The commercial airliner touches down on a runway in Nairobi, Kenya and taxis to a stop. Greg Von Doersten emerges from the plane, camera in hand, and rushes around to chat up the gate manager. Soon he’s in the cargo hold of their Democratic Republic of Congo-bound flight, shooting photos of kayaks and gear being loaded. This is Von Doersten’s way: Getting into places no one thought were even a possibility—and getting the shot.

“Nobody can get away with that, and Von Doersten’s there in the underbelly of the airplane getting amazing photographs,” says pro kayaker, Tyler Bradt, who traveled with Von Doersten in 2011 to run the highest-volume rapids on the planet. “He could have just as easily kicked back and gone along for the ride.”

As a kid growing up in Ohio, Von Doersten (known affectionately as “GVD” to everyone who’s met him) obsessed about stories of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expeditions to Antarctica. For his whole adult life, he’s been telling stories of his own expeditions to exotic and treacherous destinations to far-flung corners of the globe. GVD views his photography as something more than just creating great images. For him, it’s about telling great stories…

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