HUMAN

Name: David Poyzer

Age: 33

Residence: Des Moines, Iowa

Occupation: I own a creative media marketing outfitter, which is photo and video production.

Years involved with Iditarod: 6

Iditarod Roles: Photographer

Current Location: Finger Lake Checkpoint, Winter Lake Lodge.

Date of Photo: March 6, 2022

Temperature: 20 F Outdoors 

What, who or how and when did you first get involved with the Iditarod?

I first became involved with Iditarod with Ian Planchon turning to me and another guy and saying, “Hey, who wants to go Iditarod?” The other guys “no”, and I was like, “heck yeah”, but it was kind of a joke on our personalities. I originally, I was following Iditarod growing up with my dad. He introduced it to me and never thought I’d end up out here, but having a good friend who was originally from Alaska, who lived in Des Moines for a while, he got me invited out because he needed someone to fill his spot because he’s jumping on the Insider snowmachine team. So, I got involved.

What is your Why? Why are you here TODAY and involved with the Iditarod?

I’m here today and involved with the Iditarod because I love photography and landscape and outdoors and winter. So it kind of does all of that. Watching the teams come through is a ton of fun and learning about dogs and what everyone does out here is amazing. You never stop learning.

Tell me about just one of your most memorable Iditarod experiences.

One of my most memorable Iditarod experiences was my first year out in 2016 and stopping at Cripple, which is a halfway checkpoint in the middle of the Iditarod and just the beautiful light we had. We had the first morning just fantastic light coming through the trees, getting to photograph dogs and just a very quiet place. Then the next night we had amazing Northern Lights. I just watched them from the entire sky moving and just doing a ton of photos and then taking a minute to just lay down and watch it as well. Feel small underneath that.

What do you know for sure?

What I know for sure in life is how much I appreciate my wife for letting me come out here. She’s awesome, and I know she misses me a lot, so miss her and appreciate that she lets me come out.