture the feeling that these places brought to me, feelings that words can't quite capture. Grandeur, tranquility and freedom are few I can think of, but they still don't quite capture the moment like photos are able to. Photographs are powerful, they can evoke emotion more so than words. My goal with most of my work, is to evoke that emotion, to put you in that place I was and feel what I was feeling. Hopefully, so much so that you can appreciate, and want to experience it for yourself.
Many of these places that I photograph will not be the same in 5-10 years due to climate change, policy, development, consumer habits, etc. I hope to encourage people to want to protect these incredible places and their ecosystems, not just for now, but for many generations into the future.
Thank you for coming to my page, I hope you enjoy. If you have any question, comments, or would like to purchase a print, please fill out a contact form.