Envisioning Habitat

In my ongoing series Envisioning Habitat, I look beyond the everyday world and create a new reality shaped from the exquisite and sublime beauty of nature. The images in the Envisioning Habitat series were photographed in the wild:  the great blue heron in the Viera Wetlands, the white ibis at J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island in Florida and the saddle-billed storks in the Maasai Mara, Kenya. When working in the field to photograph birds and landscapes and then later in my studio to select and combine the related imagery to include in my final images, I take creative liberties by commingling the birds, their scale, and their fantasy environments. For example, juxtaposing roseate spoonbills next to ocean waves rather than the calm, shallow wetlands of Florida or saddle-billed storks posing in front of Mt. Kenya. I imagine the essence of paradise and weave a visual narrative echoing the Hudson River Valley artists who blended multiple scenes from field notes and memory to create their idealized, romantic and emotional paintings. Passion, preservation and a life in harmony with nature are some of the reasons I am a photographer.  My hope is the viewer will connect with those ideals through my images and be mindful of the fragility and beauty of life.