Revue Magazine 2010-11 (November)

‘First seen in 1973, he became a common jungle personage. Like Lord Greystoke, he was suckled by
the wild beasts, crowned his head with the iridescent feathers of quetzal, and drank directly from
the fountains of origin. Navigator, explorer, biologist, photographer, author, synergetic geometrician,
he walked in boustrophedon the four cardinal points, leaving testimony of his path everywhere.’
—Sensei Manuel Corleto
AUTHOR / PHOTOgRAPHER BIO
Oliver Thor Janson is a wildlife
conservationist who uses photography as a
tool to promote environmental education,
his life passion.
Born in Chicago, the son of a Swedish immigrant
father and an Irish-Chippewa Indian
mother, Thor began his career as an
explorer at the age of four when he ventured
out on his tricycle far beyond the home territory.
At the police station, he was asked to
reveal the names of his parents but little Ollie
could only repeat the names of the two
beloved dogs who had raised him: “Jimi,
Pepe, Jimi, Pepe.”
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Childhood was spent between Chicago and
the forests of Northern Michigan. Ollie
took an early interest in nature studies and
loved to keep snakes as pets. From the age of
six Ollie summered at Camp Charlevoix in
the pristine boreal forest near Traverse City.
One dawn, he hurried down for the daily
reveille, flag raising and inspection by the
lake shore and stood in a line with the 300
other scouts. Inspection involved the camp
nurse checking to see if your fingernails and
ears were clean. When she came to little Ollie
she suddenly screamed at the top of her
lungs. A water snake, ...continued on page 34