I have had an interest in natural history for most of my life, and have drawn, painted, carved and photographed plants and animals for over 20 years. I am also an avid birder and naturalist, which influences the way I portray these subjects.

My formal education took place at the College for Creative Studies, where I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in illustration. To gather drawing references I took up photography, where I found that I enjoyed being in the field much more than being in the studio.

My photographs & illustrations have appeared in Ducks Unlimited, Your Big Backyard, Birdwatcher's Digest, Sports Afield, Gray's Sporting Journal, Michigan Birds & Natural History, National Geographic Books & on Virtualbirder.com. I also use my photography to educate & entertain audiences about natural history and ecological issues.

THE POLAROID PROCESS
I use a variety of Polaroid peel apart films and also experiment with different papers. There are two basic techniques in creating a transfer: In an emulsion transfer, the Polaroid print is immersed in hot water until the emulsion can be separated from the backing paper. It is then transferred onto another paper where it can be manipulated or layered with other images. Image transfers are handled differently. In this process the Polaroid negative is separated from the positive (print side) prematurely and is placed onto paper, thus transferring the dyes to that surface. Once dry, transfers are sometimes further altered with paint, pastels or colored pencils.