I call Northern California home and have always had a passion for conservation. My love for wildlife drives my interest in photography. A few years back I decided to wind down my career in technology to spend more time in the outdoors focusing on my photography.  Although I do sell prints, I see myself more as an advanced enthusiast.  My primary focus is with birds and mammals, but I have recently started expanding into landscape, cityscapes, and astrophotography.  My favorite location is anywhere outdoors. However,  I do enjoy the abundance of wildlife and nature in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and anywhere in Alaska.

I started out in college as a wildlife and forestry major and during my summers worked as a Hotshot firefighter. Although I ended up working for 20 years in corporate finance, throughout my life I have always had a camera and been out in nature.  I have gone through many hobbies from being a private pilot, scuba diving, mountain biking, sea kayaking, and backpacking. Through it all, the constants have been my camera and my love for conservation and nature.

How I got the shot

My home base is in Woodridge, Illinios, a quiet area in the western suburbs of Chicago, but I’m gone about half the year for work. I’m the science editor of Ocean Geographic Magazine, a quarterly ocean conservation publication headquartered in Sydney, Australia, where I serve as an underwater photographer and environmental journalist. I’ve been shooting professionally for about five years, and I always say that I’ll go anywhere there’s water! That being said, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, and the high Arctic are probably my two favorite places on Earth. So far.

I come from a science background, and am an insufferable biology nerd who never seems to run out of unsolicited animal facts or terrible nature puns. I just can’t kelp myself! Silliness aside, my fascination with organismal biology means that I’m always on the lookout for behaviors to photograph that will tell a compelling story about an animal, and understanding the science behind a behavior makes it easier to capture.

How I got the shot

Arizona is my home base. I live at the base of the Superstition Mountains, east of Phoenix. The wildlife here is surprisingly abundant and not yet completely disturbed by urban life. I like to observe and photograph the local area when I’m not traveling.

Early on, my life was marked with some major challenges. At eighteen I became a Buddhist as a way of dealing with debilitating depression and anxiety. Although this is in the past, I still feel it defined most of my earlier life. I am glad to say I understand my mind now and can see the world positively. I hope my story can encourage one person to continue living and contribute back.

How I got the shot

There is power in photography that is easy to see but hard to develop. I never wanted to just create pretty photos. I wanted to move people with my images. It took me many years to find the keys to evocative imagery. Peace, beauty, depth and mood is what I seek—both in life and in my photographs. Kiss on the Horizon contains all of these elements!

If photography has taught me one thing, it is to seize the moment. When all of the elements converged here, I was simply inspired. This photograph reminds me to pay attention—to look out for those fleeting moments when the world gives you unexpected visions.

How I got the shot

live in a wooded area on a beautiful lake in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. The area is teeming with birds and wildlife and is a constant source of inspiration for my photography.

I have been a part-time professional photographer for several years. I love photographing the birds and wildlife where I live. Away from home, I enjoy photographing snow geese and sandhill cranes at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, bull elk at Yellowstone National Park, and bald eagles in Alaska.

As an attorney, I specialized in education law for a number of years before I directed my full time and attention to my true passion – bird and wildlife photography.

A few years ago, I spent over eight months photographing a family of young red foxes from the time they left the birthing den until they reached sexual maturity. And I wrote a book covering the adventure:  Spirit Of The Fox – Images From Griffin Mountain.

How I got the shot

I am retired and live in Morro Bay, California. I took up photography in 1992 when my husband gifted me with my first SLR camera—a Canon Rebel. At the time I was still working full time and took several correspondence courses with the New York Institute of Photography.

One of my photos was published in Oprah’s “O” Magazine in July 2004. At that time, the magazine had a double page spread called ‘Breathing Space.’ I received emails from people all around the world complementing me on that photo. It was a real highlight for me and encouraged me to take more photos and to submit them in contests.

How I got the shot

I am a full-time nature photographer, writer, and business owner based in Estes Park, Colo. I attended Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey for communications where I had my first formal training in photography after many years of instruction on my own and from my mom. I also attended the University of the Arts and the Art Institute of Colorado for computer graphics and photography, respectively. After a move to Colorado in 2002, I focused my photography on nature subjects, and specifically into wildlife around 2010. Although I enjoy photographing all animals and many landscapes, I especially enjoy photographing bald eagles, elk, bighorn sheep, fox and moose.

After a difficult year in 2012 , with being laid off, my mom spending a month in the hospital after a brush with death, unexpectedly losing my boyfriend of 15 years in October, and then my father just as unexpectedly three months later, I dove into nature photography as a way to heal (or deal) with my pain. In nature I found that I focused on the beauty around me and not the pain I was experiencing. That led me to buying an RV in 2015 and hitting the road solo to photograph what I called my priority list of subjects. I spent 15 months on the road and barely skimmed the surface of that list but loved the adventure.

How I got the shot

I use photography paired with compelling written narratives to communicate scientific research, especially when that research is relevant to conservation issues. Through my work, I hope to foster appreciation for the natural world and the people working to understand and protect our shared planet. I’m trained as a biologist but have been working as a full-time photographer and science communicator since I graduated from the Environmental Visual Communication program in 2016. When I’m not following researchers in the field with my camera, I’m based in Ottawa, Ontario.

Pressing the shutter button is just one part of what it means to me to be a photographer. I spend the majority of my time and effort researching important stories, building relationships, and strategizing how my images can be used to advocate for conservation or scientific literacy.