Hi there, my name is Gita Defoe and I am a photographer from Burlington Ontario. I was born in Pomalaa, a small mining town in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Because of my father's job, we moved quite often. We have lived in Maluku, Papua and finally settled in Bintan, Indonesia, a small island 40 minutes from Singapore. Growing up in smaller cities and because of the encouragement of my family, I developed a passion for nature. On weekends, my father would wake us up early to go for hikes and to explore the rainforest and its inhabitants. On one of these early mornings when I was 10 years old, I remember hiking up a volcano. I was in awe when I look down and saw how small the houses were, the world is a big place!
When I moved to Canada 15 years ago, my love for nature continued to grow stronger and as a photographer, I always try to capture the beauty of it. During my free time, i love to explore hiking trails, camp and learn about the environment. I am the happiest when I am out on a trail or in the middle of nature.
This past January I went back to my home country, Indonesia, on a photo assignment on behalf of Photographers Without Border. Together with Danielle Da Silva, we documented the amazing work that the Sumatran Orangutan Society(SOS) and the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) have done in Sumatra. Spending 2 weeks with these amazing people and being in nature made me feel at home. It also helped me realize that I could do so much more! This project is an amazing opportunity and I couldn't be happier to be a part of it. We all have a chance to do something special here. Something for our future generations, for the survival of these endangered species and for our beautiful world in general.