Once a nature photographer.....

Spending the holiday weekend "back home" with family in Portland, Oregon, it's easy to start reflecting on the past. You know how they say some things never change? Well, it's true: I have always been a nature photographer. I won my first camera (a Polaroid) in an Invent America contest as a kindergardener (I invented a pin that would keep kids' shoelaces tied when they didn't know how to tie their own shoes). I excitedly took photos on our next family vacation, which happened to be to....the San Juan Islands. Interestingly enough, while I wouldn't visit again until I was 13 and had found my passion for orcas, as a six-year-old I took photos of madrone trees, flowers, and sunsets on San Juan Island, and I actually lost my first tooth at Lonesome Cove Resort.

On all subsequent family vacations I was always in pursuit of wildlife, including on a trip to Bryce Canyon in 2000. My dad recently sent me this photo from that trip, recalling my ever-present enthusiasm. In addition to the camera, video camera, and binoculars, notice (aside from the purple hair!) the whale T-shirt and bird book in hand. I remember that was the day I first saw a white-thoated swift!

For comparison, here's the "author photo" from my book of killer whale photographs, taken in 2006. A lot of things changed in those six years, including my hair color, but not the fact that I always have a camera in hand! I have a feeling that will always be the case, looking to capture the excitement of seeing wildlife wherever my travles may take me.