Reality Is Stranger Than Fiction: 50 Of The Most Unreal Photos

Conservation photographer and writer Marisa Marulli tells Bored Panda that she got into nature photography after realizing that she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life.

"And that bothered me. I wanted a clear path, like the lawyers and the doctors. I didn’t want to ’stumble’ my way through life without answers! Thinking that way about it is funny now. I’m so glad I stumbled," she shared.

"I’m so glad I took a breather when I was so peeved in an office cubicle, not knowing what I wanted with my life, that I finally took a career and personality test and began to get some answers in some areas of work that might be of interest to me. Photography showed up as one of them, believe it or not."

Along with photography, the personality test presented her with about 20 other lines of work that she might like best, but after trying some of them, photography was the one that stuck with her.

"All of the forward motion into those few careers sort of stopped either due to my own disinterest or because I hit an exterior block. Photography stayed. In the beginning months of pursuing it, I took a photography workshop in Iceland. Now, this is an important piece of the story because I hadn’t been out of the country in over 10 years, and I was pretty scared of flying," she continued telling us.

"But the camera, the pursuit of photography of nature and animals in Iceland, weighed more than my fear. That was a victory. I found something I loved enough to jump over the fear of getting there. And it continues today, putting me in front of some of the largest bears in the wild, on the edge of cliffs when I am not a fan of ledges, even on multiple flights to get across the world to Siberia, and most recently, into the ocean to understand and explore the conservation of sea turtles."

"Now, I will say, I always knew ‘I just want to save all the animals.’ The way that phrase comes off may sound childish, but I still allow myself to say it, just like that, today. It may be one of the few childish pieces I still allow in myself (I tend to be quite a serious person). And I honor that," she added, concluding the story of how her life revealed her career in nature photography.

Whereas wildlife and landscape photographer Melissa Alves tells us that what led her to nature photography was her love for nature.

"I have loved nature for as long as I can remember. I used to watch nature documentaries with my dad and imagine being one of the presenters in the show. I didn’t come across a lot of representation for women in nature photography when I was growing up, so I didn’t consider it as much more than a hobby until much later in life," she shared.

"I also recall my dad telling me as a kid to enjoy the tigers I was seeing on TV because they probably wouldn't be around when I grew up, and that had quite an impression on me. Photography has the power to change people’s hearts, and if even just one person sees a photo I’ve taken and wants to take better care of the environment, I feel successful."

During her career, the most mind-blowing and once-in-a-lifetime pictures that Marisa was able to capture were a close-up of an adult bear in Alaska and sea turtles in the ocean and at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center.

"When I was staying at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge in Lake Clark National Park, Alaska, we went out to the wild to observe and photograph some of the largest bears in the world: the coastal brown bear (see here). At one point, a very large adult decided to walk our way. The bear continued and ended up walking right past us. It was absolutely amazing. It passed so close that I had too much of a telephoto (zoom) lens to capture it at one point!" she exclaims.

"When I was snorkeling and photographing in the ocean, I noticed there were a few jellyfish in the area. A young sea turtle approached one nearby me, and began eating it! I remember staying fairly still so I would not disrupt the sea turtle and sure enough it stayed long enough that its meal crumbs — little pieces of jellyfish — floated around and lightly stung me a bit!"

"Volunteering photography at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, an amazing force for conserving endangered sea turtles, I have witnessed so many beautiful moments; from sea turtles taking their first solo breath after being intubated during surgery, to the slow progress of emaciated turtles getting so large that they give the hospital team a bit of a challenge during check ups, to a sea turtle being released to its ocean home after almost a year of rehabilitating in the hospital (see here)," she adds.

Meanwhile, the once-in-a-lifetime photo Melissa captured was of shorebirds perfectly flying in front of Mount Baker (which you can find here).

"In December of 2023, I photographed some shorebirds (too far away to properly identify) taking off as a group in front of Mount Baker. I have seen the shorebirds in the area fly in massive flocks before, but I had never seen them leave the bay to continue on their migration in such large numbers, and directly in front of the mountain," she says.

"It was incredible, and I still have yet to see them fly perfectly in front of the mountain like that again. Because of the distance between the bay where me and the birds were and Mount Baker it appeared as though the birds were flying high above the mountain at some points."

To be able to capture such amazing moments in images, Marisa says that light is the most crucial part. "It is all about the light, as much as possible. When capturing landscape photos, I aim to photograph during sunrise and sunset, when everything lights up in a special way than the rest of the day. For animal photography, natural light is important (and critical when it comes to an endangered species), as you do not want to disturb the animal. For night sky photography, lack of light pollution is super important," she explains.

For Melissa, her technique usually differs depending on what subject she tries to capture. "For example, when I photograph owls, I often use long-exposures, since the owls don’t tend to move much and it allows me to let a little more light in when I am already at a maximum aperture for my lens and do not want to bump up the ISO settings too much. For something like a macro shot of a mushroom, I take multiple images and stack them together in Photoshop later to get as much detail as possible."

Even after years of capturing breathtaking photos of our world, photographers say that nature never ceases to amaze them. "I can see the same trees and moss every day and still have more to learn about them," says Melissa. "Nature is always changing too, so there is definitely always a surprise waiting every time I go out."

"It manages to surprise me every time I am out with it," agrees Marisa. "That is the point, I think. When you love what you do (whether it’s your career or a hobby or on a vacation), you will be enlivened inside, open-minded with a childlike wonder, and see things that perhaps others do not. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder."