My Background

From the time that I was a boy and continuing to this day, I've always wanted to be in and around nature, and have always been utterly fascinated by it. I was born in the small town of Independence in southeastern Kansas but was raised and spent most of my life growing up in a little nook called Orland in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. That decision my parents made when I was 7 to move the family to California was probably a deciding factor in my introduction to the outdoors. I met my best friend shortly after. Him and I would spend our days fishing the local creeks and lakes, catching insects and crayfish, and shooting BB guns. He came from a very outdoorsy family, and I quickly became intensely interested in these types of things as well. I'm still thankful for that to this day as I might not have ever been introduced to it if it wasn't for them, I never had that in my family. I remember what I used to tell people as a child when they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. Science being my favorite subject in school and knowing that certain sciences dealt with working directly in and around nature, Scientist was always my answer. First it was a Paleontologist, as this was around the time of Jurassic Park 😄. Then it was a zoologist because I used to watch a lot of Animal Planet and the Discovery channel. I then settled on Herpetologist as I became obsessed with watching The Crocodile Hunter. While I did stay passionate about science, and still very much are, after attending community college and studying in the life sciences I came to the realization that even though I was excelling in the coursework that maybe sitting in a lab and only occasionally being in the field might not be the best fit for me. What I HAVE always been good at without ever having any doubts about is art.  I was almost raised a musician you could say, I was taught drums and percussion at an early age and later taught myself the guitar, bass, and the piano. I always excelled in art classes as well as science, and I enjoyed the aspects of the creation process. So with that, on top of having a curious mind about nature, and being an avid explorer from my previous and continued experience in fishing, hunting, and hiking, photography seemed like an obvious choice for where to put my energy. I got my first point and shoot in 2014 and had fun shooting but certainly did not take learning seriously. That all changed when I reconnected with a friend that was into photography, I bought my first real camera from him in 2019, a Nikon D5200, and my love for nature photography was born. I delved head first deep into instructional material and, like most new photographers took a lot of......less than stellar photographs while getting acquainted with my camera and this little idea called composition. I stayed persistent and shot till I was about to drop, and in a shorter time than I expected I got better. I'm still constantly looking for the knowledge and experience to shoot better photographs, and to share the beauty of nature with people. I am a firm believer in honesty and realism with photography and will never add anything that isn't realistic in an edit, or add something that wasn't. No AI sky replacements for this Guy.  I am a die-hard believer in conservation, sustainability, and maintaining an equilibrium with the planet. We must never take more than we give back, we must recognize our faults and fight to save and sustain the wonderous biodiversity of this planet, before it's too late to save some of these beautiful areas. Enjoy the photos!