Once upon a time, I took a trip to Grand Teton National Park. I had no intentions of becoming a wildlife photographer. Of course, I’ve always loved the outdoors. Hiking, nature, and especially wildlife, but that didn’t mean I understood what it truly meant to be a photographer of the like.

I’ve always worked professionally as an equine photographer. Similar in some ways, yes, but different in that those were domestic horses I worked with and their owners. Not the kind of images where you really had to study your subject.

And yes, I hunted whitetail deer for a short period in my late teens. My husband is still a hunter (the kind who puts food on our table), but I couldn’t bear to sit for hours waiting for a deer to walk by my stand. That phase was short-lived.

But my trip exposed me to an ecosystem where animals live as they should. No fences, no forced intervention, only the kind of mediation meant to keep people from, well, trying to pet said wild animals. (Oh, some people just…) Anyway, that exposure changed the course of my life, I think. A spark ignited. From the moment I saw my first elk herd to the time I nearly stepped on a bedded-down moose (by accident, of course).

And so, here I am. My mission is to share my work and shed light on these beautiful animals that still share our world. A world changing rapidly, and at a concerning rate. I hope that, through my lens, you can see how important it is to protect the ecosystems that still exist around us. They are a piece what makes our world so magical, after all.