Who is Philip Rivard?

It started with a wrong turn.

In 1999, I walked into a vocational training center to check out the automotive mechanics program. But on my way through, I passed a room full of drafting tables and computers and something clicked. I signed up that day for technical drawing, almost on instinct.

It was only afterward that I realized my father had worked in the same field. That as a kid, I used to draw on the back of the large-format blueprints he'd bring home from work. Some things find you before you find them.

After a long day, there are two ways to decompress. The first is to crash on the couch. The second is to pick up your guitar. I chose the second. Release the Pressure is a simple series. No script, no rehearsal, no perfectionism. I sit down, hit record, and let out whatever comes. Layer by layer, in real time — guitar, bass, drums — all built live in a single take. That evening, I Will Survive imposed itself. Maybe because I had the solo down

The Lamplighter

There are books you read. And there are books that read you.

The Little Prince belongs to the second category. I've lost count of how many times I've read it. It always comes back. As if each reading revealed something the previous one hadn't quite reached.

Although this image may not match the resolution standards we admire today, this photo taken in 2010 is the one I am most proud of. Beyond capturing the details of this fly up close with modest equipment — a Panasonic DMC-FZ8 and a DCR-250 macro lens — I am particularly proud of the orange background, created naturally by a lily petal.