2016 Presentation: National Geographic Young Explorers

National Geographic has launched the career of many a photographer, scientist, storyteller, adventurer and researcher through its Young Explorers Grants Program, which provides seed grants to 18 to 25 year olds for fieldwork and exploration around the globe. Each year, National Geographic brings a handful of “YEGs” to Mountainfilm to share their work. Molly Ferril is a photographer, writer and filmmaker based in Southeast Asia. She first had the chance to photograph and film wild elephants in Kenya and Tanzania, where she was studying wildlife management in the national parks. Since then, she’s gone on to document the unique relationship between elephants and people in Myanmar, a country where rapid development is changing the role of an animal that’s long been part of industry, religion and culture. From folk art to salt and pepper shakers to animals and curios — America’s roadside attractions have long been home to colorful collections. During the summer of 2015, Marissa Gawel traveled 3,000 miles around the country’s midsection to gather stories of the people who have opened their homes and passions to the public, capturing a time capsule of American roadside nostalgia as she went. A trained environmental scientist who grew up on the coast of Maine, Kyle Hemes spent three years living, studying and working in Laos, Thailand, China and Vietnam. His project, “The Friction of Terrain,” was born out of a fascination with the changing people and landscapes of the southeast Asian uplands, where recent largescale infrastructure has removed separations that long kept inhabitants semi-autonomous. He and a team set out on touring bicycles to discover the changes firsthand. Young Explorer Alec Jacobson holds the distinction of being being based out of Mountainfilm’s hometown of Telluride, where he founded the nonprofit online news site The San Juan Independent. As a YEG, he traveled to Uganda to document overfishing in Lake Victoria, a pervasive problem with deleterious impacts on the regional environment and the people who live there. Prasenjeet Yadav studied molecular biology and ecology for years in his native India before realizing his true passion lies in storytelling. He now combines his experience in research with his formidable camera skills in an effort to popularize ecological and conservation sciences. He was awarded a Young Explorers Grant to produce a story about evolution and speciation in the Shola grasslands of India’s Western Ghats.