Travel and storytelling have been closely associated in American society. Whether it was nineteenth-century nature writers writing from the land in new territories or contemporary podcasters narrating their moments on the road, being in motion across the land is often a setting for inquiry into identity and community. According to various sources, a significant number of long-distance trips are taken each year, reflecting a broader desire for exploration. In line with this trend, media creators and artists have continued to develop travelogs that blend sound, image, and text to capture a sense of place.
Nathan Larson’s career reflects this convergence of art and movement. Having lived in multiple states, he experienced various regions before coming of age. He lived in Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, Connecticut, and Vermont – a trail of states that created shifting landscapes and shifting social environments. He also traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, during his high school years through a student-exchange program, which provided him with a diverse international experience from the outset. This is all context for understanding why someone at a later time would take a job that often considers how place shapes people and the stories they tell about their lives.
Larson attended the University of Chicago and earned a Bachelor’s degree in anthropology – a field primarily concerned with human behavior and cultural awareness. While in college, he also worked for Atlantic Records and wrote album and concert reviews for the university paper, The Chicago Maroon. This blend of cultural study and music journalism introduced him to varied ways of looking at and interpreting experiences, abilities that would recur in his visual and audio work.
Theater experience was a second aspect of his experience. While still in university, he established Three Winters Productions Company and Little Thunder Children’s Theatre, nonprofit organizations dedicated to education and the performing arts. He also worked in regional theater productions, such as Greater Tuna, providing direct exposure to stagecraft and cooperative art. Through these efforts, he gained insight into pacing and audience participation, aspects that would later influence both photography displays and podcast episodes.
Photography subsequently became the main emphasis. Larson began working with cameras at the age of twelve, studying darkroom procedures under the guidance of a sixth-grade instructor. After college, he transitioned to selling his prints and creating fine art bodies of work that integrate field notes, poetry, and essays. His works often feature rural towns and wilderness landscapes, as seen in series such as “250 Years / 250 People: Windsor, Vermont” (2012) and “Why We Stay: Royalton, Vermont” (2014). Vermont Public Radio featured the latter project in 2014, emphasizing the focus on history and regional identity. His work has been licensed internationally since 2021 through Wild Apple Graphics, situating his images in an international market for fine art photography.
Podcasting provided Larson with yet another storytelling medium. In 2025, he introduced WonderBuzz with Nate Larson, a program featuring poetry, travel stories, and cultural commentary. The podcast is available on platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify and has a 4.9 out of 5 rating on Apple Podcasts, indicating steady listener engagement. His experiences traversing North America provide the fodder for many episodes, where he captures descriptions of landscapes, interviews with locals, and theories about memory and mobility. Independent industry analysis suggests that a significant portion of Americans regularly engage with podcasts, positioning his work within a growing independent audio storytelling genre.
Larson’s appearances in other media reflect his diverse approach to cultural production. He made an appearance in the Food Network and Discovery+ series “Ming’s Quest” in 2005, in Season 3, Episode 2. Filmed in Manchester, Vermont, the episode “Vermont Trout Quest” featured him preparing trout on the engine block of a Land Rover while off-roading. It illustrated his enthusiasm for blending travel, food, and the outdoors, similar to his photo and audio work.
Larson has spent extended periods navigating both rural and urban environments across North America, including gathering photographs and stories that examine how people relate to their environments. These travels describe the forthcoming release of Field Notes on Avoidance, a photography and poetry book scheduled for release in 2025.
Observers of today’s culture often note how artists cross platforms to reach diverse audiences. A recent Pew Research report suggests that a large share of U.S. adults regularly engage with digital audio and video content, highlighting the broad reach of multi-format producers. Larson creates in this way, drawing on photography, essays, and podcasts to craft a complex narrative of place and memory, while remaining unencumbered by any single form.
Nathan Larson’s journey of growing up immersed in travel, international studies, and a career bridging photography and podcasting reflects the way individual history can contribute to artistic production. By linking his diverse experiences to common narrative forms, he continues to contribute to the ongoing discourse on how movement and culture intersect in the twenty-first century.
