My inspiration is simple: wildlife. My images celebrate being in the company of animals and are both a declaration of love for the wild and untamed as well as a lyrical reminder of what we stand to lose if we do not preserve and protect habitat for the wild creatures that share the planet with us.

You need to be enamored with wildlife to choose it as your subject because you quietly suffer for it. Rising long before dawn; waiting for interminable times; not talking; avoiding (and sometimes not) poison oak; getting ravaged by bugs; only to come home empty handed more times than not. So why on earth would you choose wildlife as a subject? It has to be because you are madly in love with the furred and feathered.

Blending into the the environment as much as possible, I try to have my presence accepted by the animal. I stay visible and let the animal approach--if it chooses to. This strategy takes a crazy amount of timing, patience, perserverance and a whole lot of luck.

The most important consideration for me in photographing wildlife is that no image is worth causing an animal stress. Reading body language and knowing when to back off and walk away is crucial. On the surface my subject is wildlife. But perhaps it is more about the reverence I hold for them. I hope that comes across in my pictures.