by Steven Higgs | Jan 11, 2026 | Uncategorized
As our boatsman swung wide right and throttled his motor down at the San Martín de Amacayacu landing, a quote from the renowned anthropologist, ethnobotanist, and expert on all things Colombian Amazon Wade Davis echoed in my mind: “For me, the journey we’re...
by Steven Higgs | Jan 10, 2026 | Uncategorized
Dan Combs had a way with words. While I met him in the mid 70s as Jim Combs’ “little brother Danny,” I had no idea who he was when I read a letter to the editor he wrote in 1985. No environmentalist, Dan was not a fan of the group Citizens Concerned About PCBs, which...
by Steven Higgs | Dec 28, 2025 | Uncategorized
In retrospect, it seems obvious that 21 months spent poring over my professional past for two major retrospective projects would end at the beginning, with a story package about nature photographer Bill Thomas. As detailed in this four-part series, Bill is the one...
by Steven Higgs | Nov 5, 2025 | Uncategorized
I have a trove of memories from the times I spent with Hilario Martinez in Colombia, the most vivid among them his reaction when I relayed news reports in 1975 that said some Americans were eating dog food. We were in a Chinese restaurant in Bogotá, and the image so...
by Steven Higgs | Nov 1, 2025 | Uncategorized
I’ve played the author game enough times to recognize the life cycle of ink on paper in the Digital Age. And, barring a lightning bolt, I’m certain that the coffee table book Andy Mahler and the Hoosier National: The Folk Hero and the Forest He Loves, will be a...
by Steven Higgs | Oct 22, 2025 | Uncategorized
Editor’s note: The following essay was written in 2009 in The Bloomington Alternative as part of a series called “Forty Years in Bloomington: A Memoir.” We had learned in Cartegena that artisans wove the wall hangings I was importing through Steven C Imports...
by Steven Higgs | Oct 18, 2025 | Uncategorized
Editor’s note: The following essay was written in 2009 in The Bloomington Alternative as part of a series called “Forty Years in Bloomington: A Memoir.” My first trip to Colombia on my way to the Amazon River was actually pretty ridiculous. Travel...
by Steven Higgs | Oct 13, 2025 | Uncategorized
When Pablo Escobar scotched my plans to photograph the Upper Amazon Rainforest in 1976, I turned to the closest jungle I could find to satisfy my innate desire to journalistically explore the woods – the Hoosier National Forest. Exactly one year after my first trip to...
by Steven Higgs | Oct 10, 2025 | Uncategorized
To suggest that Tabatinga’s Mirador Komara is the best place for sunset over the Amazon River would be folly, given the enormity of the river’s geographic expanse. But the outdoor club on the southern outskirts of the Brazilian city would make any list, especially if...
by Steven Higgs | Sep 28, 2025 | Uncategorized
Editor’s note: What follows is the foundation for a talk I will give at the Heartwood Reunion on Friday, Oct. 3, and revise for upcoming events at Morgenstern Books, Juniper Gallery, and WFHB Community Radio’s Big Talk with Mike Glab. *** Before I begin relating my...
