Quick intro to David Suzuki: He’s a Canadian academic, science broadcaster, and environmental activist. He’s best known as host of the popular and long-running CBC Television science magazine, The Nature of Things. Kinda a big deal.

I’ve often been compared to a “young David Suzuki” during my present journey to super awesome hair and facial hair. I’ve been growing out my hair for 2 years a two months and my beard for 15 months. Since about the midway point, I’ve been meaning to get a photo with David Suzuki. I heard David Suzuki was in town for a talk, but I already committed to another event that evening. I thought my hopes for getting this photo were toast. My first event began at 5:30PM while the David Suzuki event began at 7PM. Fortunately, my first event ended earlier than I expected and gave me a small window of opportunity to get my photo with David Suzuki.

I arrived at the venue to a seemingly empty building. I was greeted by a staff member and customer chatting over the counter. Seeing the building being almost empty, I hesitantly asked whether David Suzuki was still around. They directed me to his whereabouts at the front of the theatre signing books and chatting with guests. There were probably 8 people left in the room, including myself. Nervously, I made my way down. I was greeted by one of the organizers wondering why I was suited up and so late. I stated my purpose and she agreed to take my photos.

I got the chance to ask David Suzuki for a photo as I was setting up my camera. He agreed. I got a couple of practice shots while another gentleman was getting his photo with David Suzuki. It was finally my turn! I asked the organizer to stand in the photo with David Suzuki so I could double-check my camera settings. At that moment, the theatre lights turned off and I thought I lost my chance. David Suzuki reassured me that we could still have a photo, so I changed the settings to accommodate for the flash. I took another test shot after setting the flash to see if it was working properly. It took a little while because the theatre was dark and the camera wasn’t able to detect the objects very well in the photo.

(Here comes for fun part) I proceeded to take a normal photo with David Suzuki. I wanted to take a fun photo doing the peace sign – I was trying to be funny and ironic. He was hesitant. My fingers were already in “peace” mode. Just before the flash went off, he flipped the bird! I was shocked for a second, but then I laughed out loud at what just happened. I looked at the photo in disbelief and thought to myself: THAT’S AWESOME!!!

I quickly asked him if I could post it on the Internet. He didn’t care, he responded. Unsure if that was sufficient and that I heard incorrectly, I waited a minute or two for him to finish his conversation with the people present. Again, I asked if I could post it on the Internet. He didn’t care, he responded again.

With his consent, it’s on the Interwebz!

tl;dr Met David Suzuki. Got an epic photo.