Welcome!
I’m Nichole Vild
From Army Officer to Photographer to Neuroscience Explorer—discover the story behind Roaming Wild Adventures and why perspective-shifting matters.
There's a moment I remember from Iraq in 2004.
Late in the deployment, after months of rockets and mortars coming in, everything felt numb. My brain was on fire with frustration and monotony, but I'd stopped feeling most of it.
The nervous system does that—shuts down to survive.
One day I was sitting at my desk in our big open office and felt this overwhelming urge to go sit on this weird little step at the end of the room. It went nowhere—just a random part of the floor that was a few inches higher than everything else.
So I sat there. On the floor. Looking up at a room I'd been in a thousand times.
It felt like cool water on my brain. Same room. Different angle. Everything shifted.
I didn't know it then, but that was the seed for all of this.
The Long Road Here
I'm Nichole Vild. I spent over 20 years in the U.S. Army as a Logistics Officer, deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times, and carried a camera with me through all of it.
Photography was never my job—it was what kept me curious, kept me looking, kept me noticing things most people walked past.
After I retired in 2022, I wasn't sure what came next. I knew I wanted to use my photography. I knew I wanted to help people experience the joy I feel when I'm in nature creating something that excites me. But I didn't want to teach f-stops and shutter speeds.
That's not what photography does for me. That's not what matters.
In 2024, I stumbled into neuroscience and eco-psychology research, and suddenly I had the words for what I'd been doing intuitively for years.
The science of why shifting perspective—literally moving your body, changing what you pay attention to, experimenting with how you see—strengthens neural pathways for curiosity and the way you see the world.
Why it transfers from your camera to your life. Why that moment on the step in Iraq actually rewired something in my brain.
The Mission
What I’m Doing Here
I'm not a scientist. I'm a nerd who's passionate about learning and making connections.
I'm combining nature, photography, and neuroscience because I've seen what happens when people practice looking differently. They start thinking differently. Feeling differently. Living differently.
My goal isn't teaching photography. It's helping you strengthen neural pathways for questioning: What other angle is there to see? Why should I look at that tree differently? What happens if I only look for blue today? Why is it important to be curious?
When you build these pathways in a safe, creative environment,
the skill transfers everywhere. When you're confronted with a hard emotion or a situation that challenges you, maybe you slow down
and ask questions with real curiosity instead of reacting.
That's the transfer I care about. Not just better photos—better questions, more curiosity, improved ability to pause before you react.
Plus, I get to spend my days reading about neuroarts and testing photography prompts in the woods. Not a bad gig.
I've lived in the space between rigid systems and creative exploration. Between pressure and possibility. Between what we think we see and what's actually there.
That's what Roaming Wild Adventures is about.
What You Can Expect From Me
I'm direct. I don't do corporate speak or wellness buzzwords. I don't promise transformation in a weekend or claim you'll unlock your potential.
What I will do is show you a practice that works—one that's backed by science, grounded in real experience, and accessible to anyone willing to get curious.
I'll meet you where you are. You don't need fancy gear.
You don't need to be good at photography. You don't even
need to like being outside all that much (though it helps).
You just need to be willing to try looking at something differently. To pause. To question. To move.
The rest takes care of itself.
