Live From Alaska with Lian

SCA alum Lian Law on her time as a Live Stream Video Intern at Denali National Park

This is PART 2 of our Q & A with SCA alum Lian Law. CLICK HERE FOR PART 1.

Working 5 days a week in an iconic park like Joshua Tree, after a while, does it just start to feel like any other place?
Sometimes after I’ve spent my week in the office without much field time, it can start to feel like any other job. That’s the point I know I’m getting too complacent. All I have to do is head outside into the park to remind myself how fortunate I am to work in this place where other people travel long distances to visit. I almost always have my camera with me, and because of that, I’m looking for that something different, something I haven’t seen before. The light, subject, angle, and mindset you bring with you is never the same. However, it’s not just about getting that shot. Just the other day, I was scrambling up a large rock formation to watch the sun set. Once I reached the top, the whole landscape opened up below me and I took the time not to look at something from an outside perspective trying to capture it, but to be in the place and in the moment.

How has serving with SCA impacted your life and career?
I started visiting national parks at an early age. I am fortunate enough to have parents who recognize the importance of what the National Park Service represents and wanted to share that with me as I grew up. But for a long time, I didn’t truly make that transition from sharing a view point of “this is important because” to “this is important to me because” and that is one thing six months with SCA helped me understand. Spending a significant amount of time learning about, working in, and experiencing the park, I found a connection with the land that was much more intimate and personal that any other connection I had formed before.

How did you end up combining your love of parks with your talent for videography? Is it something you’ve always wanted to do, or did it just work out that way?
I essentially fell into the job. Prior to SCA, I didn’t even know such media positions existed. My initial impression of park jobs was limited to more visible or traditional positions such as front line interpreters or resource staff. I’m honestly still figuring out exactly what I want to do. In fact, I’m planning to try something quite different at the end of July by spending nine months learning how to mush dogs in Minnesota.

Mushing sled dogs?? That’s amazing! Any particular reason you’re looking to learn to mush? I have this list of things and experiences that I want to do and try and mushing definitely fits the bill. I have had dogs all my life and I also volunteered for the Denali Kennels’ summer dog walking program. It seemed that now was as good a time as any to pursue that.

CLICK HERE FOR PAGE 1 OF 2

Photos by Lian Law