Profile

We want to hear how people live their passion.  It’s our way of discovering your passion and sharing it with others.  Let us hear how you’re living your passion.  You might just find yourself profiled here.

profiles@liveyourpassiongear.com

Name: Zach Shriver
Hometown: Durango, Colorado
Age: 29
Occupation: Wildland Fire Fighter
Passions: cycling, skiing, coaching young cyclist
Highlights: 4 time U.S. National Mountain Bike Team
Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championship



Ihave always had the utmost respect for those who live their passion, especially those who make it a priority to engage in activities they love. For myself, I have learned that many of my passions are found in outdoor adventure. Whether it is a solo 114 mile desert mountain bike ride through new territory or a team effort of relentless wildland fire fighting; it’s all about being out in the elements and in tune with my senses. I am devoted to challenging myself in my sport, experiencing the beauty of the outdoors, and sharing my passion with others. Living my passion makes me feel alive!

Name: Anton Krupicka
Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Age: 23
Occupation: Professional Writing Tutor
Passions: trail ultrarunning
Highlights: 2006 Leadville 100 champion
2007 Rocky Raccoon 100 champion



I am passionate about running because of its sheer simplicity and freeing irrationality. Wanna run 100 miles faster than anyone else? It’s not complicated; training to run these distances doesn’t need to be confirmed by any coaching, pre-planned schedules, heart rate monitors or GPS devices. Just get your ass out there every day and run a boatload of miles and trip and fall over rocks and roots and laugh and smile your way through it because that’s where life really reveals it’s meaning – in the sheer joy, playfulness, intuition, adventure, appreciation, and acceptance of the unreasonable, utterly irrational moments in this life that inevitably occur when one is pursuing his or her true passion. If there were any reason or logic involved, there would be no passion.

But, for me, running 200 miles week after week or 100 miles in a single day or extending my morning run by an hour and being late for work because the trail is just that inspiring is a truly passionate, revolutionary act of defiance and exuberance and possibility in a world fraught with calculation and ambitions and end-goals. As a result, it contains the most meaning and fulfillment I have yet found in this life, and is the most unadulterated expression of my passion. http://antonkrupicka.blogspot.com

Name: Doug Buck
Age: 39
Hometown: Tucson, AZ
Occupation: Owner of Doug Buck’s Cast-Away Adventures, a destination fly fishing travel service; Professional fly fishing guide
Passions: Catching tarpon on a fly, traveling with great friends, letting fish go with a big kiss, laughing with my wife and son.

I discovered my love of fishing as a kid, and found a profession in my early 20's. Why did I leave college in Tucson with only 6 credits left?  Because my passion was (and is) fly fishing.  I went to Durango and started my journey toward complete infatuation with the art of the fly.  I admit that once life took an interesting turn and I took a brief break from the fishing business earlier in the decade. Luckily, I discovered that not fishing was bad for my head, my health, my life.  Fishing makes me happy.  Whether I am up to my chest in a ice-cold river or standing on the bow of a ponga in the Gulf of Mexico, fishing makes me happy.  I love taking  people places where they can catch fish and be happy.  I can’t wait to teach my son about fishing and how finding a passion in life and pursuing it can make him happy.   I am really grateful that I have had the means to turn my passion into my profession and that I can share my love of fishing with others.    

Name: Emilie Lee
Currently living in: Salt Lake City, UT
Age: 26
Occupation: Freelance Illustrator, Fine Artist
Passions: rock climbing, painting, drawing, art
Highlights: All the climbing adventures that have led me to life-long friendships and fed my wild side!

Photo:Tim Kemple

For ten years I've been super passionate about rock climbing and at times it seemed like nothing else mattered. I've also been a passionate artist for my entire life. In search of subject matter that truly inspires me I started to make my art about rock climbing. Climbing brings me so much joy and it really allows me to feel alive and connected to a bigger life force. My favorite places to climb are in beautiful wilderness areas on granite cracks.
I studied at the Rhode Island School of Design where I earned my degree in illustration. In addition to having been awarded a residency at the Vermont Studio Center to focus on painting, I've had solo gallery exhibits in New Hampshire, Vermont, Colorado, and California.
My illustrations, writing, and film-work have also appeared in; The Alpinist, Rock & Ice, The Access Fund's Vertical Times, SheSends, the Patagonia Catalog, and Nau.
A lot of people who have responded to my art seem to think that I am always on big climbing adventures and constantly producing inspired artwork. These days I am spending more time in the studio than I do in the mountains. I made a conscious decision to seek out a teacher and learn the traditional drawing and painting skills I need to create the paintings that I envision. Every day I feel excited and lucky to be pursuing this passion even though I know how difficult it is to build a career as a fine artist. Today I spent all day trying to draw one ear lobe of the plaster sculpture that is my subject. It is a slow process, but I truly believe in what I'm doing and I often draw on my experiences as a climber. I used to laugh at myself when I'd step back from climbing and realize that I'd been spending days, months, years, just trying to reach the top of a rock via the most difficult way possible. This is where I have to bring up the old classic: "It's the journey, not the destination." In the end, I just want to be totally stoked on what I'm pouring my energy into all day long. Today I am living my passion, learning the craft and skills of classical painting techniques and expressing my own experience of the world through my artwork. www.emilielee.com