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My Wild Life: Adventures of a Wildlife Photographer

My Wild Life: Adventures of a Wildlife Photographer — page 3
My childhood dreams I knew I wanted to be a wildlife photographer since I was a young girl I told my parents that I wanted to live in a tent in Africa They encouraged me and taught me never to give up on my dreams When I was six I got my first camera I didn’t travel to exotic places when I was a kid so my early adventures happened close to home In this photo I look like I’m on safari but I’m actually at a local zoo I loved taking pictures of my cats in my backyard I pretended they were lions and tigers in the wild I also loved to just sit under a tree and feel close to nature I spent hours watching squirrels and birds I wrote down everything they did in my field book I felt like Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees in the wild I didn’t know it at the time but all those hours I spent sitting quietly in nature were great training for being a wildlife photographer Some days it’s all I do for hours at a time I’ve been a professional wildlife photographer for over twenty years I love my work but it hasn’t all been easy I’ve faced a lot of challenges raising money to go on distant photo shoots staying safe while traveling alone in wild and remote areas and showing people that women can be wildlife photographers too And that list doesn’t include the animals They can be difficult to reach tricky to photograph and downright dangerous when they feel threatened One important thing I’ve learned is to keep an open mind and stay ready for any adventure and there have been lots Some of my wildest include hugging a baby whale swimming with sloths fending off a curious grizzly bear with a baseball cap and raising an orphaned wildcat kitten so he could return to the wild 4 4