Organization & Crew

Brian Rivera Uncapher is an American, award-winning visual storyteller dedicated to raising environmental awareness through powerful imagery. Click here to to jump straight to exclusive content available for licensing: Gallery (with all proceeds going to ArcticWild.org.) Brian’s career is multifaceted. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1990 where he founded and served as Editor-in-Chief of the law school’s Business Law Journal (today U.M. Business Law Review).  His course load and published work dealt with international law and diplomacy, providing insight into negotiation of multilateral environmental agreements.  

Upon graduation, he founded a Fair Trade company specializing in assisting Central American indigenous communities in getting their handicrafts to European markets, including setting up their relationships with the World Wildlife Fund in Holland, Germany and Scandinavia.   

While documenting these activities, his appreciation for film and photography grew and became a full time passion.  Brian’s work has been recognized by the Fine Art Photography Awards, the International Photography Awards, Nature's Best Photography, Landscape Photography Magazine as well as commented on by various other organizations, including the United Nation's Biodiversity Initiative, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Audubon Society, the American Bald Eagle Foundation, DIY Photography™, Photography Life™, and the Alaska Wilderness League. His Alaska bald eagle cinematography has been included most recently in the 2019 documentary, Rock Paper Fish, and his recent photograph of the skin patterns of an Iguana won the top award in the Art Wolfe Photography as Art Competition. He is a frequent contributor to magazines, trade journals, and industry blogs.

Brian’s photography and film work have allowed him to witness first-hand the key role the Arctic plays in safeguarding Earth’s unique atmosphere and led him to found ArcticWild.Org, a nonprofit organization specifically focused to protecting and preserving the wild Arctic environment. Brian’s contact details may be found below, and his latest media coverage, articles, tips, and tutorials may be found here: News, Blog.

Patricia Turner Custard is a writer and founder of Black Plume Books, a publisher of award-winning children’s books. She is also a community organizer focusing her efforts on civil rights and environmental advocacy. 

Prior to entering publishing, Patricia worked as a Senior Research Associate for the Institute of Learning Innovation; working in collaboration with organizations and communities to broaden who has access to learning, expand where and when people learn, and extend the basic understanding of how people learn across their lifespan. While at the Institute, Patricia worked with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to design and implement a program for national student outreach, with the National Academy of Science to evaluate a proposed museum, served as lead researcher of ASK with Science (Adults Supporting Kids with Science) an NSF funded program which developed programs and evaluation for under-served populations, including a Spanish language version of programs, developed and implemented public evaluation of a proposed International Spy Museum interactive, full-immersion visitor experience, and created a curriculum-based activity guide to support the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s oystering exhibit. 

Earlier in her career, Patricia served as the Director of Education for the Columbia River Maritime Museum (CRMM). At CRMM she developed the museum’s first Educational Program Plan, authored educational children’s books used in classrooms throughout the country, and created the first-ever program that uses US Coast Guard cutters as learning laboratories for elementary students. The program was so effective it was adopted by the US Coast Guard as part of its national public outreach program.

She has also worked as the Interpretive Specialist for the US Forest Service at the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, and as an Interpretive Park Ranger for the National Park Service (NPS). With the NPS she worked at Colonial National Historic Park, Assateague Island National Seashore, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Badlands National Park. 

She is a recipient of the National Park Service Special Achievement Award, US Forest Service Certificate of Merit, US Coast Guard Public Service Commendation, American Association of State and Local History Commendation awards, and International Council of Maritime Museums partnership and technology citation.  

Patricia is a graduate of Colorado State University with degrees in Natural Resource Management and Range Conservation. She also graduated from Christopher Newport University’s Graduate Teacher’s Education Program. She lives in Juneau, Alaska with her husband Buddy and their two dogs, Truman and Thomas, a retired Iditarod sled dog. 

Sonia has been an environmental advocate for the past 8 years in Key Biscayne, Florida, and her 15 years of experience in island beach front property management and tropical cyclone preparation have made her acutely focused on the severe impacts of a melting Arctic on coastal communities at large.  She has a degree in Business Administration and has been inspired by the natural world from her earliest memories.  In her own words: “My love of wildlife and nature came through my uncle who was an entomologist. He taught me all about butterflies. I used to go to the mountains collecting plants and caterpillars to breed in a greenhouse which my parents built on our yard. It was fascinating to see the wonder of nature as they transformed from a tiny little egg that sprang a caterpillar and ultimately became a butterfly and see their delicate wings begin fluttering and take to the skies when released. Over the years, I started to see those mountains stripped bare and realized how delicate the balance between humans and wildlife is and how landscapes can so easily be destroyed. My first introduction to photography was a tiny Minolta camera, and my passion for the great wilderness this planet has is what drives me to look through the lens and show through my photographs the wonders of nature and wildlife to hopefully inspire others to not only love it but also do everything possible to protect it.”

Buddy Custard is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Alaska Maritime Prevention & Response Network (Network). The Network is a nonprofit corporation created to provide vessel owners and operators with federal oil spill pollution prevention and response regulatory compliance for tank and nontank vessels operating in the Western Alaska and Prince William Sound U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port Zones. 

He possesses extensive knowledge and expertise working maritime operations from both the public and private sectors, including serving with the U.S. Coast Guard for over 30 years and as a manager with Shell Exploration & Production Company for over 3 years while it was operating in the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf. Buddy holds broad knowledge on Arctic marine issues, ranging from maritime transportation, search and rescue, oil spill prevention and response, environmental conservation, maritime domain awareness, offshore oil and gas exploration, and the significant challenges of working in both the Arctic and the waters of Alaska from both the industry’s and government’s perspective. 

At the Network, Buddy guides the corporation’s strategic direction concerning U.S. Arctic maritime affairs. The Network routinely speaks at national and international conferences regarding Arctic maritime shipping issues, influencing policies for safe maritime shipping in the Arctic.  Buddy spoke at the U. S. Congressional hearing held by the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation regarding “Maritime Transportation Regulatory Programs”. The Network is a member of the Arctic Council’s Arctic Shipping Best Practice Information Forum to promote safe shipping practices in the polar regions. 

At Shell, Buddy served as Emergency Response Manager and subsequently Operations Manager during their offshore exploration program in both the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, ensuring operations were conducted safely and environmentally friendly. 

During his career in the Coast Guard, Buddy attained the position of Chief of Staff for the Alaska region before retiring in 2012. As Chief of Staff, he led a work force of 1,500 personnel assigned to boats, ships, aircraft, and shore installations in Alaska to accomplish a wide array of missions, such as search and rescue, homeland security and defense, maritime law enforcement, marine transportation safety, and environmental protection.  Buddy advanced Coast Guard awareness and interest in the Arctic. He helped shape Coast Guard Arctic national policy, developing and nurturing partnerships with other government and international agencies, industry, and academia on emerging issues due to the receding sea ice.

While serving in many capacities at sea and ashore leading and planning operations, Buddy guided the Coast Guard’s efforts during many significant natural disaster relief efforts caused by earthquakes, flooding, and hurricanes in saving lives, protecting the environment, and restoring the marine transportation system. He served aboard seven Coast Guard cutters in both the Atlantic and Pacific regions with over 12 years of sea duty, commanding four of the cutters.  

Buddy serves as a member of the National Offshore Safety Advisory Committee, a board director for the Aleutian Islands Waterways Safety Committee and for the oil spill removal organization Alaska Chadux Corporation. He also is the Chairman, Board of Directors for the American Red Cross of Alaska.

A graduate of Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, Buddy received a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife biology. He earned a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, and is also a graduate of the Homeland Security Executive Leaders Program, Center for Homeland Defense and Security, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA. 

Buddy and his wife (Patricia Turner Custard) live in Juneau, Alaska with their two dogs.

The Arctic plays a key role in safeguarding Earth’s unique atmosphere. It is presently threatened by accelerated climate degradation, increased road construction, shipping traffic, oil and gas exploration, ocean pollution, and mining. Scientists project that the Arctic Ocean will be completely ice-free by the summer of 2030. When combined with Arctic land ice loss, this will result in massive extinctions and population disruptions, irreversibly changing life on Earth as we know it. We all depend on the Arctic to keep the global climate stable, to keep methane and carbon dioxide below its surface from escaping into the atmosphere, and to keep sea levels from rising.

I am a passionate nature and wildlife photographer specializing in vast scenic landscapes. After receiving my first camera at the age of twelve-years old, I began taking photographs of the grand landscapes in the Everglades National Park and later moved on to other locations throughout the world.

My work has been recognized by several prestigious organizations, including the Audubon Society, Nature’s Best Photography, and USA Landscape Photographer of the Year.  My photograph, Nature’s Crown Jewel, was honored as a Top 100 Image in Nature’s Best Photography Yellowstone Forever Competition which received over 11,000 images from participants around the world. I have always had a deep respect of the landscape artwork produced by Georgia O'Keeffe, and Katsushika Hokusai as well as the artistic photographic compositions by Jérémie Villet, Paul Nicklen, and Max Rive.  

I love the ancient Japanese tradition that all life is sacred and must be protected.  My work, therefore, is prescient in a world where nature is vanishing at an alarming rate and species are racing extinction. By bringing attention to Mother Nature with my inspiring, artistic photography, I am on a mission to showcase the beauty of this planet so that people not only see but feel their interconnectedness to nature. View more of my work at MarkRivera.xyz