About Me

My Work

Though I would still consider myself new to the wildlife photography game I have high asperations. Growing up in beautiful Big Bear Lake, CA within the San Bernardino National Forest, moving away for school, and then coming back for work allowed me to experience this wonderful place when I was young enough to be impressionable, be away long enough to miss it, and return at a time when I can truly appreciate my mountainous and forested home. In fact, I've been inspired to create my first book displaying the wildlife and landscapes of where I've been able spend most of my life. It's still in the works now but someday I hope you'll be able to enjoy it!

Biography

Back in my senior year of college I got myself a new smartphone, one with the best camera of any phone available at the time; and I bought it with the intention of trying my hand at photography. I experimented with the phone camera for months, trying a few different styles of photography and pushing the limits of what a phone camera was capable of. At the time, I was in a wildlife program at school that allowed me close access to an array of exotic animals that I could photograph with a phone. Eventually, I started going on trips to photograph beautiful scenery around California; one of my favorites were the California Poppy super-blooms. Out in nature though, I could never quite get close enough to photograph wildlife with my phone, and wildlife is what I was and still am the most passionate about. So for my 23rd birthday I bought myself a real camera, a Sony a6400 body, an amateur camera nonetheless but it got the job done; and it got me hooked on photography. The first lens I bought was one of Sony’s 24-105mm zoom lenses, photographing any wildlife I could get close to. I mostly stayed at parks though, where the wildlife was used to people and where I could get much closer to the animals. I quickly understood the limitations my lens had when photographing wildlife. 

I knew I needed some much longer glass to really photograph wildlife, at least at my skill level. Unfortunately, at that point in time there were somewhat limited options for me when it came to super-telephotos; both due to camera body compatibility and budget. Then, Sony came out with their longest lens ever for their mirrorless lineup, and I immediately knew I had to have it. I saved and earned as much as I could working in multiple fast food joints (not fun), but 9 months later I finally owned a high-end 200-600mm lens; which with my APS-C camera body gave me an equivalent of 350-900mm in range. 

With this I was ready to photograph anything and everything! I still have a lot to learn and a lot of species to photograph but with perseverance, the trademark of a wildlife photographer, I hope to succeed in not only taking pictures, but making great images of wildlife that tells a story and inspires awe in others. 

There was a point though, in what I considered my “real” professional progression of wildlife biology, when I discovered that awesome pair that wildlife photography and wildlife biology could be together as a force for conservation. So, now it has become my new goal to combine these two realms of biology and art to create something that will be a moving force in the fight for nature conservation.


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