Photography
In the field, I often find myself taking a step back from my viewfinder, making sure every scene is captured not just by the camera, but by me as well. Immersing myself in the moment drives my photography from the click of the shutter to the final touch in post. Every decision comes with the responsibility of properly communicating an authentic experience.
Photographing a Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake in Southeastern Arizona
Focus
I specialize in wildlife and landscape photography. I have a particular affinity for photographing reptiles and amphibians, as they are an essential part of my home state of Arizona. I absolutely love the journeys I have with my best friend Jules Wyman as we travel the land searching for all kinds of animals. The reward for me is not just the animal we are looking for, but everything we do along the way. I seek to capture both to the best of my ability with my photography.
This collaborative photograph created by myself and Jules Wyman is the result of a fairly complex 81 second single exposure that involved multiple settings changes and off camera flashes implemented sequentially throughout the shot.
Featured Publications
Snakes of Arizona
Andrew T. Holycross and Joseph C. Mitchell, editors.
I was honored to contribute this photo of a Milksnake to the recently published Snakes of Arizona. This book was a community effort, drawing from local photographers across the state to provide stunning photography, excellent illustrations, and detailed accounts.
I look forward to providing more photos in any similar upcoming publications.
Rim to River
Looking into the Heart of Arizona
Tom Zoellner
I was approached by the University of Arizona Press for a new cover photo for the re-release of Tom Zoellner’s Rim to River. While we discussed photos ranging from scenic canyons on the Arizona Trail to monsoon storms raging through remote valleys, it was ultimately decided to use this photo of the Santa Catalina Mountains in Tucson, Arizona completely being taken over by a monsoon microburst and rainbow. The photo shows the foreboding yet beautiful dynamism of Arizona while recalling the nostalgia of the author’s upbringing watching monsoons roll by their backyard.
Rim to River is the story of this extraordinary journey through redrock country, down canyons, up mesas, and across desert plains to the obscure valley in Mexico that gave the state its enigmatic name. The trek is interspersed with incisive essays that pick apart the distinctive cultural landscape of Arizona: the wine-colored pinnacles and complex spirituality of Navajoland, the mind-numbing stucco suburbs, desperate border crossings, legislative skullduggery, extreme politics, billion-dollar copper ventures, dehydrating rivers, retirement kingdoms, old-time foodways, ghosts of old wars, honky-tonk dreamers, murder mysteries, and magical Grand Canyon reveries.
If you are interested in using one of my photographs, please contact me on my contact page.
Flickr Gallery (live)
Below is a gallery of my my most recent Flickr photos. Feel free to browse through my Flickr and follow me for the most comprehensive and up-to-date gallery of my photography!
Selected Works
The Animals of the Salmon River Estuary
This is a field guide I created as part of my senior year internship we are encouraged to do at my high school, BASIS Tucson North. I interned under the camp name Cerberus (species name of my favorite snake, the Arizona Black Rattlesnake) as part field guide photographer, part staff assistant, and part camp counsellor at Camp Westwind of the Northwest Outdoor School near Otis, Oregon. It was my job to document the wildlife of the Salmon River Estuary to the best of my ability as well as help out around the camp and fill in as a counsellor during weeks where there weren’t many counsellors. The would endeavor was quite the adventure, as I had to drive up from the southernmost point of Arizona to the northwest coast of Oregon, after which I would spend a month and a half by myself. It was easily the most transformative time of my life. After returning home I spent the rest of my time finishing and printing the book while I presented my work at my school as the last thing I would do as a senior. The result of my efforts was the field guide below, which I had printed as a spiral bound book.
The goal of the field guide was to make it informative enough for adults but simple enough for kids. I chose an easy layout and large text to make the book easier to read in rough conditions, as it is always raining in the pacific northwest. The covers were laminated for water resistance and it was spiral bound to increase durability and flexibility.
Interested in purchasing a print of one of my photos? Let’s get in touch!
Photos of me taken by Marina Luccioni (photo cover, about page, and bottom photo) and Jules Wyman (top photo).