Punk Rock Big Year – Be part of it!

Not long after I first launched my tattoo conservation project I got an intriguing email form a guy from Canada. His name was Paul Riss and he was embarking on a pretty unique mission – The Punk Rock Big Year! I quickly learnt that the obvious link between us was birding and tattoos. Paul informed me that he was doing a ‘big year’ in Ontario; basically seeing as many species of bird in the region as he could in one year. Nothing overly unusual about this is there? However he went on to tell me that not only was he making a film about his year, but he was also going to have the scientific name of every species he saw tattooed onto his body! That was going to be a lot of ink!

Paul Riss…..a man on a very unique mission © PRBY

The drive behind Paul’s project was to change peoples perceptions of birders. Lets be fair, birders are still seen on the whole as weird tilley hat-wearing social outcasts even here in the UK! The more I got to know Paul, the more I realised he could really carry this off. Having been involved in the UK birding scene for many years I have seen groups or individuals emerging, trying to be the new fresh face of birding! However most of them have ended up tripping over their own egos and spending most of there time bitching about others. The more I got to know Paul, the more I realised he was a very special guy. Paul was a man of action and really carried through with what he wanted to achieve. There were two major things Paul did that convinced me that he was onto something of great significance. The first was his promotion of wildlife friendly coffee production; Paul was clearly a conservationist  someone with a real care for his impact on the ecosystem. The second was perhaps more significant. Paul spoke at the Ohio Young Birders Conference; he was using his story to inspire and encourage the younger generation. This is vital work! Paul emerged in my mind as the coolest birder on the planet!

I have kept in touch with Paul ever since that first email. He has become a very good friend and great supporter of my projects (he designed the logo for this website and my ‘Walking for Wildlife’ project). In fact I have always dubbed him ‘My Canadian Bruvva From Another Muvva’!

It is because of all this that I am very happy to promote his project and invite anyone who would like to be part of this unique production to visit his IndieGOGO page to find out more and make a pledge of support:

http://www.indiegogo.com/PRBY?c=home

I can’t wait to see the finished film!