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As Don Komarechka focused his macro lens on frozen crystals falling from the sky, he also turned his attention to social and traditional media to establish himself and share his stunning images. Through Google+ he developed an interactive following. There is an appetite for his snowflake-a-day for 100 days photo collection each winter. "The audience kept growing and I just kept feeding the fire and leveraged that," Don says. That audience grew to 1.3 million, which he helps nurture with regular appearances on podcasts and being visible, if only virtually, as much as possible. "It's really important to have conversations with people and bring it into the public eye." His passion for exploring aspects of nature which escape the human eye soon gave way to his 304- page hardcover book Sky Crystals: Unraveling the Mystery of Snowflakes. Don wore every hat in his self-publishing endeavour to illustrate the science of this remarkable phenomenon and explain the techniques he used to capture the snowflakes. He was giving a photography workshop in California when, on a whim, he hopped into his car to catch a recording at one of his favourite internet television networks, This Week in Tech. He landed an interview on the network, mentioned his book and his crowdfunding project to support it. It didn't take long for him to get the $25,000 he needed to get the book into print. Don makes the most of every opportunity. An article about him in the Barrie Advance was picked up by the Toronto Star, which led to an appearance on Global's The Morning Show, leading to a TEDx talk and an appearance in November on CBC's The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. College, he said, taught him to speak with conviction and find his voice, allowing him to be comfortable presenting to an audience. So far more than 1,000 copies of Sky Crystals have been sold. Learn more at www.donkom.ca. EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE: HIS SNOWFLAKE-A-DAY PHOTOS WENT VIRAL DON KOMARECHKA Advertising, 2009 The audience kept growing and I just kept feeding the fire and leveraged that. Don Komarechka on his use of social media The pages of Don Komarechka's book, Sky Crystals, in print. 2014 PREMIER'S AWARD NOMINEE GEORGIANVIEW 2014 10 ALUMNI HAVING EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCES